from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; Sermons
I. THE ORIGIN OF THE MISSION. We know from Deuteronomy 1:22 that this commandment of God followed on a resolution of the people. It was their wish that spies should go forth and tell them something of the way beforehand. And even Moses fell in with them. It would seem an easier thing to be meek than to take no thought for the morrow. Even Moses the servant of God must be taking up to-morrow's burdens before the time. How much better it would have been patiently and trustfully to wait upon the cloud and the trumpets! (Numbers 9:15-23; Numbers 10:1-10). But since the people's hearts are so, God sends the spies. The unfitness of Israel for immediate entrance into the promised land was showing itself more and more, and God sent these searchers, that in their searching both they and the people they represented might also be searched. May we not as it were detect a tone of rebuke and remonstrance in the words, "which I will give unto the children of Israel"? The Israelites by demanding this mission were trying to guard themselves on a side that really needed no defense, while leaving' themselves more and more exposed to all the perils of an unbelieving mind. II. THE MEN WHO WERE SENT. Whether by choice of Moses or the people we are not told, but probably there was much careful consultation on the matter, according to human wisdom. Doubtless they seemed the best men for the purpose; chosen for physical endurance, quickness of eye, tact in emergencies, and good judgment of the land and people. Yet some very important requisites were evidently not considered. Out of the twelve, only two were men of faith in God and deep convictions as to the destiny of Israel. A great deal depends on the sort of men we send in any enterprise for God. Believing and devout spirits can see prospects others cannot see, because they have resources which others have not. Perhaps in the whole nation there were not twelve men to be found of the right stamp in every particular, and even if they had been found, they might have failed in commanding popular confidence. We can easily imagine that Caleb and Joshua had not a very comfortable time with their colleagues, and that it was not a very easy matter to agree upon a report. But such as they were, they went forth. The people had come to depend on twelve limited minds like their own, each with its own way of looking at things, instead of on him who had already done such great things - the unchangeable One, the ample Providence, the sure Defense. III. THE INFORMATION REQUIRED. Moses gives them their instructions (verses 17-20), and they come from a man who is acting rather in accordance with the wishes of the people than in strict harmony with previous revelations from God. Had not God said to Moses, or ever the chains of Egypt were loosed, that he would bring his people into the land of the Canaanites, a land flowing with milk and honey, a land promised in solemn covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when as yet they were strangers in it? (Exodus 3:17; Exodus 6:3, 4). It was the people who, in their unbelief and carnal anxiety, wanted something in the way of human testimony. Let them, therefore, indicate such details of inquiry as in their opinion were necessary. They were like a suspicious buyer, who, not content with the word of the person from whom he makes his purchase, though he be a man of tried integrity, hunts round for all sorts of independent testimony, even from those who may have very doubtful capacity as witnesses. "A land flowing with milk and honey, is it? See then if it be such a good land. See if the people appreciate its fertility by their cultivation of it. Observe the climate and the people themselves, if they be a strong, stalwart race, and numerous. Do they live peacefully among themselves, or in strongholds?" There was not a sentence in these instructions but threw some doubt on the wisdom, power, and faithfulness of Jehovah. When God sends out people to do such work as delights his heart, it is in a very different spirit; as he sent out the single stripling, unaccustomed to war, against the giant; as Jesus sent out the twelve on their gospel mission, encumbered with as few material resources as possible. The land to be searched was the ]and in which their honoured progenitors had lived; but there is no word to say, "Tell us of Bethel, and of the plain of Mature, and the cave of Machpelah in Hebron." And to crown all, the result shows that they took all this trouble and waited these forty days for useless information. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. - Y.
