The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1907-08-30
The Two Reports
of the Spies
Sunday School Lsssonior Sept. !. 1907
Specially Prepared for This Paper

tne nrst ripe grapes (Num. l5:zU' -. y.
1890 by the common chronology. This
was two or three months after they left
Sinai on the 10th day OF the second
month. sometime in May.
PLACE, -Kedesh-barnea. An n-days
Journey (Deut. Leg of continued travel.
as modern travellers have found (Robin-
son was exactly II days); 1. e.. 16o or ITO
miles route from Sinai. 1t Is 50 miles
south of Beersheba on the southern
border of Palestine.
Comment and Suggestive Thought.
For two or three months the peo.
pie Of Israel, men, women, and chill
dren. slowly marched through the
great and terrible wilderness" from
Sinai, a journey which ordinary trav-
elers could make in eleven days. The
slow march and long rests were nee.
essary both on account Of the children
and the fiocks, and on account of The
need of longer training. Moreover,
the difficulties and privations OF the
desert would make them more anx.
ious to enter the land flowing with
milk and honey"
Kadesh-barnea. At length, some
time in July or August, they reached
Kadesh-barnea, Ain Qadees, SO miles
south Of Beersheba, just at the foot OF
the range of hills which are the south
ern boundary of Palestine.
From Kadesh the people can see,
rising before them toward the north
west, the steep ascent which leads
into the hill country, the destined in
heritance of the tribe Of Judah"
The gates to their new home were
before them, wide open. The fertile
oasis to which they had come was a
foretaste of their inheritance. Only a
steep climb and they can set their feet
on the land of promise.
Then Moses said unto them: BE
hold, Jehovah thy God hath set the
land before thee; go up, take posses
sion, as Jehovah, the God Of thy ia.
Tiers, hath spoken unto thee; fear
not, neither be dismayed.-(Deut.
1:21.)
They had only to trust God and go
forward, and in less than two years
from leaving Egypt the land would
have been theirs. The God who had
delivered them with a mighty hand,
who had made a path through the sea,
who had rained mama, and brought
water from a rock, and spoken from
Sinai, and entered into covenant with
them, and was leading them by his
visible presence,-he babe them go
up and take possession of the prom
ised land. 80
The people were afraid to go for.
ward. They were not a warlike peo-
pie. Abraham's attack on Chedorlao.
mer and his army in rescue of Lot, in
the far distant past, and their battle
with the Amalekites, a year before
this time, are the only battles record
ed in the whole history of their race.
The whole people (Deut. 1929 asked
Moses to first send out spies to in.
vestigate. This was wise under the
circumstances. that is. the next wisest
thing to gong forward trusting In
God, and therefore Moses agreed to
the plan (Deut. 1929, and it was SC
directed by God Mum. 1871, ~.
The Committee Of investigation
Accordingly, Moses selected twelve
leading men best fitted for the ser
vice, whose names are given in We
Ais.
"Spy Out the Land."-The object
Of this expedition was ~ to learr
what were the attractions Of the coun
try; (2) the difficulties in the way o.
taking possession; (3) the best ways
of reaching the country; az the prep
arations 1t was necessary to make
Get you up this way southwark" Bet
ter as in r. w., by the south, not re
ferring at all to the direction form thu
Israelite's camp, but to a ~well-defnet
tract Of territory forming the south
ernmost and least fertile portion o
the land Of Canaan. 1t was callet
1.-THE Negeb" or the South Country
literally, "the dryness." In the SAM
way we speak Of "the South NJ
matter in what direction we approach
Il.
The Two Reports.-The timid spie
were. like Elisha's servant q King
6:16, 17), who saw the enemy, bu
did not see the heavenly chariots an
D horsemen ranged on the hills roun
about. They saw the giants, but wer
blind to God.
The report was evil because !
(: omitted the essential factor In tn
i. case.
!. The minority report Of Caleb an
y Joshua was a good report because
q while 1t accepted all the materis
facts of the other. 1t embodied tn
one essential of faith In God with II
outcome of obedience and courage.
. The difference between the two la
IS in this: that the ten looked at Go
through the difficulties. as when 20
look at the sun through a reverse
telescope, and 1t seems ~indefnitel
10 distant and shorn OF Its glory; Will
the two looked at difficulties throus
l. God.-F. B. Meyer.
II Practical Points.
1T God summons US to go up now, In
d, mediately, and possess the land. etc