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Spies and Their Report
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He will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth
with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear
ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is
departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.”
“Their defence is departed from them.” That is, the Canaanites
had filled up the measure of their iniquity, and the divine protection
was withdrawn from them, and they felt perfectly secure and were
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unprepared for battle; and, by the covenant of God, the land is
ensured to us. Instead of these words having the designed effect
upon the people, they increased their determined rebellion. They
became in a rage and cried out with a loud and angry cry that Caleb
and Joshua should be stoned, which would have been done had not
the Lord interposed by a most signal display of His terrible glory in
the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
Moses’ Prevailing Plea
Moses went into the tabernacle to converse with God. “And the
Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke Me? and
how long will it be ere they believe Me, for all the signs which I
have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and
disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier
than they. And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall
hear it, (for Thou broughtest up this people in Thy might from among
them;) and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they
have heard that Thou Lord art among this people, that Thou Lord art
seen face to face, and that Thy cloud standeth over them, and that
Thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a
pillar of fire by night. Now if Thou shalt kill all this people as one
man, then the nations which have heard the fame of Thee will speak,
saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people unto the
land which He sware unto them, therefore He hath slain them in the
wilderness.”
Moses again refuses to have Israel destroyed and himself made
a mightier nation than was Israel. This favored servant of God
manifests his love for Israel and shows his zeal for the glory of
his Maker and the honor of his people: As Thou hast forgiven this
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people from Egypt even until now, Thou hast been long-suffering and