A DISCOURAGING REPORT: INVESTIGATING BEYOND THE NEGEV AND HILL COUNTRY

NUMBERS 1–14

After spending months at Mount Sinai with the laws of God in hand, the Israelites were ready to break camp. After traveling northward through the harsh and difficult terrain of the deserts of Paran and Zin, they arrived at the springs of Kadesh Barnea (Deut. 1:19), just south of Canaan. There Moses selected respected leaders10 from each Israelite tribe, whose responsibility would be to explore the Promised Land and encourage the people about the land they saw. However, as it turned out, the investigation yielded a negative report by the majority, and that report happened for a reason.

The Israelites chosen to bring a report of Canaan passed the remains of the ancient ruins of Arad (2600 BC). The fortress at the top of the tell dates to the period of the kings of Judah.

The assigned investigation of Canaan was carefully described by Moses both in terms of where the leaders were to explore and what information they were to bring back. Moses appeared to have some advance knowledge of Canaan.11 With this knowledge, he directed the explorers to search two subregions within Canaan: the Negev and the hill country (Num. 13:17). The Negev is a horizontal hourglass-shaped region with relatively flat terrain in the southernmost portion of the Promised Land. The hill country covers the central mountain spine traveling north and south through the heart of the Promised Land. Moses further directed these men to bring back answers to key questions about those two subregions. What is the agricultural potential of the land? How densely populated are these regions? Are the communities undefended villages or cities with walled fortifications (Num. 13:18–20)?

Geographical and archaeological studies of the Negev and hill country lead us to a reasonable expectation of how their report should have sounded. The agricultural capability of the land might not equal that of Egypt, but in contrast to the wilderness regions in which they had been living, Canaan had much to offer the farmer and shepherd. After all, God was bringing Jacob’s family of shepherds home. Thus the land was described to the Israelites as a land flowing with milk (shepherding) and honey (agriculture; Exod. 3:8). While a larger population and fortified cities existed in portions of Canaan that lay outside the parameters defined by Moses (that is, in the Shephelah, in the Jezreel Valley, and along the coastal plain),12 the portion of the land to which Moses directed these men was thinly settled,13 with very few fortified cities.14 Knowing what we do about where these men were to look, we expect a positive if not glowing report that would have excited Israel about the days that lay ahead.

After forty days of exploration, these men returned, and with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, they delivered a decidedly shaded report. It celebrated the agricultural capability of the Promised Land as expected (Num. 13:26–27), but ten of the twelve officials quickly shifted their tone. They spoke about the large and well-fortified cities that would resist Israel’s entry (Num. 13:28), and they made it sound as though the land was full of people (Num. 13:29).

Route of the scouts (Numbers 13)

The Jezreel Valley. The Lord did not instruct the twelve Israelite scouts to go to regions such as the Jezreel Valley, which led to a discouraging report.

Vineyards in the Valley of Eshcol. A report of rich agricultural land was provided when the Israelite scouts returned to the camp with grapes from the Valley of Eshcol north of Hebron.

The reason the report was negative is because it was based on land outside of the area Moses instructed them to investigate—the land along the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River (Num. 13:29). Despite the protests of Joshua and Caleb (Num. 13:30; 14:6–9), it was the misguided report of the majority that swayed the thoughts and feelings of the people. Calling for a return to Egypt under new leadership, these people incited a stunning message from the Lord: no one twenty years of age or older, except for Joshua and Caleb, would enter the Promised Land. These Israelites would remain for decades in the Wilderness of Zin until each of those participating in this mutiny had died. So the vision of the Promised Land that was to inspire hope and excitement was delivered in such a way as to instill dread and doubt. And that doubt brought to Israel not a blessing but disaster.