They brought up an evil report. I. GOD'S PROMISES WILL ALWAYS BEAR INVESTIGATION. It is true that none of us has entered heaven; but Jesus, who has gone on in advance to take possession of it in His people's name, has sent back an Eshcol cluster of its vintage, that we may know something of what we should expect. He has given us "the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." The believer already has everlasting life; for the regeneration which he has here experienced needs but to be expanded and elevated and sublimated, to become the life of heaven. It is a confirmation of Jehovah's word to him; it is the seal of God Himself to the truthfulness of His promise that he shall yet enter into heaven's own rest.II. THERE ARE ANAKIM TO BE ENCOUNTERED IN THE CONQUEST OF EVERY PROMISED LAND. Christ has said, "If any man will come after Me," &c., and has urged us to count the cost before we commence to raise our tower. So He would prepare us for self-denial, hardship, and long-continued struggle; but we must not suppose that in all this the gospel is an exception to the general law. No Canaan of success, in any pursuit, can be gained save by the conquest of the Anakim. He who would rise to a position of eminence in the department of literature, for example, must learn to "scorn delights, and live laborious days." He must deny himself many pleasures in which others allow themselves to indulge, and must keep himself, in a sense, secluded from the world, living in his library and at his desk. The man of business who would climb the steep that leads to wealth, must pursue a similar course. He cannot leave his place; he keeps himself chained to the oar; he knows that nothing will avail but work — hard and continuous work; for so only can he conquer those influences that stand in the way of his attainment of his object. It is the same with the artist; and, on a lower platform, with the athlete. All of them have to go into training; and, in every pursuit, a campaign, with its perils and fatigues, comes before a victory. We cannot complain, there-tore, if the same law holds in the spiritual life. The giants with whom we have to contend are mainly in ourselves, in the shape of evil principles and sins that most easily beset us; and it is only through self-conquest that we can pass to any external victory. We cannot vault by one spasmodic leap up to the height of holiness, any more than the Israelites could all at once obtain possession of the Land of Promise. "By little and little" it has to be done. It needs prayer, and watchfulness, and .constancy; and if we decline to enter upon the conflict, we shall fall short of the inheritance. III. THE TRUE BELIEVER IS ALWAYS ABLE TO CONQUER HIS SPIRITUAL ADVERSARIES WITH THE HELP OF GOD. It is not a question of feebleness, but of faith. Whether the work we set before us be our own sanctification, or the evangelisation of the city, or the conversion of the world, the principle is still the same. We can do all things through Christ strengthening us; and if we attempt great things, trusting in Him, we may expect to do great things, not otherwise. IV. THERE IS A POINT BEYOND WHICH IT IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO REPAIR THE FOLLIES OF THE PAST. They who will not when they may, shall not when they will. You see this in every department and pursuit of life. Up to a certain limit it seems to be in a man's power, if he choose, to make up for the past; but beyond that limit it is no longer possible, whether he choose or not. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.) 1. The worldly man looks at a Christian to see whether his religion be joyful. "By this," says he, "shall I know whether there is that in religion which will make a man glad. If I see the professor of it with a joyous countenance, then I will believe it to be a good thing." But hark, sir! hast thou any right to put it to that test? Is not God to be counted true, even before we have proved Him? 2. Again, you say you will test the holiness of Christ's religion by the holiness of Christ's people. You have no right, I reply, to put the question to any such test as that. The proper test that you ought to use is to try it yourselves — to "taste and see that the Lord is good." By tasting and seeing you will prove His goodness, and by the same process you must prove the holiness of His gospel. It will be in vain for you to say at the day of judgment, "Such and such a man was inconsistent, therefore I despised religion." Your excuse will then be discovered to be idle, for you shall have to confess that in other respects you did not take another man's opinion. In business, in the cares of this life, you were independent enough; in your political opinions you did not pin your faith to any man's coat; and, therefore, it shall be said of you at last, you had enough independence of mind to steer your own course, even against the example of others, in business, in politics, and such like things; you certainly had enough of mental vigour, if you had chosen to have done so, to have stood out against the inconsistency of professors, and to have searched for yourselves. II. With that, by way of guard, I shall now bring forth THE BAD SPIES. I wish that the men mentioned in the text had been the only spies who have brought an evil report; it would have been a great mercy if the plague that killed them had killed all the rest of the same sort. Remember, these spies are to be judged, not by what they say, but by what they do; for to a worldling words are nothing — acts are everything. The reports that we bring of our religion are not the reports of the pulpit, not the reports that we utter with our lips, but the report of our daffy life, speaking in our own houses, and the every-day business of life. 1. Welt, first, I produce a man who brings up an evil report of the land, and you will see at once that he does so, for he is a dull and heavy spirit. If he preaches he takes this text Through much tribulation we must inherit the kingdom." Somehow or other he never mentions God's people without calling them God's tried children. As for joy in the Lord, he looks upon it with suspicion. "Lord, what a wretched land is this!" is the very height of poetry to him. He is always in the valley where the mists are hovering; he never climbs the mountain brow, to stand above the tempests of this life. He was gloomy before he made a profession of religion — since then he has become more gloomy still. 