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.