Friday 25th August
Read Numbers 13:17-25
“When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, ‘Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? 20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.’ (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)
21 So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, towards Lebo Hamath. 22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. 25 At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.” (NIVUK)
Moses sent them in the patriarchs’ footsteps (cf Genesis 12:9) with the instruction God gave Abraham to ‘walk the breadth of the land’ (Genesis 13:17) and they finished in Hebron, the highest point in the promised land and the hallowed ground in which the patriarchs to whom the promises were given lay buried.
There was a twofold purpose to their efforts. First, they were to assess the military strength of those in the land. Second, and perhaps more importantly, they were to see that the Lord had promised them good land. Nothing like the wilderness they have wandered through. They were to be encouraged by the promises being so close, the patriarchs’ footsteps. Though the patriarchs also went through hardships, in the words of David, they were to…
“Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
9 Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear him lack nothing.” (Psalm 34:8-9) (NIVUK)
One suspects that it is this picture of promised fruitfulness that the author of Hebrews has in mind when he describes the reality of the Christian life, but couched in dire warning, and writes of “those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age…” (Hebrews 6:4b-5) (NIVUK). There are immense blessings promised to God’s people, though they come through struggle. Have you thanked the Lord for those many blessings recently?
