And we departed from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw, on the way to the mountain of the Amorites, as Jehovah our God had commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.
Moses begins his review of Israel's history with the march from Horeb through a great and terrifying desert to Kadesh-barnea. Why recall that hardship, and what should the crossing have produced in the people at the border of the land?
Israel moved "as the LORD our God commanded us." One writer notes what that settled for them:
They had no need at all to worry about their movements, no need of planning or arranging. One who knew every step of the way from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea ordered all their journeys for them. They had only to live one day at a time, in happy dependence on Him.
There was also no other guide available in that terrain:
That "great and terrible wilderness" held no footprint and no landmark. So it was useless to look for guidance from those who had gone before. They leaned wholly on God for every step of the way.
Moses says almost nothing about what happened along the way. The name he gives the desert carries the weight instead (the writers quoted here use an older translation: "great and terrible"):
Moses passes over the incidents of the journey to Kadesh. He mentions "the great and terrible wilderness" only to make them realize the power of the hand that led them. They had been trained to meet difficulties, and were used to seeing the power of God overcome them. So how ready we would expect them to be, now, to face the only enemy they had to fear.
The hardship of the road was itself a reason to press on:
The experience in such a desert ought to have given them a strong reason to enter the promised land as soon as they could.
Verse 2 says the trip from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea takes eleven days. One writer holds that number up as a mirror:
Eleven days! And yet it took them forty years! How was this? We need not travel far for the answer. It is only too like ourselves. How slowly we get over the ground! What windings and turnings! How often we have to go back and travel over the same ground again and again. We are slow travellers, because we are slow learners.
The lengthening of the road had a cause, and a lesson attached to it:
This tells believers today that our own wilderness history does not have to be long. But we are selfish by nature. So God has to put us through the trial of hard circumstances, to teach us that obedience is the only way of blessing.
Kadesh-barnea was the doorstep of the land. What they had just come through was itself the evidence they needed:
There was no need of spies. Faith never wants to spy out what God has given. It reasons that what He has given must be worth having. And He is able to put us in full possession of all that His grace has granted. The same hand had led them "through all that great and terrible wilderness." Israel might have concluded that it could also bring them in and plant them in the inheritance meant for them.
Asking for spies looked sensible, and God allowed it. Commentators trace it to a deeper root:
We also learn here that the sending of the spies, though God approved it, came out of unbelief among the people. That is an instructive lesson. In His ways — His government — God may allow, and so far approve, a course that is wise by human standards. Yet that course still bears the fruit of the unbelief at the root of it.
The desert is not the starting point and not the destination. It sits between the two:
He does not bring us into the desert until we are out of Egypt... Redemption came at the beginning, Canaan at the end; the wilderness comes between the two. All through the wilderness God is with us and for us, not holding anything against us, but testing our hearts.
- Commanded — Israel did not choose the route from Horeb. One who knew the whole way to Kadesh-barnea ordered every stage of it.
- Trackless — The desert held no footprints and no landmarks. With no one to follow, the people leaned on God for every step.
- Terrifying — Moses skips the events of the road. He names the desert to make them feel the strength of the hand that carried them through.
- Slow — Eleven days stretched into forty years. The delay came from slow hearts, not from long distance: slow travellers because slow learners.
- Enough — The hand that carried them across the desert could also plant them in the land. Asking for spies was unbelief at root, even though God allowed it.
And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which Jehovah our God giveth us.
Moses is retelling Israel's story to the next generation, and here he recalls the moment when the wilderness was behind them and the land lay open. They heard him, and still did not enter — a delay that cost them decades.
Moses spoke at Kadesh-barnea, on the doorstep of the land.
Kadesh-Barnea, the starting point for the conquest, sat on the frontier of Canaan. Moses mentions it in Deuteronomy one. They had crossed the "great and terrible wilderness." Now the Israelites had only to move forward without fear and take possession of Palestine... In these words one can sense all the relief felt by Moses. He had brought the people through the stages of the wilderness up to the frontier of Canaan.
The road itself was short. The same writer sets its length against the years Israel took:
"It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea" (Deut. 1:2). A few days would be enough to reach the frontier of Canaan. Yet we meet the people at Kadesh-barnea again more than thirty-eight years after they left Sinai (Num. 20:1). So today, the spiritual progress of a soul can be rapid. But often people waste many years through lack of faith, watchfulness, and love for the Lord.
Moses rests everything on one phrase: the LORD is giving them the land.
Here was their warrant for entering upon immediate possession. The Lord their God had given them the land, and set it before them. It was theirs by His free gift, the gift of His sovereign grace, in keeping with the covenant made with their fathers... That should have set their hearts at rest — both about what kind of land it was and about their entry into it. There was no need of spies. Faith never wants to spy out what God has given. It reasons that what He has given must be worth having, and that He is able to put us in full possession of all that His grace has bestowed.
