THE PRICE OF DOING THINGS HALFWAY (NUMBERS 13-14)
Isaac Asimov told of a rabbi who was at odds with his congregation. The president of the congregation said, “Rabbi, we must have a conference to settle the dispute once and for all.” The rabbi, the president and ten elders met together to discuss the issues, but the rabbi discovered that he was the sole dissenting opinion. The president of the synagogue said, “Let’s vote and allow the majority to rule.” When the votes were collected, the president said, “Rabbi, you are outvoted eleven to one. We have the majority.”
The offended rabbi rose to his feet and said, “So, you think that you’re right and I’m wrong because of the vote. Think again. I will call upon the Holy One of Israel to give us a sign that I’m right and you’re wrong.” Immediately, a deafening clap of thunder sounded and a brilliant flash of lightning struck the mahogany table they surrounded and cracked it in two. The room was filled with smoke and fumes, and the president and the elders were hurled to the floor. The rabbi remained erect and untouched, with eyes flashing and face beaming with triumph.
The president slowly rose from underneath the table. His hair was singed, his glasses were hanging from one ear and his clothing was in disarray. Finally he responded, “All right, eleven to two. But we still have the majority!” (Asimov Laughs Again)
Astonishingly, the Israelites had survived enforced slavery and desert wanderings only to reject new opportunities in the Promised Land. Again, they wept, sulked and fussed (Num 14:1). They had learned nothing after more than a year in the desert (Num 10:11). However, two of the twelve spies - fearless Caleb and faithful Joshua - surveyed the land, saw the people and supported the measure. The duo returned with a favorable report, stood firm on God’s promises and lived to enter the Promised Land. God wanted to build from Moses a new generation, to permit only two to enter Canaan and to destroy all the unfaithful ones.
What awaits those who believe, follow and claim God’s word? Why is it necessary to withstand unhealthy and negative peer pressure, public opinion and people power? How does God want us to trust in Him?
Be Certain and Follow God Closely
14:1 That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” (Num 14:1-4)
A promising young man wanted to join a monastery. So he talked the priest of his parish, who tried to discourage him and warned him of the extreme discipline that was required. Failing so, the priest reluctantly recommended him to the proper authorities.
The superior in charge of the monastery told the candidate he would be allowed to speak but two words for the first ten years. At the end of the exhausting period, he was tested, “Do you have any comment?” “Food bad,” the man said the two words allowed him..
Ten more years passed by and he was again asked, “Do you have anything to say?” The man voiced, “Bed hard.”
After another ten years later in the monastery, he was again asked to comment. “I quit,” the man said tersely. “Good,” replied the superior, “you’ve done nothing but complain for the last thirty years.”
The Israelites lived a cheerless existence for the length of their stay in the wilderness. They wore their sour attitude, black face and uncooperative spirit on their sleeves, making the trip harder, trickier and crazier than it already was. Their absence of joy made them stick out like a sore thumb, boil over like a bad attitude and squeeze, suck and smother the life out of others.
The Israelites raised their voices, wept out loud (14:1) and flexed their muscles. For the first time, stoning, battery and murder (14:10) were on their mind, in their heart and out their mouth. Joshua and Caleb had the impossible task of confounding the majority, countering their might and passing the misinformation. The ten spies moaned, “The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan” (13:29). They claimed that the highlands were taken, the lowlands were occupied and the shore was populated.
Battles are often won or lost in the heart, mind and psyche. The Israelites had defeated Pharaoh’s army without lifting a finger and routed the Amalekites in their first battle (Ex 17:8-15). They had never lost a battle they fought but this time they lost to an invisible army they never met or fought.
To the ten spies, the land was a mysterious, living, gobbling land. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. ‘All’ the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them” (13:32-33). The ten saw some oversized people but exaggerated the size of “all” people there. They were actually claiming omniscience when they stated that they knew what the Nephilim thought of them – that they were grasshoppers. Their assertion sounded ludicrous, irrational and silly and their joyless spirit made them easy victims of fear, superstition and ignorance.
Be Courageous and Follow God Confidently
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. 6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” (Num 14:5-9)
How are optimists and pessimists different? The classical answer is that the optimist considers a half glass as half-full and the pessimist considers it half-empty. The optimist sees the opportunity in every obstacle and the pessimist sees the obstacle in every opportunity. The optimist strives to win; the pessimist avoids losing. It’s been said, “When a pessimist has nothing to worry about, he worries about why he has nothing to worry about.”
Other sayings include:
“The optimist pleasantly ponders how high his kite will fly: the pessimist woefully wonders how soon his kite will fall.” (William Arthur Ward)
“A pessimist has no motor, an optimist has no brakes.”
“An optimist is someone who goes after Moby Dick in a rowboat and takes the tartar sauce with him.”
Winston Churchill asked this question: You put together the most gallant sailor, the most intrepid airman, and the most audacious soldier at a table -- what do you get?” The answer: the sum of their fears (Forbes 9/21/98). F.E.A.R. has been popularly received as False Evidence Appearing Real.
