Listening to Their Emotions

One of the excuses the people had used for following Korah, Dathan and Abiram was that Moses had not fulfilled the promise to bring them into the land of Canaan, according to Numbers 16:14.  “Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up.”  

Almost two months before. God had led Israel  north to the tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, to ancient Caravan trail into Egypt, near the border of the Edomite land, in the wilderness of Paran.  In preparation for invading the Land of Canaan, God directed them to send twelve spies to go before them and scout out the land, as Numbers 13:1-2 tells us.  “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.”

Numbers 13:17-21 describes the directions the scouts were given.  “And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.  So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.”

The Israelites had not lived in Canaan for over four hundred years, and had no clear picture of what the land was like.  The spies or scouts were to find out where the different groups of people lived and get an idea of their military capabilities.  They were also to see what areas would provide enough food and water and firewood for them and which areas should be their primary targets. The scouts spent forty days observing the land thoroughly, getting a good idea what was available. 

Numbers 13:25-29 describes the report the gave Moses.  “And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.  And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.  And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.  Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.  The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.”

It was truly a land flowing with milk and honey,  with ample grazing for hteir herds and vast quantities of fruitful plants for food, keeping the bees busy pollinating them.  They even displayed samples of the food to support their claim.  They also warned that each group had developed strong defenses to protect against neighboring tribes.    They named the different tribes and described their locations, but the most concerning were the Anakims, near Hebron, who were known or having extremely large people, even giants among them.  The thought of fighting giants troubled the people.

Israel had crossed the Gulf of Aqaba on dry ground when god held back over a thousand feet of water so they could pass on dry ground,  They had seen God release the same water and drowned the entire Egyptian army.  They had defeated the Amalekites as a result of Moses’ prayers, and had seen the manmiracles in the area around Mount Sinai.  If god could do those things, s few giants were a pretty minor problem.   Numbers 13:30 tells us, “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.”  After all, the same God who had done those other things was still leading them. 

The spies job had been solely to scout out the land so they would know where to go and where to expect resistance.   Ten of them went beyond their instructions, and began to judgements about whether it would be feasible to win, without finding out what the plans were and began to change their story.  Numbers 13:32-33 describes their changed story.  “But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.  And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”

Suddenly, instead of the just the children of Anak, all the people were bigger and stronger than they were and they felt like grass hoppers compared to them.  In addition, the land was a land that ate up its inhabitants, whatever that means.  In fact, when Israel finally conquered the land we find there were only three sons of Anak who were giants, and Israel had an army of over six hundred thousand men.    

Unfortunately, people often give way to their emotions and ignore the facts.  When they do, they are easily influenced by appeals to their emotions, and that is what happened in Numbers 14:1-4.  “And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.  And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!  And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?  And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.” Based on their emotions, the people decided to go back to Egypt rather than following God and Moses into Canaan.  Emotions are very powerful, but they are easily influenced by false or irrelevant information and cannot be trusted.