Lesson 15 - Numbers 13 & 14

[Music] well the numbers chapter 13 and 14 are just one long story and we probably ought to read them one immediately after the other both pretty substantial at length so I'm gonna have mercy and we'll read thirteen and discussing numeral fourteen let's remember the chapter twelve with the incident of Aaron and Miriam complaining against Moses was the result that Miriam was afflicted with Serrat skin disease that was caught as a direct divine judgement upon her by God and then out of respect for Mary the entire camp of Israel decided to wait rather than moving on leading her behind during her seven-day purification period from her Serrat in which she was put on the outside of the Campton couldn't come into contact with anyone but then once that purification period passed the Israelites moved on to the area of quran disc and it's widely assumed that all that will occur in numbers 13 and 14 happens father camped at Kadesh also known as Kadesh Barnea also called i'm mish pot this is an enormous unless a lush Oasis that's right on the deserts edge on southern border of the land of Canaan so open your Bibles to numbers chapter 13 to be a complete Jewish Bible is page 162 we're going to read all chapter 13 numbers 13 organize it to motion send people on your behalf to recognize the land of Canaan which I'm giving to the people of Israel from each ancestral tribe said as someone who was leader of this tribe Moses dispatched them from the Quran desert is all of them competing men among the people of Israel here are their names from the tribe of Reuben chinois the son of support from the tribe of small the son of three from the tribe of Judah Judah Colette the son of a foodie from the tribe of Issachar evolve the son of Joseph from the tribe of Ephraim Hosea the son of Newt from the tribe of Benjamin Benjamin Party the son of our food from the tribe of Zebulun God yeah the son of Saudi from the tribe of Joseph and he's from the tribe Monisha got a son of Susie and from the tribe you've done ah yeah the son of Kamali from the tribe of Asher steward the son of McHale from the tribe of not to Li not be the son of bull seed and from the tribe of GAD okay well the son of monkey these are the names of the men Moses set out to recognize in the land Moses gave Joe is a sudden noon the name Joshua don't schewe and Moses said them to recognize the land of Canaan instructing them Galata to the Negev and into the hills and see what the land is like I've noticed the people whether they're still on our wheat if you were many what kind of country they live in whether it's good or bad what kind of cities they live over fortified see whether the land is firm or unproductive and whether there is wooded finally be bold enough to bring back some of the fruit of the land and when they left it was the season for the first grapes to ripen and they went up and recommended the land the zine desert to revolve near the entrance to a lot and they went up into the Negev and they arrived at hello Hakeem on she shy and Tom I be on keen lived there him alone was till seven years between Swat and Egypt they came to the ash coal Valley and there they cut off a branch bearing one through ropes there's the hearing on pole between two of them they also took comrades and figs this place was called the valley of its cold because of the cluster which the people of Israel cut down there 40 days later they returned from America northern England when they went to Moshe a top one in the entire community of people of Israel at Kadesh in the Quran desert where they brought back word to them and to the entire community and children which reflect what they told him was this we entered the land where you sent us and indeed it does more with milk and honey years it's fruit however the people living in the land of fears the cities are fortified very large moreover we saw the I came there a bloodless in the area of an egg if the hit T the you see the Emily live in the hills and the King Ani lived by the sea and alongside of the our tent or collapsed islands the people around the motions that we ought to go up immediately and take possession of it there's no question we can conquer it but the men who come with it is that we can't attack those people because they're stronger than we are and they spread a negative report about the land deregulated through the people of Israel by saying let me pass - in order to spy out his land that devours its inhabitants all the people we saw a giant we saw the nepheline the descendants of anak who was from the ethylene to ourselves we look like fresh hops by comparison we look that way to them - I think it's difficult to understate the enormity of the rebellion against the Lord and the catastrophe is described here and as we get in a chapter 14 we're gonna steam the consequences of this begin to unfold like the story of Joseph a pattern and a type is set up here that is at once true and historical with meaning and poignancy all in itself as well as it being prophetic and a metaphor a type that will in so many ways be repeated up just by the Israelite and later ears also by the church what we witness here is nothing less then if it were a novel thing an event you call the first fall of Israel which should have been a wonderful story about triumphant and prosperity a tail is really heretic the land and all that goodness that the Lord had prepared for them instead turns into a tragic narrative about disbelief and failure and weakness and a direct repudiation with God's grace in its effect this story is not completely unlike out of an eve of the fall of man Adam and Eve had no sooner been created by the pastor Potter then they succumb to their evil inclinations and they fill the race and in our story Israel had only days and weeks earlier