The land was not an unknown risk. God had already described it Himself, in detail.
If simple faith had governed them, they would have acted on those stirring words of Moses... There is not a single syllable about spies in this splendid passage. What does faith want with spies, when it has the word and the presence of the living God? If the LORD had given them a land, it must be worth having. And had He not? Yes, truly. And more than that, He had testified to the nature and character of that land in these glowing words: "For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land... a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing" (Deut. 8:7-9).
Why did the spies go at all? The answer lies in Deuteronomy, not in Numbers.
True it is that, in the history given in Numbers, the Lord told Moses to send the spies. But why? Because of the moral condition of the people. Numbers gives us the public history, Deuteronomy the secret source of the mission of the spies... We could not fully understand the subject if we had only the history in Numbers.
Kelly names that secret source:
What we have here is not a repetition; it leads us into things secret — what was at work in the people and hindered their blessing. The chief point to observe is that there was no spirit of obedience in the people, and this they lacked because there was no faith in God.
Ridout carries the land forward to what Christians already own in Christ.
The inheritance of Israel in Canaan is a picture of our inheritance in Christ in the heavenly places. The letter to the Ephesians tells us that God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ in the heavenly places. In the same way, Joshua tells us that everything is ours. Everything belongs to the people. God has given it to them. It is now for them to take possession of their inheritance in the energy of faith.
- Given. The land was already theirs by God's free gift, in keeping with His covenant with their fathers. That gift was their warrant to enter at once.
- Described. God had told them Himself what the land was like: brooks, wheat, vines, honey, bread without scarcity. His testimony was meant to be enough.
- Doubted. Faith never wants to spy out what God has given. The mission of the spies exposed the moral condition of the people.
- Delayed. Eleven days' journey stretched into thirty-eight years. Progress can be swift, but unbelief wastes decades.
- Disclosed. Numbers records the public history. Deuteronomy uncovers the secret root — no obedience, because no faith. God sets the same inheritance before us now, and faith takes it.
Behold, Jehovah thy God hath set the land before thee go up, take possession, as Jehovah the God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be dismayed.
On the edge of Canaan, Moses reminds a new generation of what their parents were told. The land was already theirs; the orders were to go up and not be afraid. Israel did not obey. So what did God ask of them here, and what was missing?
Moses does not tell them to earn a country. He tells them to step into one God has already handed over.
Here was their authority for taking the land at once. The Lord their God had given them the land, and set it before them. It was theirs by His free gift, the gift of His sovereign grace, in keeping with the covenant made with their fathers. It was His eternal purpose to possess the land of Canaan through the descendants of Abraham, His friend. This should have been enough to set their hearts fully at rest — both about what kind of land it was and about their entry into it. There was no need of spies. Faith never wants to spy what God has given. It argues that what He has given must be worth having. It argues that He is able to put us in full possession of all that His grace has given.
The verse ends with two commands against fear. What answers fear is the direction faith looks.
This is how faith would have reasoned. Faith always reasons from God down to circumstances, never from circumstances up to God. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" This is faith's argument, grand in its simplicity, and simple in its moral grandeur. When God fills the whole range of the soul's sight, difficulties count for little. Either the soul does not see them, or it sees them as occasions for the display of divine power.
That same "Do not fear" runs through Israel's whole story. God gives it again whenever His people face an enemy.
This word meets the ears of the people of God every time they have to do with the enemy, whether in Egypt (Ex. 14:13) or in the wilderness (Num. 14:9; Deut. 3:22; Deut. 31:6), or in Canaan under Joshua... And when Israel lay in the "lowest pit" and cried to God in their distress, the Lord answered, "Do not fear" (Lam. 3:57).
Numbers 13 opens with God telling Moses to send men to search the land. Read alone, it looks as though the whole mission was His idea. This verse supplies what Numbers leaves out.
We may ask: if searching the land was not an act of faith, why did God say, "Send men to spy out the land of Canaan"? ... Deuteronomy 1:21 gives the answer. There we find the word of the LORD God: "Go up, take possession" — not spy it out. The people say they will send men to spy out the land. That is disobedience. Their proposal pleases Moses. Was it faith that made him pleased?
The request for spies looked practical. Moses points to what lay under it.
We would not have discovered this from the book of Numbers. What we have here is not a repetition. It leads us into hidden things — what was at work in the people and held back their blessing. The main point to notice is that the people had no spirit of obedience. They lacked it because they had no faith in God.
Commentators differ on where the fault lies. Some point to the wish for spies itself. Others point to the unbelief behind it. Both trace the outcome back to the heart.
