How we learn to walk by faith into God’s Promised Land (Numbers 13)

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In this study

Numbers 13:1–24: Moshe sends in the spies

Our forefathers in the commonwealth of Yisrael had to learn faith after the LORD freed them from Mitsraim (Egypt) then told them to conquer seemingly unvanquishable foes in the Promised Land.

And that’s the kind of faith Yeshua the Mashiakh’s sent ones (apostles, shelakhim) had to learn during His earthly ministry and after He returned to Heaven.

There are a number of parallels in themes between Moshe’s sending of the 12 spies into Canaaan and Yeshua’s sending the 12 and also the 70 apostles to the “lost sheep of Israel.”

Haftarat Shelach (parallel passage) in Joshua 2 is another foreshadowing of the goyim joining Yisrael by faith in One stronger than the “strongholds” of one’s native culture.

We see that young Samuel’s plea to God “Hear I am, Send me” is also repeated by the Prophet Isaiah.

Go where the Creator sends us: “Here I am, Lord, send me!”
1Samuel 3; Isaiah 6

Numbers 13:1–24: Moshe sends in the spies

Now the interesting point about this about the the two good reports and the 10 bad reports.

In our modern age, when we ascertain someone’s reputation by their online ratings and specifically how many ratings are good, how many ratings are bad?

So, as we’ve mentioned in previous years, that you really have to judge a message by the message and not just by the quantities of messages, because one of the logical fallacies out there is just because a lot of people say it, that means it’s true.

You’ll hear people say, “Well, if what you’re saying is true, why wouldn’t a lot of other people, especially a lot of important people, also say it as well?

You have to evaluate things based on what it is not how many people or how many important people say it is.

Today’s story is a prime example of it of bearing false witness. Two of these nasi these great leaders, the Apostles of the 12 tribes were sent in the land. Two of them saw the land through eyes of faith. They saw that the Lord had given them this land so even though there were giants, big city walls, they did not see them as a problem. They said, in today’s language, “We’ve got this, because the Lord is going to be with us.”

The other 10 nasi saw the same territory, the same walls and the same giants, they came to a completely different conclusion. So be careful not to judge the truthfulness of a message by how many people are bringing it forward.

All 12 nasi had the same “evidence” the same facts but their conclusions were radically different. The 10 spies presented their observations with a bad spin, a faithless spin.

Now, when you say spin, we think that spin is a bad thing. Well, everybody spins everything. I say that as a journalist, everybody spins everything.

It just depends on your perspective. Now, there is good bias and there is bad bias. Is your bias pointing you towards something good or something bad?

Character matters

Moshe sent out these 12 spies from the 12 tribes. We will see later that these men were leaders within their tribes. Another lesson we see from today’s Torah study is that character matters. If your leader doesn’t have a good character, he can lead you (and those around you) in the wrong direction.

When you look at the votes from the 12 spies, 10 voted against going into the land and only two voted to go into the land. 83% voted against going into the land, and only 17% voted to enter the land. Those are some bad poll numbers, if you decide what is right and wrong merely by popular vote.

From Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur
From Shimon (Simeon), Shaphat son of Hori
From Yehudah (Judah), Keleb (Caleb) son of Yephunneh
From Issachar, Igal son of Yosef (Joseph)
From Ephraim, Hosea (Joshua) son of Nun
From Ben-Yamin (Benjamin), Palti son of Raphu
From Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Saudi
From Dan, Ammiel son of Gamalli
From Asher, Setur son of Michael
From Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi
From Gad, Geuel son of Machi

Apostles and ambassadors

But you will see a parallel to this in Matthew 10:1-40. We will come back to our reading in Numbers but let’s take a brief detour into Yeshua’s calling of the 12 Apostles.

We see a job title change for the 12. They were called “disciples,” but here Yeshua starts to call them “apostles.”

disciple = μαθητής mathētēs (G3101) = תלמד talmud = student
apostle = ἀπόστολος apostolos (G0652) = שליח sheliakh = delegate

The Twelve were witnesses of His words, deeds, death and resurrection (Acts 1). They had an ambassadorial role in the body. They didn’t just have a mission to preach the gospel but to represent the Messiah Himself.

