Spies, Rebellion & Balaam
Numbers 13–25What happens in Numbers 13–25
This section contains one of the most pivotal and heartbreaking moments in Israel's history. Standing at the very border of the Promised Land at Kadesh-barnea, Moses sends twelve spies to scout Canaan. After forty days, they return with an enormous cluster of grapes and a glowing report of the land's abundance, but ten of the twelve spies say the inhabitants are too powerful. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, they report. Only Joshua and Caleb urge the people to trust God and enter. The people choose fear, weeping all night and wanting to return to Egypt.
God's response is devastating: the entire generation of adults, everyone twenty years and older who refused to trust Him, will die in the wilderness. For forty years, Israel will wander until that generation passes away. Only Joshua and Caleb will survive to enter the land. When some Israelites belatedly try to invade, they are defeated because God is not with them. The consequences of unbelief are real and lasting.
The following chapters record continued rebellion: Korah leads a revolt against Moses and Aaron's authority and is swallowed by the earth; the people complain again and are bitten by venomous snakes, but God provides a bronze snake on a pole, anyone who looks at it lives. Finally, the pagan prophet Balaam is hired by King Balak of Moab to curse Israel, but God forces Balaam to bless them instead. In one of Scripture's most remarkable moments, Balaam's donkey speaks to him, and Balaam delivers four powerful blessings over Israel, including the messianic prophecy: A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. Yet the section ends darkly: Israel falls into sexual immorality and idol worship at Baal Peor, and a plague kills 24,000.
Key takeaways
- Fear and unbelief can cost us what God has promised, the generation that refused to trust God at Kadesh missed the Promised Land.
- It only takes a minority of courageous, faith-filled voices (Joshua and Caleb) to speak truth when the majority is afraid.
- Rebellion against God has real consequences, but God also provides ways of salvation, like the bronze snake for those who would look.
- God can turn intended curses into blessings, Balaam could not curse what God had blessed.
A verse to carry
Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a venomous snake, and set it on a pole. It shall happen, that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it on the pole. If a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of brass, he lived.Numbers 21:8-9 (WEB)
Jesus specifically pointed to this event: Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life (John 3:14-15). Looking at the bronze snake in faith saved physically; looking at Christ on the cross in faith saves eternally.
Something to sit with
The ten spies focused on the size of the giants; Joshua and Caleb focused on the size of their God. When you face something that feels too big, do you tend to focus on the obstacle or on God's faithfulness? What would it look like to have a Caleb and Joshua perspective?
Did you know?
The cluster of grapes the spies brought back from the valley of Eshcol was so large that two men had to carry it on a pole between them. The valley's name, Eshcol, means cluster in Hebrew, and the region near Hebron is still known for its vineyards today.
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