been consecrated by the Lord been given his Torah and they were basking the constant presence of Yahweh but now they thought only to obey their own desires and fierce so please grasp that we're reading one of those history changing moments in the story of mankind Israel had Trek right up to the edge of fulfilling centuries of promise then they just quit just his victory was in their grasp they drew back in fear they turned back they refused to enter in that promise I mean how on a Razors in to meet all they lived until that moment to be accepted God's Messiah we had knowing no idea at that time what kind of danger you were in our count opens with you all day instructing most to send out a group of men to scout the land of Canaan and that group was to consist just one man from each of the twelve tribes immediately however we run into a bit of a scriptural to live off because later on in Deuteronomy were told this in Deuteronomy 1:22 then all of you approached me and said let us send men before us that they may search out the land for us and bring back to his word the way by which we should go up and the cities of which we shall enter and the thing pleased me I took 12 of your men one man for each tribe and only you can see that glow numbers 13 says God told Moses to send spies but Deuteronomy says the people of Israel approached Moses and they said they wanted to send spies Moses thought it was a good idea so he hand-picked 12 men what are we to make of this the answer according to a rabbinical writing is contained in a key Hebrew word use in numbers 13 first one the Hebrew word for sinned and he grew the word is chellamma and means send for yourself in other words God is telling Moses if you want to send some spies you got my permission what we see in verse one is not God on his own impetus to suddenly say moses he knowses compare monasticism spies now rather it is that God was responding to a request from Moses Moses was responded was responding to a request from the people and he took the matter to the Lord so God tells Moses go ahead satisfy yourself and the people's request and send out peace cops after all God knew already what was in the land of Canaan it was the people who were unsure of it all now let's be clear on something there is a difference between spine and Scouty some Bible versions saved while were scouting other spider like the difference between shoplifting Charlie's - no there's a difference what was instructed in numbers was to go scout out see the land in order to reassure the people it was like searching for a new community to buy a house not like the preliminary to a military operation and it had been a military operation most certainly the leaders of the tribes would not God and they wouldn't have sent out 12 two or three would be more for me because stuff would have been the key and later in the Bible when we see actual actual military spy he usually is two sometimes three men now the leaders chosen for this mission are very high leaders but not necessarily but print so the tribe achieve the tribe but notice that there is one tribe it's left out of the mix let me this is but for the confirmation that the splitting away by God of a priestly tribe eleven from all the other tribes of Israel is complete complete enough that Levy wasn't even thought of as a standard part of his religion and then in verse 16 we get this interesting a little aside that one of the tribal leaders eventually has his name changed by Moses or shame son of Newton Oh Shia became known as Joshua or more accurately in Hebrew Yeshua so what's the difference between Osheaga and Yahshua well in some ways it's quite astounded well Shana means God saves Yehoshua means you holding saves part of the reason for the name change is so that this is because the Hosea was born in Egypt well before the exodus began when we learned back in the book of Exodus was the god did not read you'll his own personal formal name you'd hate by either Nazi only until later when he gave it to most son not silent therefore the name Joshua Joshua could not have existed back in Egypt could it they didn't even know the name yet and of course our saviours given name is Yeshua which is just a contraction of yahushua you only saves Jesus Joshua Yeshua Yeshua they're all the same thing just in different dialects and languages from different reviewers and looking ahead to the book of Joshua it will be a hushirat Joshua not Moses not Moses that leads the people into the Promised Land Moses leads them up to it but not into it and in a direct parallel the Torah of Moses leads people up to the promised land but not into it for that it took issue Jesus Christ most Moses instructs the group of 12 to go up through the gift which is a very barren desert some of you have attained him there until they don't country and in essence they weren't really scouting out but again they were just it was just a place they had to go through to reach their goal which was no country or really it's indicating the general surrounding area of Cairo and their missions determine several things that are referenced in numbers 13 18 to 20 and I'm just going to reread those verses so we have a little idea here's 18 through 20 see what the land is like you notice the people living there whether they're strong or weak if you were a mini what kind of country they live in whether it's put her back kind of cities they live open her word if I see whether the land is fertile or it's unproductive and whether there's wooden or not I'm finding people enough to bring back some of the fruit of the land so the scallops were to go out and survey Canaan they were to check out for people check out the land check out the towns see if there's wooded areas determine how well things might go in the soil and most of the great Hebrew