Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Tree of Life
Weekly Review
Dispensations of the Mosaic Law.
The importance of listening to
the positive and reject the negative.
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NUM 13:17, When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there into the Negev; then go up into the hill country.”
They did travel quite a bit and they were gone for 40 days. And we have seven important principles that they were to concentrate upon that were to be included in their report.
1. The first thing, what is the terrain like?
Num 13:18, “And see what the land is like.
Like all of us need to be aware of what the environment is like which we are about to face when we face the giants in the promise land that God has put us in!
2. The spies were to see what the people who live in it are like! And whether the people who live in it are strong {or} weak,
In other words, we have to know something about the people or the problems we need to be prepared to conquer.
3. Whether they are few or many.
4. Then the fourth part of the reconnaissance is whether the land is good or bad, NUM 13:19, And how is the land in which they live, is it good or bad?
5. How are the cities in which they live, are {they} like {open} camps or with fortifications?
6. Agricultural reconnaissance. NUM 13:20, and how is the land, is it fat or lean?
This means how much land or spiritual ground we need to overcome.
7. Are there trees in it or not? In other words do we need to use what is in the land or ignore it.
And so every one of these representatives of the tribes of Israel had equal privilege equal opportunity for greatness. They all took the same test! Most of them failed, we really only know about two of them who passed!
They all had the potential but whether potential ever materializes or not depends on doctrine metabolized in the soul. Remember that true greatness in the spiritual life must depend on metabolize doctrine in the right lobe of the soul.
So, two men became great leaders as a result of this reconnaissance. One of them is Caleb from the tribe of Judah. Caleb was 40 years old when the reconnaissance mission occurred. He will be 85 and still be doing great things.
JOS 14:7, “I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh barnea to spy out the land, and I brought word back to him as it was in my heart.
In other words, what he reported was divine viewpoint because he had a lot of doctrine in his heart.
The other man is Joshua. Joshua is from the tribe of Ephrahim, the tribe of Joseph’s older son and only Caleb and Joshua had the spiritual strength to lift the shield of faith under pressure. These were the only two men who were actually prepared to do anything effectively from the divine viewpoint. And only Caleb and Joshua out of the twelve were promoted by God as mature believers.
NUM 13:21, So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, at Lebo hamath.
This was simply a long range strategical reconnaissance by the leader of each tribe. And when they came back with a positive report, Moses knew that these men would be the leaders of the next generation.
The reconnaissance had two tests: The first test was a test of leadership in the tribes of Israel and only Caleb and Joshua passed that test. And as we have seen, leadership is something that everyone of us have to deal with on a personal level.
The first test was a test of leadership in the tribes of Israel and only Caleb and Joshua passed that test. The second is the test of the Exodus generation, and with few exceptions they all flunked the test under operation cry-baby as we will see.
Operation cry-baby is the test that led to isolation and the accumulation of scar tissue on the soul. In fact, the worst case of hardness of the heart recorded for us is the Pharaoh of the Exodus, and he stands out as one of the greatest enemies of Israel in all of history. But it’s interesting how that in three different areas of the scripture God says that Israel itself had exactly the same scar tissue. And that the Jews themselves broke the record of the Exodus generation for hardness of the heart.
So that in NUM 13:22, we read, When they had gone up into the Negev, they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
Ahiman is one of the three famous giants from the race of the Anakim. He was eventually driven out by Caleb.
Sheshai was eventually slain by Caleb and Talmai was a third giant also expelled by Caleb as well.
I think that you can see why Caleb was the type of man who operated in doctrine under pressure. He didn’t run away! He faced the giants head on and defeated them! Just like many of you have to face certain giants in your life from time to time.
There were two basic collections of giants in the land. In the north there was a great concentration of giants called the Rephaim.
In the south there was a concentration called the Anakim, named after Anak who was the original giant in that area.
In JOS 15:14 we read that Caleb drove out the giants from his inheritance which is why we read in verse 14, (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
Zoan was built by the Jews as slaves.
Hebron was captured by the Jews as free slaves.
NUM 13:23, Then they came to the valley of Eshcol and from there cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes; and they carried it on a pole between two men, with some of the pomegranates and the figs.
They are to bring back some of the produce of the land.
NUM 13:24-26, That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut down from there. When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days, they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.
Now, they should have never told the whole congregation. It should have been a top-secret report to Moses and Aaron. They knew Moses was a strong leader.
They knew that he would make a brave and doctrinal conclusion, and they knew the weakness of the people.
And so, the ten men, or leaders of the tribes of Israel already made up their minds that they are not going into the land and that they are going to discourage and not encourage the people of God.
What do you do, encourage or discourage.
ISA 35:3, Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.
In ACT 4:36, notice what Barnabas was known as, And Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means, Son of Encouragement),
And of course, true encouragement comes from the scriptures, ROM 15:4, For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
In fact, God is even called the God of encouragement in ROM 15:5 Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus;
And this is why we are to gather together in HEB 10:25, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but gather together for the purpose encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.