Shimon (Simon), who is called Kefa (Peter)
Andrew his brother
Ya’acob (James) the son of Zebedee
Yokhanan (John) his brother
Philip
Bar-Tholomew
Thomas
Matthew the tax collector
Ya’akob the son of Alphaeus
Thaddaeus
Shimon the Zealot
Yehudah Ish Kariot (Judas Iscariot), the one who betrayed Him

The LORD rewarded the faith of Keleb (Caleb) and Yehoshua by promising to let them enter the Land and giving Hebron to Keleb (Deut. 1:36).

Few but mighty: ‘Where does my help come from?’

The Anakim and cities that frightened the other 10 spies were among the first to fall to Yehoshua and Keleb 40 years later. (Josh. 11:21–22; 14:13–15). The mightier they are, the harder they fall.

Similarly, Yeshua sent His 12 special nasi of Yisrael to spy out the strongholds of the Adversary among Israel, first in teams of two then to work alongside the Master (Matt. 10:1–11:1; Luke 10:1–24).

Note that Yeshua expanded the shelakhim to include 70 more (Luke 10:1).

The number 70 has long been a symbol in Jewish writings for totality of the nations.

Some Jewish writers thought that the 12 spies went into the land in teams of two. Going in pairs is helpful in terms of accountability to each other as well as being able to strengthen each other when times get tough.

The Hebrew of Num. 13:1 has a strange doubled “one man” phrase — אִישׁ אֶחָד אִישׁ אֶחָד — which translators have rendered as “a man, every one” (KJV) or “a man … each one” (NASB). The Septuagint (ancient Greek translation) made a clearer distinction: “a man … every one” (LXX).
Keleb and Yehoshua are mentioned together — Team Faith — later on.
Some see that the mention of Igal, son of Joseph, between Keleb and Yeshoshua is a hint at the future coming of Mashiakh son of Yosef — suffering messiah — to the land in the Messianic age.
יִגְאָל Yig’al can be translated as “he saves.” The Mashiakh son of Yosef saves.
With different vowel choice — יִגְאַל — it would be “will save.” The Mashiakh son of Yosef will save.

Yeshua gave the Twelve instructions for their mission (Mark 6:7–13; Matthew 10:1, 5–42):

Dominate the strongholds (unclean spirits).
Demonstrate the power of Heaven is behind you and the goal of the mission (anoint the sick to heal them).
- “Freely you have received; freely give.” (Matthew 10:8)
Depend on the provision of Heaven and the work of the Spirit on the hearts of the hearers.
Don’t take extra provisions.
Don’t fear persecution.
Judge the unrepentent (“shake the dust off your feet” Mark 6:11; “better for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment” Matthew 10:14–15, 40–42).
Communicate Yeshua’s teachings.
- “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10:7).

The 12 apostles and the two faithful spies faced similar obstacles when speaking up for God’s kingdom.

They all had to ask themselves, “Do you actually believe the kingdom is at hand? That it’s here that it’s coming with power?”

As the apostles went two by two into the villages of Israel, I imagine they faced opposition and doubt from townspeople. Afterall, weren’t highly educated by Jewish standards. They didn’t attend the good Yeshivas or Rabbinic schools. Yet they were telling everyone who would listen that the Mashiach is here is the kingdom of God really here. Those listening to the Apostles had to decide if their message was true or if they were trying to sell them a bill of goods.

Similar thing is, the 10 spies effectively said in their bad report, “We can’t do this. If we try to fight for this land, we’re toast.”

The other two spies pretty much said in their good report, “It doesn’t matter how big the walls are. Our God is bigger than the walls. Our God is bigger than the giants. God made the giants and He made what the walls were created out of. So now who is greater in the in the grand scheme of things?”

How big is your God? Big enough to deal with the walls and giants in your life?

Summary: Tammy