sages say that this was all about things like climate and fertility of the soil and the availability or not of natural resources one of the people of Canaan were fierce warriors wasn't really the issue as far as Moses was concerned although of course it was important to know that after all it's an unimaginable imagine being a Canaanite how you gonna feel when three million uninvited Hebrews show up with an eviction notice and were given the season in which the scouting mission have the time of the first great right buddy which means it was in the Sun it was in the July August timeframe it was gonna be hot traveling through that again so when verse 21 off they go and they look the place over and it's a big place and they began by taking your route through the low like a desert moving north on up through the hill country of keeper on and then eventually they traveled all will play is called that ball a mosque there's some disagreement over the exact location of that place but for sure it was well north probably even into what would eventually be called Syria and Lebanon an area that would endure Kings David and Saul and actually become part of Israel it was probably a distance of about 250 from Kadesh where they set out to they blow them up so it's no wonder total 40 days 40 did their vacuum now why was it all a destination for them some more Hebron was buried there it was in control that Abraham was first promised to land Heather always where Abraham first Southern land of Canaan it was the stomping grounds of all the patriarchs to one degree or another it was beautiful it was fertile it was good for pasture good for crops him Braun would become the unnamed capital of Israel for the first few years that they lived there because of the Hebrew history of the place it was also a sacred place so to speak for the Hebrews and in the verses and the verse is saying that along the way the scouting party ran into three men called out of heights exactly who or what be Hannah kites were is not entirely certain but the one thing we do know they were erased all people and they were compared to the Nephilim the ravine spoken of in the Genesis pre-flood a spoken of in the book of Genesis pre-flood I recall the Netherland an ethylene and the rabbi he erased the scripture said it was caused when the sons of the heaven had intercourse with daughters with men in other words angelite creatures and relations with human women as a result was alive big strong fears evil people now where the Hannah kites the latest version of the Nephilim or they just being compared to the net lame in a rhetorical way it's hard to know Goliath that giant warrior that was claimed by David was an Anna cut or in Hebrew on a keen any case he had a case apparently made quite an impression on these two Scouts then for some reason scripture pauses to inform us that had Rome was founded seven years and so on and there's nothing but speculation as to why it was even brought up but the one thing that is known is that Zaun would later be called Tanis a city in Egypt and Tanis was made the capital of Egypt and about at the same time the King David made Jerusalem the capital of Israel well the next they go to a place called fish pool and they find some grapes of enormous size so large there's a single cluster it has to be strung between two poles to be carried this is not real it's a metaphor first planing the extreme fertilis land it's no different than our saying he found a watermelon the size of a house no one in our culture would actually take that to mean the watermelon was 30 feet around it's just a modern way of saying it was really big and that's what's happening here it's also interesting to note that word ishbal means cluster like cluster of grapes this was the great growing reach so things were given great names so you see how the Bible the place names and the stories all intertwine sometimes it's hard to know which came first the story or the name of the place no words did the place it named after something happened there or is the story developed around the name of the place remember all the who you're meeting was in first handed down word of mouth so while many literary and phonetic devices were used to make stories easy to remember in the site it's only after we get it in print that we can begin to look at it and understand that some of this was hyperbole and so on to begin impression we knew he knew better we'd see that many of the verses of the Bible rhyme again because these were originally created in a way to be handed down orally to be easily remember you know just like children and taught Psalms as many devices the ancients therefore use the similar method things like they used poems unusual word structures and telling their tales anyway these tribal leaders returned all six weeks later they go straight to Moses in the area to report what they encountered they first tell Moses what they saw then tell the whole community of Israel about this does not mean all Israelites just means the elders and the leaders of Israel and we don't have to read too far before we do move hint about the attitude of these Scouts because they say we came to the land or uses not the land the Lord promised not of the land that was sworn a brand in other words they kind of disassociated themselves from that promise from the cutting a little bit from God for them this was just a political economic man and in the first part of their report dispute with Scotts offers a pretty positive view oh yeah they say it is and this is in response to Moses instruction that they were ready into the water mission as we were ready to go on their admission determine if the land was going to be fertile for they also show Moses their fruit they brought it and this is a response to the question of was the land would it