Power Of Our Words

Numbers 14:2, 3 - And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why has the Lord brought us to this land to [a]fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”

Numbers 13:25-33; 14:6-9

The Lord sent 12 spies to search out the promised land after the people of Israel were delivered from slavery in Egypt. After spying the land for 40 days, 10 of them came back with a negative report about conquering the land, thereby frightening the Israelites and influencing them to disobey the command of God to enter the promised land.

Two of those spies – Joshua and Caleb, on the other hand, came back with a favourable report encouraging people to obey God and enter the land promised to them. This demonstrated their faith in God.

However, the Israelites sided with the 10 spies and exclaimed - “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why has the Lord brought us to this land to [a]fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”

The Israelites had made the above cry in their sinful murmuring against the Lord.

Numbers 14:28 - Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you.

And the Lord made what they said come to pass. All their carcasses fell in the wilderness. The promise of the land of Canaan was fulfilled only in the lives of the children.

Lets look back at the story:

Numbers 13:1-2 - And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”

According to Numbers, it was God who asked Moses to send men to spy out the land of Canaan.

Deuteronomy 1:22 - “And every one of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come.’

According to Deuteronomy, it was the people who proposed the plan.

Putting both together, it appears that the people proposed the plan, Moses agreed and took it to the Lord, and He told him to go ahead.

However, what is important here is to note what God asked the spies to do.

Numbers 13:1 - Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel

Numbers 13:17-20 - When Moses sent them to investigate the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up through the Negev, and then go up into the hill country and see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, few or many, and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or fortified cities, and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether or not there are forests in it. And be brave, and bring back some of the fruit of the land.”

The Lord confirmed that he was going to give them (Numbers 13:1). All they had to do was explore the land that was going to be their home, the land that the Lord promised to give them since the days of Abraham.

If we are gifted a new house, wouldn’t we love to have a look at it even before we settle? That was what the the spies were asked to do. Moses asked them to see the beautiful land that the Lord was going to give, an get back some of the fruit of the land as a proof of its prosperity.

They were not sent with a mission to decide whether to actually possess the land.

The report of the 10 spies:

1. Numbers 13:27 - They told Moses, “We went to the land where you sent us. It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

They affirmed that the land was indeed good and desirable. As the Lord promised, it was certainly flowing with milk and honey. They even got some of the fruit of the land.

They could have ended with these words trusting God to do the rest.