It’s been said that people are more afraid of the word “THEY” than anything else in the world. Even strong generals with great armies who will face courageously the most outrageous foes yet be terrified of what they might say, what they might do, they mightn’t like. (Bits and Pieces 10/14/93)
Fear has the power to make its victims discount the facts, squash the truth and neglect common sense.
Joshua and Caleb, however, were steadfast in the face of the maddening crowd, their deafening voices and their outright threat. The two did not operate out of blind faith or positive thinking, but out of open eyes. They had assessed the land for its quality, subsequently appealed to the people for calm and argued for an act of faith.
The land was not just good, but exceedingly good (14:7). How good? They needed forty days to explore the vast land and two people to carry the oversized grapes (13:23). The land was rich in yield, variety and potential, but the distraught spies failed to appreciate the milk-producing livestock, eye-popping produce and mouth-watering honey that enriched the land, or the spacious ranches, the dairy products and the sugary treats that were there. The land was fertile, fruitful and fabulous. Prime real estate included valleys, hills, and beaches (Num 13:29).
The ten hardened their assumption on the human factor, but the duo based their stand on the divine factor. The majority did not once mention the Lord but the two never stopped bringing Him up (Num 14:8-9). Sadly, the ten spies missed the happy cows, the good earth and the lush pasture there due their fear, pessimism and negativity.
Joshua and Caleb sprung a surprise by including an absent food group in the two groups’ report: bread (v 9). The duo said the land’s inhabitants were “bread” or “lehem” for food. NIV translates it as “swallow them up.” Instead of fearing that they would be squashed like grasshoppers (Num 13:32-33) by the inhabitants, the two stated that they would flatten the inhabitants like pancakes!
Be Commended and Follow God Completely
20 The LORD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. 21 Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, 22 not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times-- 23 not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. 24 But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. (Num 14:20-24)
Many years ago, Susie Maroney, a 22-year-old Australian, made her second attempt to swim 112 miles from Cuba to Florida. She swam inside a shark cage attached to a ship with local camera crews above and a medical team around. Just three miles into the sea, a jelly fish stung her, giving her sustained pain that compelled her to put on a lightweight skin-suit. At times, interruptions by 3-4 ft. seas, 15 knot winds and strong currents made her sea-sick. Throughout her swim attempt, she ate baby food and bananas, watched hammerhead sharks cruising by and replayed Seinfeld episodes in her mind.
Swimming 44-46 strokes a minute, she reached the half-way mark and experienced relative calm seas for the next 22 miles before struggling for the last 30 miles or so. After a day of non-stop swimming, she was half a mile from the shore when her two brothers met here and swam with her to the beach, where she gave an interview before she passed out. Susie became the first woman to swim 112 miles in 24 1/2 hours, the longest unassisted attempt so far, but she admitted one thought crossed her mind many times: “I just don’t want to keep going.” (Time 5/26/99).
Former President Richard Nixon, of all people, said, “The price for doing things halfway is no less than doing it completely, so we might as well do them properly.”
Doing things halfway is a capitulation in midstream, a collapse in courage and a commitment to mediocrity.
The last thing on tired people’s mind is to finish well. The Israelites touched the ground, saw the landscape, breathed the air but missed the door. They were in the wilderness of Paran (Num 13:26), south of the Promised Land, on the last stop before moving into the Promised land, but opted to start another journey and retreat southwest to Egypt.
The Israelites had tested God ten times (Num 14:22), including the murmuring (1) at the Red Sea, Ex 14:11-12; (2) at Marah, Ex 15:23; (3) in the wilderness of Sin, Ex 16:2; (4) at Rephidim, Ex 17:1; (5) at Horeb, Ex 32; (6) at Tabeerah, Num 11:1; (7) at the graves of lust, Num 11:4 ff.; and (8) at Kadesh - twice keeping manna overnight (Ex 16:20 and 27) (Keil & Delitzsch). God had overlooked their stubbornness, tolerated their immaturity and lightened His judgment, punishment and sentence before, but His patience and limits were reached with the group.
Caleb, along with Joshua, was spared because his attitude was different (Num 13:20, 14:24). He followed God wholeheartedly or fully – without doubt, discontent or dispute. The duo considered God to be reliable, committed themselves to be resourceful and counted entry into Canaan reachable. Caleb would rather cross the border and cross the Israelites to be on God’s side than to reverse his decision and return to Egypt to be where He is not.
This representative from the tribe of Judah (Num 13:6) preached passionately, promised much and persisted stubbornly. He was strong, skilled and spirited to the end. Caleb was sure he would rather enter the Promised Land he had scouted than to return to slavery, whipping and death in Egypt, and that the Israelites, who had beaten the Amalekites previously (Ex 17:8-10), could do the same to other enemies.
Conclusion: It’s been said, “The majority is not always right.” Unfortunately, moral people are usually the silent minority. Are you letting the erroneous majority drown out your voice, play down your influence and water down your principles, standards, and values? Believers historically swim against the tide, struggle for the truth, and survived despite the odds. Remember, one can make a difference but two people can make a dent. Are you firm or fickle in belief? Are you committed to truth or to talk?
Victor Yap
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