2. But there is another class of professors who bring up a bad report of the land. And this I am afraid will affect us all; in some measure we must all plead guilty to it. The Christian man, although he endeavours uniformly to walk according to the law of Christ, finds still another law in his members warring against the law of his mind, and consequently there are times when his witness is not consistent. Sometimes this witness is, "The gospel is holy," for he is holy himself. But, alas! with the very best of men there are times when our witness contradicts our faith. When you see an angry Christian, and when you meet with a Christian who is proud, when you catch a Christian overtaken in a fault, as you may sometimes do, then his testimony is not consistent. He contradicts then what he has at other times declared by his acts. III. Thus I have brought forth the evil spies who bring up a bad report; and now we have some GOOD SPIES too. But we will let them speak. Come, Joshua and Caleb, we want your testimony; though you are dead and gone you have left: children behind you; and they, still grieved as you were at the evil report, rend their clothes, but they boldly stand to it that the land they have passed through is an exceeding good land. One of the best spies I have ever met with is an aged Christian. I remember to have heard him stand up and tell what he thought of religion. He was a blind old man, who for twenty years had not seen the light of the sun. His grey locks hung from his brow and floated over his shoulders. He stood up at the table of the Lord, and thus addressed us: — "Brethren and sisters, I shall soon be taken from you; in a few more months I shall gather up my feet upon my bed, and sleep with my fathers. I have not the tongue of the learned, nor the mind of the eloquent, but I desire, before I go, to bear one public testimony to God. Fifty and six years have I served Him, and I have never found Him once unfaithful. I can say, 'Surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life, and not one good thing hath failed of all the Lord God has promised.'" IV. And now I want to press with all my might upon every professing Christian here THE GREAT NECESSITY OF BRINGING OUT A UNIFORMLY GOOD TESTIMONY CONCERNING RELIGION. One of Napoleon's officers loved him so well that when a cannonball was likely to smite the emperor he threw himself in the way, in order that he might die as a sacrifice for his master. Oh, Christian, you would do the same, I think. If Christ were here you would run between Him and insult — yea, between Him and death. Well, then, I am sure you would not wantonly expose Christ; bug remember, every unguarded word you use, every inconsistent act, puts a slur on Christ. The world, you know, does not find fault with you — they lay it all to your Master. If you make a slip to-morrow, they will not say, "That is John Smith's human nature"; they will say, "That is John Smith's religion." They know better, but they will be sure to say it. Do not allow Christ to bear the blame — do not suffer His escutcheon to be tarnished — do not permit His banner to be trampled in the dust. Then there is another consideration. You must remember, if you do wrong, the world will be quite sure to notice you. They never think of looking at the virtues of holy men; all the courage of martyrs, and all the fidelity of confessors, and all the holiness of saints, but our iniquities are ever before them. Please to recollect that wherever you are, as a Christian, the eyes of the world are upon you; the Argus eyes of an evil generation follow you everywhere. If a Church is blind the world is not. And remember, too, that the world always wears magnifying glasses to look at Christians' faults. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) 2. In that they confess it was land that flowed with milk and honey, observe the rich blessings God bestoweth upon men, and make such use in your own particular as he did that said, "O Lord, thou givest to me all things fat and fair, I give to Thee all things lean and foul." Again, since the country was so good, and the inhabitants so wicked, let it make you remember the religious houses, planted most usually in places that flowed with milk and honey, and yet the possessors so idolatrous, and every way evil, as the world now taketh notice they were. Happy men are they that consider the Lord's superabounding goodness to them, and make it an argument to press them daily to thankfulness, love, and all obedience to Him both in soul and body. 3. Note the manner of their praising of the land. It is with a "but"; surely say they, it floweth with milk and honey; "but," but what? "But the people be too strong, and we are not able to go up to possess it." Thus do slanderers ever set out their praises. Such an one is a good man, "but." Such a woman is a good woman and a good neighbour, "but." The preacher to-day made a good sermon, "but." No man hath a better servant, "but." So ever with one "but" or other they abate their praise, and sting the party or matter praised in the minds of them they speak unto. The Lord of lords and Judge of judges well seeth this their dealing, yea, the world noteth it, and even they, to whom they, howsoever they hold their peace, secretly in their hearts abhor such smoothing calumniation. The end of it with God may appear by this example as fearful a one as may be read in any history. Which you may see was this, that six hundred thousand of them died in the wilderness, and never entered into the Land of Promise, and the infamy of these "butting" reporters abide chronicled to this day in the Book of God, the chronicle to be feared above all chronicles. In county and country, with great and small, these "buts" towards our brethren and good matters are used. God in mercy work the remove of them. (Bp. Babington.) I. There is the Anak SPECULATIVE. He is bred by much of the scientific tendency of the time. Men make everything of law, and forget a personal God.1. While science has revealed law, it has also revealed marvellous manipulation of law to special uses, viz., telegraph, telephone, phonograph. Now, if man can so use law to special ends without breaking law, cannot God use His own laws, so that they shall come to focus in blessing on my head, and without breaking them? 2. The most capacious mind is most attentive to details. The infinite mind does not find details burdensome. Therefore God can care for me, and help me. 3. The revelation of the Divine Fatherhood; and fatherhood always means care, love, help, particular attention. II. There is the Anak EXPERIMENTAL. He takes such shapes as these — I cannot believe, it is hard to serve God; I cannot make myself love; I have no assurance, &c., &c. If we will only confront this son of Anak by a determined doing of precisely what Christ tells us, we shall soon discover that he cannot stand before us and prevent entrance into the Canaan of forgiveness and of peace. III. There is the Anak VOLITIONAL. And he is the main Anak that really prevents us. Two sailors going to their boat past midnight, and getting into it that they might row themselves to their ship yonder, with brains fuddled by a spree on shore, laid hold of the oars and tugged and tugged; and when the morning broke found they had not moved an inch. And with clearer brains and in the advancing light they discovered the reason — they had not lifted the anchor. Ah, how often an unlifted anchor of some known sin is the real Anak keeping back and holding back! (W. Hoyt, D. D.) Character, like Achilles in disguise at the court of Lycomedes, does not disclose itself till the trumpet blast is sounded, and there is a rush for armour as besuits it.I. INTELLECTUAL. Schoolboy finds pathway beset with difficulties. They grow, rather than diminish. Nothing will tell its own mystery: how far we shall proceed will depend upon an unconquerable will and intensest application. As answers, we have illiteracy, scholarship, genius. II. SOCIAL Problems of life and government complex and infinite. A few lead; the multitude follow. III. INDUSTRIAL. We seek and find our own work. Just what is in us will come out. IV. RELIGIOUS. Here, too, difficulties will not remove themselves. Just how we approach them will reveal the infidel, athiest, or Christian. Conclusion: Life, in all its departments, is of one piece and like texture; and its difficulties are for trial, discipline, and mastery. (L. O. Thompson.) This was a mean report, it was hardly a report at all — so nearly may a man come to speak the truth, and yet not to be truthful, so wide is the difference between fact and truth. Many a book is true that is written under the name of fiction; many a book is untrue that lays claim only to the dry arguments of statistics and schedules. Truth is subtle; it is a thing of atmosphere, perspective, unnameable environment, spiritual influence. Not a word of what the truth says may have occurred in what is known as literal fact, because it is too large a thing ever to be encompassed within the boundaries of any individual experience. The fact relates to an individuality; the truth relates to a race. A fact is an incident which occurred; a truth is a gospel which is occurring throughout all the ages of time. The men, therefore, who reported about walled cities, and tall inhabitants, and mountain refuges, and fortresses by the sea, confined themselves to simply material considerations; they overlooked the fact that the fortress might be stronger than the soldier, that the people had nothing but figure, and weight, and bulk, and were destitute of the true spirit which alone is a guarantee of sovereignty of character and conquest of arms. But this is occurring every day. Again and again we come upon terms which might have been written this very year. We are all men of the same class, with