Good assessment is a critical component of good leadership. A good leader is able to survey situations and see opportunities whilst others see only obstacles. The twelve selected spies carried out the Lord’s instructions with evident care: they spent 40 days surveying the Promised Land and its inhabitants, even bringing back with them some fruit of the land just as Moses had instructed. Upon their return they share their observations with Moses, Aaron, and the congregation. All agree that the land before them, “flows with milk and honey (v27)” and bears much fruit. So far so good, the opportunity is evident to all. However, the obstacles then take centre stage: “the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan. (vv28-29)” Though unrecorded, the people immediately see nothing but the obstacles for Caleb needed to quiet them in order to interject: “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it. (V30)” Unfortunately, other than Joshua, the balance of the spies (all of them “chiefs” among the people) continued to give a bad report: “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are. (v31)” Verse 31 really is the essence of the whole passage as the spies assess their own strength relative to the inhabitants of the land, without factoring in God’s strength, God’s promise, and God’s intentions.
Something to Apply:
The unfaithful spies assessment, on the surface, was not wrong. Though likely exaggerated (the Nephilim, for example, mentioned in v33 had long passed away), the strength of the peoples opposing them was greater. However, only focusing upon human strength and reasoning was the fatal error. God had promised them a good land, a land he was giving them. This was a critical reminder he gave them amongst his instructions that they lost sight of in the face of opposition. God’s blessings to us do not come unopposed. This is why it is with “faith and patience” that we inherit the promises of God (Hebrews 6:12)!