mean this for larger plants not just underbrush but in answering the question about the strength of the people of Canaan the answers they were powerful ask for the cities they were alarmed they were well defended and by the way that's not an exaggeration most of the walls of the wall Canaanite cities that have been excavated anymore to excavate have been found to average 30 to 50 feet high and 10 to 15 feet thick and the scouts also say that the tolerable people the were there and the Amalekites thought to be the dominant people they were wonders for the desert regions of Keenan and the silent they were there to greet them they hate Islands a highly advanced civilization with its center in what is now modern-day Turkey the Jebusites the original builders of the city of Jerusalem and the ammonites probably Abraham's original tribe the very first group who sought power and dominance and they were always a father to their neighbors the Canaanites a conglomerate of the many offspring of nose Brinson can they tend to live along the coastal plains of the land there all of these crews they were well entrenched and they undoubtedly had no interest in turning their cities and states or to these Hebrews now understand something the scouts assessment was well balanced it was not exaggerated they were telling the truth the truth was scaring the daylights leaders in the elders of Israel who had gathered around him to hear this guy and we can easily imagine this kind of rising clatter of the people expressing anxiety and fear had growing did a complaint and rebellion because first 30 says came and pushed the people Kailen told quiet now settle down and Caleb says okay enough reality we know we're up against now let's go and take the land because we'll surely overcome all of these obstacles this is not the same conclusion that those within earshot can come to the other Scouts and the elders and decided they were suicide the take on these formidable people came to make their point they abandoned their balance report and say that the an kinds are so big that will be look like grasshoppers next to him I mean in other words it's just hopeless but here's the problem the scouts and the elders weren't rebellion against most is different billion against God beer refusal to take God and His Word was the greatest affront to His Holiness ender was thought to be gravely percussions a fellow believer let me tell you something often we think subconsciously have to leave the main thing were to obey the Lord about is to not do something we should that's usually the way we see it but even his odd and it's the case in point with the twelve Scouts are rebelling against God can be that we don't do the things that we clearly should instead we focused on the obstacles we look away from him people afraid of evil and patiently think well if it's difficult and dangerous certainly couldn't be from the Lord if God has said is deal up bound to be easy and not have any problems if we encounter problems and difficulties things that we never envisioned what that I guess we're going against kozmo that kind of thinking has probably snatched more blessings and pictures away individual believers with rips of Christians than any other it's a false assumption I might draw a parallel about this story in the twelve counts then perhaps you haven't thought about it's very contemporary Pyarelal is one that's going to have a deep and lasting effect on you the church God had met his people Israel to the promised land but ten men trusted respected men leaders they decided to stand in the way of God's people entering that land of promise the spend what any good leaders would do they investigated they evaluated and then he came to an honest and a pragmatic conclusion ten leaders ten are three million black faith and trust but they held great Authority so they deny three million Israelites who look to them for leadership their gardening inheritance and many within the institutional Church - they're doing the same thing by working so diligently and effectively to introduce us to our Savior she look but then denying is an our intimate spiritual connection with his own people the Jews and was she she was long land Israel who can look at the Bible and find one word that path leads God's often stated covenant that the land of Canaan belongs to his people Israel where do we find a single statement that says you know for the sake of world peace and human defined fairness Israel should be pushed to give up part is not all of their sacred land inheritance finding money but a large portion of the church today science with history's enemies on the matter of land entire denominations have openly denounced Israel's right to the very land spelled out in detail in the Word of God some of the kernel is real I believe that out of fairness out of love the right thing to do is divvy up with the son of that land and give it to those poor Palestinians after all isn't that just love and justice that Jesus taught and if you love the Palestinians what other computer responds then to carve off some of the promised land and force Israel to give it to them so they can have their own nation see the consequences for those who seek to work God's plan for his people Israel to clean their land inheritance this is severe ten of those twelve Scouts were just about to find out how seriously God takes his cuttings his commandments and the rights and duty of his people to assume their place in the land of promise the church today is also about to find out that the Lord God does not change he doesn't mean I know threats and then he's not gone back on his promise to the set of our nation that he created through Abraham let's read a little bit more about that in numbers chapter 14 was going to read the first 12 verses numbers chapter 14 