The Canaan Report

But the other men who had explored the land with [Caleb] disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!”   Numbers 13:31

When the twelve spies were sent out, there was one representative sent from each of the tribes, “all . . . leaders of Israel” (Numbers 13:3). They were sent out to gather information that would help Moses form a plan to accomplish the will of God.

After a forty-day trip behind enemy lines, they returned, and the majority of these leaders told Moses that, in effect, what God had commanded them to do was not practical. They said, “We can’t do it! The land is good, but it is already occupied by powerful forces. This whole project is beyond us.”

Notice that they made no reference to God in their report (see Numbers 13:27-33). They announced the view that “on the basis of the available data, we are unable to progress further with the purposes of God at this time.”

These leaders had stopped asking, “What does God want us to do?” and had begun asking, “What seems manageable?” Whenever leadership makes that shift, it will be costly for the people of God. We must focus our attention on what God is calling us to do. If we lose this focus, we will operate at a purely pragmatic level. That often is the beginning of years of aimless wandering in ineffective ministry.

The Canaan report was a catalog of disasters. The research team was commissioned by Moses, but they made their report to all the people. They were asked to bring back information, but they went beyond that and made a recommendation. The question to be decided was not if they should go into Canaan, but how they should go into Canaan.

Only two members of the team took a different view: Joshua and Caleb. Their minority report focused on the fact that God was with them, and so the land was theirs for the taking. But by the time they were given opportunity to speak, the people had already made up their minds.

For further reading, see Numbers 13