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to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then
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 defense is
departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.”
[378]
The false report of the unfaithful spies was fully accepted, and
through it the whole congregation were deluded, just as Satan meant
that they should be; and the voice of God through His faithful servants
was disregarded. The traitors had done their work. All the assembly,
as with one voice, cried out in favor of stoning Caleb and Joshua.
And now the mighty God reveals Himself, to the confusion of His
disobedient, murmuring people. “And the glory of the Lord appeared
in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.”
What a burden was brought upon Moses and Aaron, and how earnest
were their entreaties that God would not destroy His people! Moses
pleads before the Lord the wonderful manifestations of divine power
that have made the name of Israel’s God a terror to their enemies,
and entreats that the enemies of God and of His people may have no
occasion to triumph, saying: “Because the Lord was not able to bring
this people into the land which He sware unto them, therefore He hath
slain them in the wilderness.” The Lord hearkened unto the prayer of
Moses; but he declared that those who had rebelled against Him, after
having witnessed His power and glory, should fall in the wilderness;
they should never see the land which was their promised inheritance.
But of Caleb He said: “My servant Caleb, because he had another
spirit with him, and hath followed Me fully, him will I bring into the
land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.”
It was Caleb’s faith in God that gave him courage; that kept him
from the fear of man, even the mighty giants, the sons of Anak, and
enabled him to stand boldly and unflinchingly in defense of the right.
From the same exalted source, the mighty General of the armies of
heaven, every true soldier of the cross of Christ must receive strength
and courage to overcome obstacles that often seem insurmountable.
The law of God is made void; and those who would do their duty must
be ever ready to speak the words that God gives them, and not the
words of doubt, discouragement, and despair.
[379]
Elder M, although you may be sustained by many, as were the
unfaithful spies, yet the sentiments of your letter are not prompted by