The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 181

the giants, the multitudes of people. They added, moreover, this, That the land at.a up the inhabitants-a statement which probably refers to the circumstance (a remarkable one it is) that Palestine had been the meeting-place and battle-ground of many nations, where one nation had exterminated another. 2. The mi'Tlhrity did not call in question the facts on which their brethren harped. But they set them in another light. Read eh. xiv. 7-9. And this suggests TBE LESSON the story of the spies is fitted to t&ach. When God makes the way of duty plain, we must beware how we suffer our minds to dwell on the difficulties to be encountered. To do so will be apt simply to weaken our bands. "The fearful and unbelieving" have no portion in the heavenly city, but are shut out. Faith laughs at impossibilities, for it knows that in the Lord's strength it can do all things.-B. Vera. 1-20.-The mission of the spi,es. I. THE 0RIOIN OIi' TBE MISSION.. We know from Deut. i. 22 that this commandment of God followed on a resolution of the people. It was their wish that spies should go forth and tell them something of the way beforehand. And even Moses fell in with them. It would seem an easier thing to be meek than to take no thought for the morrow. Even Moses the servant of God must be taking up to-morrow's burdens before the time. How much better it would have been patiently and trustfully to wait upon the cloud and the trumpets I ( eh. ix. 15-23; x. 1-10). But since the people's hearts are so, God sends the spies. The unfitness of Israel for immediate entrance into the promised land was showing itself more and more, and God sent tbese searchers, that in their searching both they and the people they represented might also be searched. May we not as it were detect a tone of rebuke and remonstrance in the words, " which I will give unto the children of Israel"? The Israelites by demanding this mission were trying to guard themselves on a side that really nee~ed no defence,. w~ile leaving themselves more and more exposed to all the perils of an unbelievmg mind. II. TBE MEN ws:o WERE BENT. Whether by choice of Moses or the people we are not told, but probably there was much careful consultation on the matter, acccrrding to human wisdom. Doubtless they seemed the best men for the purpose ; chosen for physical endurance, quickness of eye, tact in emergencies, and good judgment of the land and people. Yet some very important requisites were evidently not considered. Out of the twelve, only two were men of faith in God and deep convictions as to the destiny of Israel. A great deal depends on the sort of men we send in any enter- prise for God. Believing and devout spirits can see prospects others cannot see, because they have resources which others have not. Perhaps in the whole nation there were not twelve men to be found of the right stamp in every particular, and even if they bad been found, they might have failed in commanding popular con- fidence. We can easily imagine that Caleb and Joshua had not a very comfortable time with their colleagues, and that it was not a very easy matter to agree upon a report. But such as they were, they went forth. The people had come to depend on twelve limited minds like their own, each with its own way of looking at things, instead of on him who had already done such great things-the unchangeable One, the ample Providence, the sure Defence. III. THE INFORMATION REQUIRED. Moses gives them their instructions (vers. 17- 20), and they come from a man who is acting rather in accordance with the wishes of the people than in strict harmony with previous revelations from God. Had not God said to Moses, or ever the chains of Egypt were loosed, that he would bring his people into the land of the Canaanites, a land flowing with milk and honey, a land promised in solemn covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when as yet they were strangers in it? (Exod. iii. 17; vi. 3, 4). It was the people who, in their unbelief and carnal anxiety, wanted something in the way of human testimony. Let them, therefore, indicate such detwls of inquiry as in their opinion were necessary. They were like a suspicious huyer, who, not content with the word of the person from whom he makes his purchase, though he be a man of tried integrity, hunts round for all sorts of independent testimony, even from those who may have very doubtful capacity as witnesses. "A land flowing with milk and honey, is it? See then if it be such a good land, See if the people appreciate its fertility by their NU1111'EB8, I(  162 THE :BOOK. OF NUMBEns. (cas. XIII., XIV