Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20111016.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Numbers: Lessons From Spiritual Casualties And Conquerors
Part XVIII: God's Solution To His Seemingly Overwhelming Tasks
(Numbers 13:1-33)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    Sometimes our God-given assignments in life seem humanly overwhelming even to begin to try to address:

    (1) This is a huge problem relative to household income now:

    (a) The October 10, 2011 issue of the nationwide paper, USA TODAY, p. 10A made the following request to its readers: "With an economic recovery feeling out of reach, we'd like to know how you and your family are coping in these tough times . . . Send testimonials of 200 words or fewer to [email protected].

    (b) Fueling this request was the news in the editorial, "Feeling poorer? You have plenty of company" on the same page that "the Census Bureau reported recently . . . [that] household income . . . has been retreating across the board for the last decade. The decline is sharpest at the bottom of the economic ladder . . . But middle, and even upper-middle class people have suffered as well."

    (c) Yet, the solution will not be easy or quick, for even this typically politically progressive paper's editor surprisingly conceded that "(t)he Great Recession exposed weaknesses in the economic models of the United States and other countries that rely too much on government and consumer debt." (Ibid.)

    (d) The average American Christian head of household may then wonder how he can begin to heed 1 Timothy 5:8 and earn enough to support his family in such a difficult economic environment!

    (2) God's call that we disciple the unsaved can seem humanly overwhelming in view of what Tom Krattenmaker wrote on the paper's next page (p. 11A). In his op-ed, "Holy texts as unholy weapons," Krattenmaker claimed the recent push by Texas pastors Randy Frazee and Max Lucado "to get people reading the Bible" will run into a snag due to the Bible's "gruesome" contents. He explained that "religious studies professor Philip Jenkins" complains of "disturbing Bible stories" about Israel's "destruction of a people called the Amorites" in Canaan. "There is no evidence, he argues, that these victims of divinely sanctioned massacres were demonstrably more immoral than the many nations that were spared the divine sword." (Ibid.)

    As a Christian, then, we may ask how we can begin to answer professor Philip Jenkins' critique so as to witness our faith to the lost!

    Thus, we ask, "How can I begin to address God's assignments when they seem humanly insurmountable to me?!"

    Need: "How can I begin to try to address God's assignments for me if they seem humanly overwhelming?!"

