The Twelve Spies Story - Bible

The Lord said to Moses, 'Send some men to explore the land of Canaan. I am giving it to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of their tribes.'

So Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. He sent them as the Lord commanded. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. These were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur; from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi son of Susi; from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli; from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi; from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki. Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.

When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, 'Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. See what the land is like. See whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. See what kind of land they live in. Is it good or bad? See what kind of towns they live in. Are they unwalled or fortified? See what the soil is like. 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.

So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron. That is where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai lived. They were descendants of Anak. Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. 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. They also brought back some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there.

At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land. They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly. They showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: 'We went into the land to which you sent us. It does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful. The cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev. The Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.'

Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, 'We should go up and take possession of the land. We can certainly do it.'

But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We can't attack those people. They are stronger than we are.' They spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, 'The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there. The descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes. We looked the same to them.'

That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole assembly said to them, 'If only we had died in Egypt! Or even in this desert! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land? We will be killed by the sword. Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?'

They said to each other, 'We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.'

Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly. Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh tore their clothes. They were among those who had explored the land. They said to the entire Israelite assembly, 'The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey. He will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land. We will swallow them up. Their protection is gone. But the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.'

But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. The Lord said to Moses, 'How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them. But I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they are.'

Moses said to the Lord, 'Then the Egyptians will hear about it. By your power you brought these people up from among them. They will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, Lord, are with these people. They have heard that you, Lord, have been seen face to face. They have heard that your cloud stays over them. They have heard that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. If you put all these people to death, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, 'The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath. So he slaughtered them in the wilderness.'

Now may the Lord's strength be displayed, just as you have declared. You said, 'The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished. He punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.' In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.'

The Lord replied, 'I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to. His descendants will inherit it.'

The Lord said, 'For forty years, one year for each of the forty days you explored the land, you will suffer for your sins. You will know what it is like to have me against you. I, the Lord, have spoken. I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community. They have banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness. They will die here.'

The ten men who had explored the land and had spread bad reports among the community died of a plague before the Lord. Only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.

The Israelites believed the bad report instead of trusting God. They were afraid of the giants in the land. They forgot that God was more powerful than any giant. Because they did not trust him, they had to wander in the desert for forty years. Only Joshua and Caleb, the two spies who trusted God, were allowed to enter the Promised Land. Trusting God means believing his promises even when things look impossible.

The Twelve Spies story teaches courage and faith. It shows the importance of trusting God over fear. This story highlights faithfulness and obedience.