God commands many things, and we are bound to do them as soon as He commands them. His ways are displayed in how they turn out. Yet these things are only owing to our lack of faith. The result fully confirms the faith of the faithful, of the remnant; but unbelief reaps what it has sown.
The picture is not left in the past. The land set before Israel has its counterpart for believers now.
God has opened to us as well the land of our inheritance, and told us to enjoy our portion by faith. The Spirit of God has come to take the things of Christ and show them to us, and to make known to us the things God has freely given us. But how little we have laid hold of!
- Given — the land was theirs by God's free gift before they took a single step. The command to take it rests on a gift already made.
- Enough — a gift from God needs no checking; faith never wants to spy out what God has given.
- Fearless — faith reasons from God down to circumstances, never the other way. Difficulties then become occasions for His power.
- Exposed — the order was "Go up, take possession," not spy it out. Deuteronomy reveals what Numbers 13 leaves hidden: no obedience, because no faith.
- Ours — the Spirit sets our own inheritance before us in the things of Christ, and it waits for us to lay hold of it.
And ye came near to me all of you, and said, We will send men before us, who shall examine the land for us, and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and of the cities to which we shall come.
Israel stands at the edge of the promised land, told to go up and take it. Instead the whole nation asks Moses to send men ahead first — the very mission Numbers 13 records as God's own command.
Numbers records what happened. Deuteronomy shows what was going on underneath.
Then comes the account of the inner motives for the sending of the spies. This is worth noting, since we would not have discovered it from the book of Numbers. What we have here is not a repetition. It leads us into the secret things — what was working in the people and hindering their blessing. The chief point to observe is this: there was no spirit of obedience in the people. They lacked it because there was no faith in God.
Numbers 13 opens with the Lord telling Moses to send men. Here Moses says the people came to him. Three wills appear in the one event, in order.
Moses reminded them that it was they themselves who pushed for sending the spies to search out the land. This appears to clash with Numbers 13:1-2, which says, "The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Send men to spy out the land of Canaan.'" The two passages show that the people proposed it. Moses consented — it pleased him well, he says here. And God commanded it. God's first message was, "Go up, take possession"; but the people hesitated and said they would send the spies. Their rebellion and their wanderings were the result.
That order matters when reading Numbers. A command from God is not proof that He approved.
We learn, most clearly, from Deuteronomy 1:22 that the idea of sending the spies had its origin in the heart of Israel. God saw their moral condition, and He issued a command that fully matched it.
The command Moses had just delivered contained no hint of a survey party. Everything the spies could report, God had already told them.
Had they been governed by simple faith, they would have acted on those stirring words of Moses: "See, the LORD your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed." There is not one syllable about spies in this splendid passage. What does faith want with spies, when it has the word and the presence of the living God? If the LORD had given them a land, it must be worth having. … Had He not spied out the land for them, and told them all about it? And was that not enough? What need was there to send men to spy out the land?
Notice how the people phrase it. They never say they doubt whether to enter — only that they want to know the route and the first cities.
Here in Deuteronomy we learn that the people had appealed to Moses to send spies into the land first. They did not say they wanted this to find out whether it was safe for them to go in or not. They said instead that this way they could find out which route to take and which cities they would reach first. This suggestion pleased Moses well, he says.
They already had a guide who never failed.
The folly of unbelief was never more obvious. The Lord had guided His people by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Now they will trust the information the spies may bring about the way they should take. After such a long experience of the Lord's faithfulness, they think more of the wisdom of men than of His perfect knowledge. How often have we fallen into the same trap.
Moses reports his own reaction without excusing it. A leader agreeing with a faithless suggestion is part of the failure.
Deuteronomy 1:21 gives the answer. There we find the word of the LORD God, "Go up, take possession" — not search it. The people say they will send men to spy out the land. This is disobedience. Moses is pleased with their proposal. Was it faith to be pleased? Why listen to the people when God had said, "Go up, take possession"? It is at least weak to encourage others down a faithless path.
The reason runs deeper. God could not be the source of a plan that doubted His own word.
God had rested Israel on the faithfulness of His word and promise. How then could He have started something that was really a slur on His truthfulness and the certainty of His word? No; the LORD permitted it, but He never originated it.
- Motive — Deuteronomy shows the heart behind the act: no obedience, because there was no faith.
- Origin — the people proposed, Moses agreed, then God commanded. That order explains the account in Numbers 13.
- Permission — God's command was not God's approval. He allowed what He never originated.
- Disguise — the request sounded practical. It asked only about the route, yet it preferred the word of men to the pillar of cloud.
- Result — a sensible-sounding survey ended in rebellion and forty years of wandering.