If the reader will turn to the opening pages of the first book of Samuel, he will find something similar in the matter of the appointment of a king. The Lord commanded Samuel to hearken to the voice of the people, and make them a king. (1 Sam. viii. 22.) Was it that He approved of the plan? Most surely not; on the contrary, He declares plainly that it was a positive rejection of Himself. Why then command Samuel to appoint a king? The command was given in consequence of Israel’s condition. They were growing weary of the position of entire dependence upon an unseen arm, and they longed for an arm of flesh; they desired to be like the nations around them, and to have a king who should go out before them, and fight their battles for them. Well, God gave them their request, and they were very speedily called to prove the worthlessness of their plan. Their king proved a most complete failure, and they had to learn that it was an evil and a bitter thing to forsake the living God and lean on a broken reed of their own selection.
Now, we see the same thing in the matter of the spies. There can be no question, in the mind of any spiritual person who studies the entire subject, as to the fact that the scheme of sending the spies was the fruit of unbelief. A simple heart that trusted God would never have thought of such a thing. What! are we to send poor mortals to spy out a land which God has graciously given to us, and which He has so fully and faithfully described? Far be the thought. Nay, rather let us say, It is enough: the land is the gift of God, and as such it must be good. His word is enough for our hearts: we want no spies; we seek for no mortal testimony to confirm the word of the living God. He has given; He has spoken; this is enough.
But, alas! Israel was not in a condition to adopt such language. They _would_ send spies. They wanted them; their hearts craved them; the desire for them lay in the very depths of the soul. Jehovah knew this, and hence He issued a commandment in direct reference to the moral state of the people.
The reader would do well to ponder this subject, in the light of Scripture. He will need to compare Deuteronomy i. with Numbers xiii. It is possible he may find difficulty in judging of the true nature and moral roots of the act of sending the spies, from the fact that the thing was ultimately done in pursuance of “the commandment of the Lord.” But we must ever remember that the fact of the Lord’s commanding the thing to be done does not, by any means, prove that the people were right in seeking it. The giving of the law at Mount Sinai, the sending of the spies, and the appointment of a king are all proofs of this. No doubt God overruled all these things for His own glory and for man’s ultimate blessing, but still the law could not be viewed as the expression of the heart of God. The setting up of a king was a positive rejection of Himself; and we may say that the sending of men to spy out the land of promise proved, very distinctly, that the heart of Israel was not fully satisfied with Jehovah. The whole affair was the fruit of their weakness and unbelief, though acquiesced in by God because of their condition, and overruled by Him, in His infinite goodness and unerring wisdom, for the unfolding of His ways and the display of His glory. All this comes fully out as we pursue the history.
“And Moses sent them [the spies] 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 dwell 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 strongholds; 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 first-ripe grapes. So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.... 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. 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.’” (Chap. xiii. 17-27.)