part0033

Facing one's enemies can be very difficult if the person feels that the enemy is stronger and better able to engage in battle. Shortly after having left Egypt and while still under the leadership of Moses, the children of Israel had had that very experience. Caleb, Joshua, and ten other men had been sent to check out the land of Canaan. Moses had sent one man from each of ten tribes of Israel. He had also sent two men from the tribe of Joseph to represent both Manasseh and Ephraim. However, he had not sent anyone from the tribe of Levi because the Levites had already been placed in full-time service to the Lord. When the twelve spies had returned from their mission, ten of the spies had given a very negative report to Moses and to the people. Numbers 13:27-28 says, "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. 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 ." Also in their report, they had indicated having seen the Amalekites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites in the land. So their conclusion had been that the Canaanites had been too mighty and too fierce to be overthrown.

Even further, the below verses create the impression that the spies had been so afraid because the people in Canaan had been giants. Numbers 13:32-33 says, "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. 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 ." But the Canaanites being literal giants probably had not actually been the case. The clue to understanding that is something that the spies had earlier said. Numbers 13:23 says, "And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs ." The twelve spies had pretty much implied that the grapes in Canaan had been giant-sized. But that had probably been an exaggeration because history has never reported giant people in any land ever growing giant fruit simply because they are giants.

The Hebrew word used for "giants" in Numbers 13:32-33 had been the same word that was used for "giants" in Genesis 6:4. That verse says, "There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown ." So the giants seen by the spies could not possibly have been from the same giants of Noah's days because those giants had been killed in the Great Flood. Therefore, the more likely meaning is that the Canaanites had been described as giants because of their superior warlike features or because of their having appeared to be people of reputation and renown . But regardless of which way the word "giant" should be understood, the spies that had gone into Canaan had not thought themselves capable of overthrowing them. So even though they had recently experienced their deliverance from Egypt, they had not trusted the Lord to be able to finish what He had started. Only Caleb and Joshua had been confident about a victory in Canaan. So only they had lived through the entire forty years that the children of Israel had wandered through the wilderness.

Because the rest of the people had refused to trust the Lord for a victory over the Canaanites, God had said through Moses that none of them except Caleb, Joshua, and the innocent young children would ever enter into the Promised Land. Numbers 14:26-32 says, "And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, Doubtless ye shall not come into the land , concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness ."

Forty years later, after all of the people of that earlier rebellion had died except for Caleb, Joshua, and the innocent children, the time had come for the children of Israel to finally enter into the Promised Land. Joshua had already taken over for Moses. Therefore, he had begun preparing for the conquest by sending two spies into Jericho. Joshua 2:1 says, "And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there." Their experience with Rahab will be discussed in the next chapter of this text. So it will not be discussed at this time. When the two spies had returned to Joshua, the intent had been for the children of Israel to take Jericho. However, Joshua's military strategy for taking that city had not been like any other military strategy ever devised.

Joshua 6:2-5 says, "And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him." As a result, when Joshua had exactly obeyed the Lord's instructions, the wall had fallen, and the people of Jericho had been defeated. Of the people of Jericho, only Rahab and her family had survived. So the children of Israel had exercised their faith in the Lord. They had followed His instructions. The result is that they had gotten the victory. Rahab had fully trusted the Lord. The result is that her family and she had been spared from the danger and the destruction that had taken place.