NUMBERS

Numbers Chapter 13

• Numbers 13:1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, 
• 2 Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. 
• 3 And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel. 
• 4 And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. 
• 5 Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori. 
• 6 Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 
• 7 Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. 
• 8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun. 
• 9 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu. 
• 10 Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi. 
• 11 Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi. 
• 12 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli. 
• 13 Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael. 
• 14 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. 
• 15 Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 
• 16 These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Joshua.
• 17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: 
• 18 And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; 
• 19 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; 
• 20 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 firstripe grapes. 
• 21 So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. 
• 22 And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 
• 23 And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. 
• 24 The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. 
• 25 And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. 
• 26 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. 
• 27 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. 

All this was as God had told them it would be. This is the land God planned to give them. They were sent first to spy out the land and determine the strongholds, the type of housing, the strengths and the weaknesses of the people before going in and conquering the land. They had to know exactly how the land laid and how to plan their attack. 

This spying was not done to see if they could accomplish the task but to see how best to accomplish it. The invasion itself was a done deal. It was a commandment of God. So we see this attempt to spy out the land first was not to find fault and stop the entrance into Canaan. I'm wondering too, if this was a test God gave to see if the people who previously murmured and complain, was worthy to receive this land.

Before going further we must remind ourselves why Israel is being allowed to invade and destroy someone else's country. Lest we assume God is cruel or that Israel didn't hear from God and took all this upon themselves, we must look a little at the history of these countries. 

In the time of Abraham the iniquity of the Canaanites was not yet full. In other words they had not gotten so evil that they were at the point of no return. They were evil but not bad enough to destroy. There was a chance of repentance and change. Abraham was sort of a witness to them while he lived among them. 

• Genesis 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 
• 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 
• 15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 
• 16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. 

God promised Abraham their land at that time but he was not to invade or take any land yet. It was promised to his seed after him. Isaac also did not take the land, neither did Jacob. 

They did not take any land promised to them because the Canaanites were not yet so full of sin that they couldn't be redeemed. God never allowed Israel to invade a land full of innocent people even if the people did not believe in Him (God). They had to be very wicked and evil before God would allow Israel to touch them in any way. 

At the time of the Exodus the Canaanites had become very wicked. When a land becomes so wicked that evil gets into the genetic makeup, things have to stop. 

The land was full of giants. Some believe that fallen angels at one time had relations with women and this resulted in angels. That group of people were destroyed during the great flood in Noah's day. Apparently some believe that Satan's angels attempted this again and it resulted in the giants which existed among the Canaanites. Those angels are bound and cannot do this again. unless they are set free. 

For those who do not accept the above theory that's okay, I just threw it in for discussion. No matter how it happened though there were giants and genetic evil that was inbred. That meant that from generation to the next generation, the evil would continue and had gotten beyond hope or redemption just as in the days of the flood. 

Here are some of the sins they committed:

Worshipping idols that required human sacrifice. Innocent children were burned alive as a sacrifice to these idols. When God sees children abused this manner, it isn't long until judgment comes. If I were in a country that allowed the practice of abortion, I would start to fear the judgment of God for that country. Scientists have discovered the little babies in abortion can feel the pain.

There was gross sexual immorality. Temple prostitutes. That meant that prostitution was part of their ritual of the worship of idols. When a country has idol worship, there is demonic false religion behind it. You will see rampant adultery, fornication which is sexual relationships that God didn't create or ordain among humans and even some with animals.

Since 1963 when the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against prayer in school; the schools went downhill until now in 2025. We now have young people that are confused about their gender, sex change operations and even parents using births certificates for their children with no gender listed. It is confusion. This is a result of not retaining God or God's word in their knowledge as described in the book of Romans chapter 1.

Children are abused sexually in the name of religion. Even in the United States as this present time are child sex rings and human trafficking.

Torture, rape and many other abominations were done by many civilizations that were wicked. As in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, evil was to the point of no return. Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed by fire. God could not even find 10 people that were righteous in order to spare the cities.

Here is Leviticus is a warning for the children of Israel not to partake of the evil that the nations before them had done:

• Leviticus 18:18 Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time. 
• 19 Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness. 
• 20 Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbor's wife, to defile thyself with her. 
• 21 And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. 
• 22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. 
• 23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. 
• 24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: 
• 25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. 
• 26 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: 
• 27 (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) 
• 28 That the land spew not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spewed out the nations that were before you. 
• 29 For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. 
• 30 Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God. 

When is the world around us going to wake up and see that God is still the same God. He sent Jesus to die for these types of sin as well as all sin and we can be free from sin and not under bondage.  Yet so many ignore the word of God and even call those that preach against sin, evil and those that go along with sin as good. 

Judgment is coming but God sent us a way to escape the coming judgment but so many continue ignore God and "Do that which is right in their own eyes."  If He judged nations in the past, He is still the same God, He will judge all who do not take the way of escape. That way is turning from these abominations and trusting in Jesus Christ to cleanse us from these abominations. We can be clean, we can be free but alas as Jesus said so many choose evil instead of good. 

• Numbers 13:28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 
• 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. 
• 30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. 

Caleb the leader from the tribe of Judah had faith that God was with them. He knew that by the power of God they could take the land. He remembered the power of God that brought them out of Egypt, parted the Red Sea and He believed God again. 

• Numbers 13:31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 

Unbelief was about to rob the people of entering into the promised land until another forty years have passed. 

• Numbers 13:32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 
• 33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. 

All it takes is for one or two people to give an evil report and it would cause fear and unbelief to come upon all the rest of the congregation. This rebellion and unbelief in the word of God cost them dearly. 

Our words have mighty power. Our words can condemn, discourage, cause rebellion, cause unbelief, spread gossip, stir up hate, influence people to sin and sow discord among brethren. Our words can also encourage one another in the faith, stir up the gift of love, give hope, teach the word, exhort other believers, make the weak strong and influence people in righteousness. 

The word of the Lord said that they could have victory but men said that they could not. We will see in the chapters ahead that the majority always follows the bad rather than the good. 

• Matthew 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 
• 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.