Letting Their Imagination Run Wild

 About a year and a half before, Israel had come out of Egypt.  They had seen the plagues God had sent, had walked across the Red Sea on dry land, and had seen the Egyptian army drown in the very place they had walked across.  God had miraculously given them water from the rock and daily food.  When they complained he had allowed thousands to die, and just a few weeks before Miriam had gotten leprosy as a result of her complaining.  Now they had come into the wilderness of Paran, a large desert area extending from the river of Egypt, or El Arish eastward  into present day Saudi Arabia and from the tip of the Gulf of Aqaba to the Dead sea. 

 

God was prepared to lead them into the land of Canaan as he had promised them.  They were going into an area they had only heard about.  They had already been complaining about missing things they had had in Egypt.  God directed them to send some scouts to go ahead of them and see what was there to give them some encouragement, as Numbers 13:1-3 describes.  “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.  And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.”

 

The scouts were to bring back information so that the people could know what to expect, as Moses directed them, in Numbers 13:17-20.  “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.”

 

The scouts went out early in the harvest season and spent forty days traveling around viewing what the crops and land looked like, as Numbers 13:21-25 describes.  “So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.  And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)  And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.  The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.  And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.”

 

One of the first cities they came to was the ancient city of Hebron, the home of the Anakims.  As they worked their way north, they spread from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Coast seeing as much as they could, and collecting some samples of the produce.  Numbers 13:26-29 describes their initial report.  “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.“

 

They had already had one battle with the Amalekites, and had defeated them, but the Anakims were noted for having giants which concerned the people.   As it turned out there were only three of the giants, but most of the scouts could not get over how big they were.  When Caleb stated they could easily overcome them, the other scouts insisted it couldn’t be done, as Numbers 13:30-33 describes.  “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.

 

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.”

 

When we focus on our fears, our imagination takes over and distort our thinking.  Instead of three giants they described all the people as being huge and the giants were so big they felt like grasshoppers by comparison.  To top it all off the land itself ate up the people, whatever that meant.  Their imaginations had run away with them and they were exaggerating the danger. 

 

Unfortunately fear is contagious, as we have seen repeatedly during the Covid-19 Virus pandemic.    The people believed the exaggerations and turned on Moses and Aaron, blaming them for the problems, as Numbers 14:1-4 describes.  “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.”

 

Panicked, the people decided to go back to slavery in Egypt, ignoring everything that had happened and how God had protected them.  Moses and Aaron and Joshua and Caleb believed God would protect them, and did everything they could to convince them to trust od.  Unfortunately, once people give in to fear, it is very difficult to get their attention off of what they are afraid of, as Numbers 14:5-10 describes.  “Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.  And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.  If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones…”

 

Caleb and Joshua were doing everything they could to help the people, but the people turned against them, intending to kill them if they kept trying to get them to face their fears.    Had the spies stopped with what they were supposed to do, there would have no panic in Israel.  In much the same way, if the media had stopped with just reporting what was happening with Covid-19, much of the panic could have been avoided.   Because they didn’t, they spread fear around the world.    As Christians, we need to stop with what God shows us and trust him with what happens next instead of letting our imagination run away with us.