On any other military campaign with any other army against any other opponent, Moses’ tactics in Numbers 13 would have raise no eyebrows. Your people are largely untrained, and, as motivated as they might be, have no idea what kind of fight they’re up against.
The problem is that this isn’t just any other army—this is God’s army, and He’s personally leading them to the promised land.
If that’s the case, though, why did they need to spy out the land? Why not just walk in on faith and dominate?
As with most answers (in my opinion), this comes back to faith, but not just the presence of faith, but the essence of what it means to actually believe.
Think about what Moses wants them to find out. He tells them to see the land, the fighting capabilities of the people, the defensive fortifications of the cities and villages, and whether or not the fruit is as good as they’ve heard. The last one ensures that the campaign will be worth it.
Why does Moses want his people to know all this? Because he understands that faith isn’t blind. Faith demands an accurate understanding of all the available elements, and then complete trust in God to supply what it is that we don’t know.
Think about the faith it took for David to fight Goliath. He didn’t know battle tactics, he didn’t know the impact of his decision to fight, and he didn’t even really know who Goliath was. All he knew was a giant stood in front of God’s people and mocked them for forty days.
But he also knew his past victories over certain apex predators. He knew his own skill with a sling. Most importantly though, he knew God’s desire to defend His name against the blasphemous outcries of a Philistine.
Saul knew those facts as well…because David told him. But Saul wasn’t nearly as confident as David that there would be a positive outcome. In that regard, David stood alone.
The twelve spies that went into the land all came back with the exact same facts. They literally agree on every single thing across the board; the difference lies in their own faith-full or faith-less interpretation of those facts.
Joshua and Caleb saw the land but had trust that God would take care of the gap between their own natural skills and the Canaanites prowess. He had told them to take it, after all, so they trusted in Him.
The other spies, and the people that listened to them, weren’t so sure. And because of that, they spent the next forty years thinking about their lack of confidence in the God that had done so much for them already.
You and I have the same facts that everyone else has in this world. We see creation, we have the historical records that testify to the reliability of the Bible, and we are told what to do. Will we have faith?