an exceptional instance here and there; we look at walls, we receive despatches about the stature of the people and the number of their fortresses, and draw very terrible conclusions concerning material resources, forgetting in our eloquent despatches the only thing worth telling, namely, that if we were sent by Providence and are inspired by the Living God and have a true cause and are intent to fight with nobler weapons than gun and sword, the mountains themselves shall melt whilst we look upon them, and they who inhabit the fortresses shall sleep to rise no more. This is what we must do in life — in all life — educational, commercial, religious. We have nothing to do with outsides and appearances, and with resources that can be totalled in so many arithmetical figures; we have to ascertain, first, Did God. send us? and secondly, if He sent us, to feel that no man can drive us back.(J. Parker, D. D.) "Now lads," said the late Duncan Mathieson, the Scottish Evangelist, to a lot of boys who had been converted at his meetings, "the people here are not in the habit of reading their Bible to learn what God says to them, but I'll tell you what they'll read. They'll read your lives and ways very carefully to see if you are really what you profess to be. And mind you this, if they find your lives to be inconsistent with your profession, the devil will give them this for an excuse in rejecting Christ." Very true indeed are these words. Would that we could lay them more constantly to heart t The life of the professing Christian is the only book of evidences that many people ever read in reference to Christianity. The Christian professor's life is thus the world's Bible. When there are inconsistencies and flaws in it, then the world makes these a plea against religion. Let us remember that the world's eyes are upon us. Let us keep our book of evidences clear and pure.I think it was Henry Ward Beecher who used to relate how when he was a boy there was no stove in the church which he then attended. Some of the worshippers began to think that they might be better with a fire, but they were opposed by others, who thought that a stove should have no place in the house of the Lord, indeed that they could not get to heaven from a church with a stove in it. but, despite their fierce opposition, the elders by a narrow majority ultimately decided to have it, and accordingly it was procured and placed in the church. On the following Sunday the doubters mustered strong. Some complained of being very warm, and others declared they were nearly stifled, while a few boldly pronounced that the stove had no right to be there at all, and together they made a rush for the offending piece of furniture, to turn it out of the building, when lo, to their surprise, they found it was empty. These people were very bad reasoners, but had a great imaginative faculty.It is a bad plan to exaggerate the enemy's strength; to do so is to increase it. Our English warriors have owed many a victory on land and sea to the confidence with which they entered the fight. Francis Drake was playing bowls on the Hoe at Plymouth when information was brought him of the appearance of the terrible Armada. Some were for hurrying away at once; but the great sailor insisted on finishing the game, gaily assuring his comrades: " There will be plenty of time to beat the Spaniards." It is with something of the same dauntless spirit that we should enter upon our holy war. There was real wisdom in the lad's answer when asked what he thought of the first two chapters of Job. He had but just learned to read, and had set himself with firm resolve to read the Bible through from Genesis to Revelation. He had now come to Job, and his friend asked, "Well, what do you think of it?" "Well," replied the child, "I don't like that Satan a bit; and when I get to learn to write and when I have to write Satan, I will always write Satan with a small 's.'" Alas! too many of us would have to write the word in large capitals if our writing expressed our feelings. Fear and timidity magnify the foe. Let us learn a holier and braver lesson.(G. Howard James.). People Aaron, Ahiman, Amalek, Amalekites, Ammiel, Amorites, Anak, Asher, Benjamin, Caleb, Canaanites, Dan, Eshcol, Gad, Gaddi, Gaddiel, Gemalli, Geuel, Hittites, Hori, Hoshea, Igal, Israelites, Issachar, Jebusites, Jehoshua, Jephunneh, Joseph, Joshua, Machi, Manasseh, Michael, Moses, Nahbi, Naphtali, Nun, Oshea, Palti, Raphu, Rehob, Reuben, Sethur, Shammua, Shaphat, Sheshai, Simeon, Sodi, Susi, Talmai, Vophsi, Zaccur, ZebulunPlaces Canaan, Egypt, Hebron, Kadesh-barnea, Lebo-hamath, Negeb, Paran, Rehob, Sinai, Valley of Eshcol, Wilderness of Paran, Zin, ZoanTopics Igal, Issachar, Is'sachar, Joseph, TribeOutline 1. The names of the men who were sent to search the land17. Their instructions 21. Their acts 26. Their relation Dictionary of Bible Themes Numbers 13:1-20Library Afraid of Giants'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 strong holds; 20. And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Spies Exploring Canaan by Faith Canaan Hebron An Unfulfilled Desire Epistle xvii. To Felix, Bishop of Messana. Annunciation of the Birth of Jesus. 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