  1. God had Moses send 12 men to spy out Canaan (Num. 13:1-20), so they traversed it, going from south to north up to Lebanon before returning in 40 days with some fruit from the land, Num. 13:21-26.
  2. However, ten of the spies gave back a bad report, claiming Israel could not defeat the Promised Land's inhabitants, Num. 13:27-33:
    1. The ten spies said Canaan's people were strong (Num. 13:28a) and "(v)arious groups had fought to possess it because it was such a good land" (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV , 1978, ftn. to Num. 13:32), so Israel would face war-hardened soldiers adept in defending their property.
    2. Also, these Canaanites were all giants (Num. 13:32b), and very great giants, the Anakim, lived at Hebron in the south where Israel would invade from Paran (Num. 13:33, 22; 12:16). The Anakim saw Israel's spies as grasshoppers, and the spies felt like grasshoppers to them!
  3. Conversely, Caleb (with Joshua, Numbers 14:6-9) gave a good report, claiming Israel could conquer Canaan, Numbers 13:30.
  4. However, God had already given the spies in their spying endeavor all the evidence they needed to adopt the view of Caleb and Joshua:
    1. The spies had brought back figs and pomegranates with a big cluster of grapes carried by foot on a pole between two men (Num. 13:23), and the Numbers 13:20 text shows they had forcibly seized them:
      1. Moses had told them to "put forth strength" (hazaq) in the Hithpael used only of exertion in war, in a near-death event or in building a defense, B. D. B., A Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 304-305.
      2. In this extreme exertion, they were to "seize, take" (laqah, Ibid., p. 542-543) of the land's crops, which order along with hazaq in the Hithpael verbal stem meant to seize spoils by military force! (Ibid.)
    2. This would be a huge feat given the hurdles they faced (as follows):
      1. First, they cut down the grape bunch in the Valley of Eschol (Num. 13:23a NIV) 2 miles north of Hebron, home of the giant Anakim, Num. 13:22, 33; Zon. Pict. Enc. of the Bible , v. Two, p. 364.
      2. Then, two men taking a big cluster of grapes by foot on a pole from a vine could soon be seen and raise an outcry: (a) grapevines take great care to yield big clusters or they soon become merely tangled vines ( Com. Ency., 1973, vol. 9, p. 178), so the Canaanites cared a lot for these grapes. (b) They were also battle-hard, experienced in holding property (Num. 13:32), (c) and those at Eschol just outside Hebron, the Anakim, were the biggest and most imposing, Num. 13:22, 33! [Goliath, the giant David later fought, descended from this race of Anakim, and he was 9 feet, 9 inches tall! (Ibid., Z. P. E. B., v. Two, p. 658; Ibid., Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 448)]
      3. Then, the vineyards were enclosed by walls to counter animals and thieves in particular, and the vines were always watched from a tower in harvest as this was, Ibid., v. Five, p. 882, Num. 13:20b. (First ripe grapes come in July when the spies were sent out (Num. 13:17-20b), but they took the grapes of a later August crop on their return trip south when pomegranates and figs ripen, for they took of these fruits also, Ibid.; Ibid., v. One, p. 76-77; Num. 13:23b.)
      4. If they managed to leave the vineyard on foot with the cluster on a pole between two men, the spies still had to get past Hebron to the south to return to camp, a rough job given the east-west-running ravines that flank Hebron's highland to the east and west ( Israel: 1:250,000 Map Of The Cease Fire Lines) -- that is, unless they passed close to Hebron and risked being seen only to have to run into the Negev desert on foot! (The Mac. Bib. Atlas , 1968, map 50)
      5. They seized figs and pomegranates that also grow north of Hebron (Num. 13:23b; Ibid., Z. P. E. B., v. Three, p. 108). These ripen in August (Ibid., v. One, p. 76-77), so they traveled in late summer heat through a tortuous Negev desert especially traveled southward as they faced huge escarpments and deep canyons where the main trade routes ran only east and west due to the taxing north-south terrain (Ibid., v. Four, p. 402) and made it 70 miles back to camp on foot before the fruit spoiled! (Ibid., The Macmillan Bible Atlas)
    3. Thus, the spies only needed to recall how God had enabled them successfully to seize as spoils the produce of the Anakim and return it to Israel in good shape against great odds as evidence God would empower Israel to seize all of the land of the Canaanites!
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ for salvation to become a child of God, John 1:11-12. (2) Then, may we (a) look for God's signals of encouragement thus far (b) for encouragement that He will help us with seemingly insurmountable future duties we face.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 In our sermon introduction, we noted the seemingly immense assignments of (1) making a living as breadwinners for our families in today's economic era, and (2) answering the challenge of religious studies professor Philip Jenkins that reading the Bible is disturbing since God in it told Israel to destroy the Canaanites who were allegedly no more immoral than a lot of other peoples who were not destroyed.

Applying this message, we have the answers as follows:

(1) First, regarding today's economy and breadwinners, God has already indicated His capacity and will to help us as a Church financially: you recall that we ended 2010 over $20,000 behind on our promised monthly payments to our missionaries. However, the last report I saw shows we have caught up, and that in this recession! That should be hope that God will help us fulfill our future financial duties unto him not only as a Church, but in our individual family units!

(2) Second, regarding the charge by religious studies professor Philip Jenkins, we only need to turn to Leviticus 18, a passage we already have in the Bible, and we find a list of vices the Canaanites were committing that caused God to call for their destruction. Viewing that list shows that, regardless what other nations around them were doing, the Canaanites were certainly ripe for destruction: Leviticus 18:24-28 asserts the vices in Leviticus 18:1-23 were being committed by the Canaanites; these include extensive incest (Leviticus 18:6-18), immorality (Leviticus 18:19-20), infant sacrifice by fire to false gods (Leviticus 18:21), homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22) and bestiality (Leviticus 18:23). Whether the vices of other nations were less or worse than these, these sins by the Canaanites were so destructive to the solidarity of the family unit, the Canaanites had to be destroyed to protect Israel's families from deterioration by being exposed to their evil influence. ( Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 200)

Thus, considering the Bible's own testimony of the sins of the Canaanites themselves, from God's or man's perspective, it was necessary that they be eliminated to protect Israel's family units.

May we then face the seemingly insurmountable duties placed upon us with HOPE based on CURRENT signals that God has ALREADY GIVEN us, hope that He plans to HELP us SUCCEED in those assignments. May we like Caleb and Joshua then face the future in faith in the Lord!