at this all the people of Israel crying out and just pain they wept all night long and over all the people of Israel began grumbling against most severe the whole community told them oh we wish we died the land of Egypt it'll be died out of the desert why does that I bring us to this land where we'll die by the sword our lives and our little ones will be taken as booty wouldn't it be better for us just return to Egypt they send each other their love the Queen the leader and let's return to Egypt Moses Aaron to fell on their faces before the entire civil community of the people of Israel Joshua Joshua the son of nun and Caleb the son of your food aid from the detachment that had recognized the land for their clothes and said to the whole community of Israel the land we passed through in order to spy it out is outstandingly little and if I deny is pleased with us then he'll bring us into this plan you'll get it to us land flowing with milk and honey just don't repel against mine don't be afraid people living in the way will lead them up their defense has been taken away from them and Ananias with us don't be afraid of them but just as the whole community we're saying they should be stoned to death the glory of that and I appeared at the tenant meeting to all people of Israel now that I said to Moshe how much longer these people that are treating me with contempt how much longer will they not trust me especially considering all the signs I performed I'm not going to strike them with sickness or whether I am going to strengthen with the sickness destroy them and make from you a nation created and stronger than they are first one sums that up will the whole community brought into loud cries and the people wept that night that is the elders and the leaders started yelling and screaming and bickering and the people seeing what was happening they walked out into a community like panic the community of Israel was united down against Moses and Aaron and they were also united different in support of God note to the lies you can't be against God's mediator on the one hand and on the other Savior forgotten doesn't work that way then the blasphemy that was in their hearts came pouring out of their mouths think hard about this statement oh if we only stayed in Egypt translation we prefer slavery to our formal former evil taskmaster indulging from the Lord because the slavery was more familiar and comfortable and you know in some ways that did kind of have its perks I got they asked did you bring us here to be slaughtered by the Canaanites do you hate us as much as we all like have a tendency to listen to this kind of sheep or insight side and disgust that these ungrateful Israelites can't be all done the same thing from time to time in our walk with the Lord and we not all drink some challenging you know what look to consent to climb God why are you doing this to me why are you prove things even cleaning people out of my life that I value that I enjoy why are you blocking my path that I so desperately want to travel it seemed good to me and the older solution to the dilemma is what one might expect what's the point a different leader and now we can go back to Egypt let's have a vote will elect a new leader who will merely do what we want him to do which is to take us back to slavery in captivity please behave better there we knew what to expect every day there it houses to live in meaning weren't required to struggle to survive or to fight but our lives are is being happy the same thing is manna every day in our human strange creatures we are Oh quickly we forget the pain and anguish and hollowness of our of soul or our past lives our life before we knew God sometimes be yearn to go back for more even after we've escaped it for a time so strong as our desire which is to hang on to the comfortable unfamiliar you know this truth is so prevalent among human beings that there's problems really the Lord has to remind us about these self-destructive human tendencies that we have fitness you know how many years ago but I married my wife she owned a nice house in California but a friend of hers heard that she'll be moving out of that house he asked if she would consider renting it to him because he wanted to open up a home for abused girls and she did that and they used it that way for over 15 years and scores of abused girls beneath Runaways picked up by the local police many taken from abusive parents my social services they live there and safety over that time and it's through our conversations with our friend who was the overseer this program he told us of his great disappointment and frustration it was the susceptible of these girls many of whom had permanent injuries scars otherwise from the abuse they suffered would run away from this state house they'd go back that abusive environment and leave this opportunity for a better life he said it was always to go back to what they knew they were used to it was to shun what was new and better for what was old and familiar and comfortable even if the old way was dangerous it was destructive it could mean only only to a hellish life it may be a hellish future this is what we do his believers when we accept our salvation and go right on living as though it never happened God brought us up to the edge of the promised land that we got cold feet and we ran right back the world we had fled from and then typically we assume we're taking God with us we do economy with yes but we choose to go back to that Conover said we need the case that what happens but we're going to see the answer to that well examine that question next time so please rise [Music] you see [Music] yes [Music]

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Length: 40min 39sec (2439 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 28 2018