The Cartography of Faith and Fear Text: Numbers 13:1-24
Introduction: Two Ways to Read a Map
We have come to a hinge point in the history of redemption. Israel stands at the threshold of the Promised Land, the culmination of a promise made to Abraham centuries before. They have been delivered from Egypt by signs and wonders, sustained in the wilderness by bread from heaven, and led by a pillar of cloud and fire. God has done everything necessary to prove His character, His power, and His faithfulness. And now, they are given a test. It is not a test to see if God is true; it is a test to see if they believe He is true.
Every generation of God's people is brought to a Kadesh Barnea. Every generation is brought to the border of a promised inheritance and is confronted with giants. And at that border, we are all forced to answer a fundamental question: which map will you trust? Will you trust the map drawn by the hand of God, the one defined by His sworn promises? Or will you trust the map you draw yourselves, the one defined by the obstacles you can see with your own two eyes? This is not simply a choice between optimism and pessimism. It is a choice between two entirely different realities, two warring worldviews. It is the choice between faith and sight.
The modern church is filled to the brim with pragmatic unbelief masquerading as prudence. We conduct feasibility studies. We do risk assessments. We poll the congregation. We check our resources. We look at the giants of our culture, the giants of our budget, the giants of our own inadequacies, and we conclude that the mission is impossible. We think this is wisdom, but it is actually the very sin that left an entire generation of Israelites to bleach their bones in the desert. God does not call us to evaluate His promises; He calls us to believe them. This mission to spy out the land was not a divine request for a second opinion. It was a divine command to go survey the property that was already theirs.
What we see in this chapter is the setup for a catastrophic failure of leadership. But in the midst of it, we also see the seeds of a glorious victory. We see the naming of a true savior, and we see the tangible evidence of God's overwhelming goodness. The question for them, and for us, is which reality will define our actions: the size of the grapes, or the size of the giants?
The Text
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, "Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them." So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command of Yahweh, all of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel. These then were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun; from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; from the tribe of Joseph, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; but Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua. So Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up there into the Negev; then go up into the hill country. And see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many. And how is the land in which they live, is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live, are they like open camps or with fortifications? And how is the land, is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not? Make an effort then to get some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes. So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, at Lebo-hamath. And they had gone up into the Negev and came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) Then they came to the valley of Eshcol and from there cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes; and they carried it on a pole between two men with some of the pomegranates and the figs. That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut down from there.
(Numbers 13:1-24 LSB)
A Test of Federal Heads (vv. 1-3)
The mission begins with a direct command from God.
"Then Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, 'Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.'" (Numbers 13:1-2 LSB)
Notice the bedrock certainty in God's language. He tells them to spy out the land "which I am going to give" to them. This is not a negotiation. It is not a possibility. It is a settled, covenantal fact. The deed to the property has already been executed in the courts of heaven. The purpose of the mission, therefore, is not to determine if the land is obtainable. The purpose is to conduct reconnaissance for an invasion that God has already guaranteed. They are to be military scouts, not real estate appraisers deciding whether the purchase is wise.
God's instruction is to send one man from each tribe, and "every one a leader among them." These are not random foot soldiers. They are "heads of the sons of Israel" (v. 3). This is a crucial point. God operates covenantally, and a central aspect of that is federal headship. These men represent their entire tribes. Their faith or their cowardice will have consequences for everyone they represent. As the leaders go, so goes the nation. This is how God has structured the world. The faith of a father matters for his household. The integrity of a pastor matters for his church. And the courage of these twelve men mattered for a million people. We live in an age of radical individualism that wants to deny this, but reality does not bend to our egalitarian fantasies. God was testing the leadership, because He knew their report would set the course for the entire nation.
A Roster and a Renaming (vv. 4-16)
The text then gives us a list of these leaders, a detail that emphasizes the historical reality and the representative nature of their mission. But in the middle of this roster, Moses does something profoundly significant.
"These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; but Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua." (Numbers 13:16 LSB)
This is far more than a nickname. This is a sermon in a single word. The man's given name was Hoshea, which means "salvation." It's a good name, but it is incomplete. Moses, acting as God's prophet, adds the divine prefix. He renames him Yehoshua, or Joshua, which means "Yahweh is salvation."
Right before sending them on a mission that will test the very foundation of their faith, Moses points them to the source of their deliverance. It is not salvation in the abstract. It is not their own strength or their military strategy that will save them. It is Yahweh who saves. This renaming is a prophetic declaration. It is a gospel signpost planted at the border of the land. The central question of this entire episode is whether Israel will trust in Hoshea, a generic concept of salvation, or in Yehoshua, the specific, covenantal, saving action of God Himself. And of course, this points us forward. The name Joshua is the Hebrew form of the Greek name Iesous. Jesus. The one who truly leads God's people into their promised rest is Jesus, for He is Yahweh's salvation embodied.
The Mission Briefing (vv. 17-20)
Moses then lays out the specific instructions for the reconnaissance mission.
"And see what the land is like... whether the people who live in it are strong or weak... how are the cities... how is the land, is it fat or lean?... Make an effort then to get some of the fruit of the land." (Numbers 13:18-20 LSB)
These are all practical, military questions. A good general needs to know the terrain, the strength of the enemy, and the state of their fortifications. But underlying all of this is the final command: "Make an effort then to get some of the fruit of the land." This is a command to act in faith. It presupposes success. Go into the land that I have promised is good, and bring back the evidence. Bring back a tangible appetizer of the feast I have prepared for you. This is not a mission to see if God's promise is true, but rather to taste and see that it is.
The timing is also noted: "Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes." God's timing is perfect. He sent them at the very moment when the land's goodness would be most spectacularly on display. He was setting them up for a faith-building encounter with His outrageous generosity. He wanted to overwhelm them with the evidence of His faithfulness.
Grapes and Giants (vv. 21-24)
The spies obey. They go up and they survey the land from one end to the other. And they find exactly what God said they would find: immense blessing and immense opposition.
"And they had gone up into the Negev and came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak were... Then they came to the valley of Eshcol and from there cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes; and they carried it on a pole between two men..." (Numbers 13:22-23 LSB)
Here we have the two central exhibits that will be presented to the people. Exhibit A: The giants. The sons of Anak. These are the Nephilim, the mighty men of old. They are formidable, terrifying, and real. The text even notes that their city, Hebron, was ancient and established, built before the great cities of Egypt. This is a deeply rooted, powerful enemy.
Exhibit B: The grapes. A single cluster so gargantuan that it requires two men to carry it on a pole. This is not just fruit; it is a caricature of fruitfulness. It is a sign of supernatural abundance. It is the physical proof that God was not exaggerating when He called this a land flowing with milk and honey. The place is named Eshcol, meaning "cluster," forever memorializing the ludicrous goodness of God's gift.
So the spies return with two things: a report of giants in their heads and a cluster of grapes on their shoulders. The entire destiny of Israel hangs on which of these two realities they will treat as ultimate. Will they interpret the goodness of the grapes through the lens of the giants' threat? Or will they interpret the threat of the giants through the lens of the God who gives such grapes?
This is the Christian's dilemma in every age. We are sent into a world that is promised to us. It is our inheritance, bought by the blood of Christ. And in this world, we find giants. We find fierce cultural opposition, entrenched sin, and demonic strongholds. But we also find the fruit of Eshcol. We find the profound goodness of God in creation, the joy of fellowship, the power of the gospel to transform lives, and the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. The carnal man sees the giants and says the grapes are not worth the risk. The man of faith sees the grapes and says that the God who can produce such fruit can certainly handle a few giants.