GRAPES 05/10/2017
NUMBERS 13:23 When they reached the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them....
[New International translation]
Summary: The Israelites were slaves in Egypt for over 400 years. GOD called Moses to lead them out of Israel across the Red Sea. When GOD defeated the Egyptian army and Pharaoh, GOD performed numerous miracles (e.g. the various plagues in Egypt, parting the Red Sea, sending an angel of death to passing over Egypt striking down the first born in homes not protected by the blood, manna from heaven, water from the rock, etc). The Israelites witnessed it all.
GOD told the Israelites that HE was taking them to a “land flowing with milk and honey.” When the people arrived at Canaan, the promise land, GOD instructed Moses to pick 12 men----a leader from each of the twelve tribes to spy out the land. (Numbers 13:1) Each tribe sent a leader. Hoshea the son of Nun (from the tribe of Ephraim) and Caleb (from the tribe of Judah) were chosen for this mission. Moses saw leadership in Hoshea (whose name means “salvation”) and changed his name to “Joshua,” (which means “Jehovah is salvation.” The Greek translations of the Aramaic form of the word “Joshua” is “Yeshua,” the original Hebrew name of “JESUS.”
Forty days later the 12 men returned and reported back to Moses. They all agreed that it was a magnificent land, as evidenced by the huge cluster of grapes and the other fruit they brought back. The land was so fertile it took two men to carry a single cluster of grapes.
Then ten of the leaders went on to list all of the things they were afraid of and all the things they believed would defeat them. They focused on the people there and compared themselves to them. They looked at the fortified large cities where these people lived and in their “mind’s eye” already saw themselves defeated. They completely forgot about GOD and what HE had already done.
Caleb tried to calm the people and reassure them and even suggested that they leave at once and enter the land and occupy it, like GOD told them to, but the people would not budge. The people complained about Moses, Aaron and some even suggested, choosing new leadership, and returning to slavery in Egypt. Some in the group even suggested that GOD was trying to kill them and blamed GOD for what they believed to be a disaster. They people rebelled. They simply would not do what GOD wanted them to do and refused to enter the land that GOD had already given them.
Their slave mentality blinded them to the fact that they were already conquerors.
Because of the people’s lack of faith, their stubbornness, their ungratefulness and disobedience, all the complainers were denied entry into “the promised land.” They wandered in the desert for 40 years and died. They missed out on the grapes.