The Biblical Path of Life

Tag: Caleb

  • The Danger of an Evil Report

    “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.”

    Matthew 23:13

    Moses led God’s people out of Egypt and to the brink of the Promised Land. This is the land that God promised to Abraham hundreds of years earlier. They had become a people without a land. God told Moses that it was time for God’s people to enter that land of promise, so Moses instructed them. “21. Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. 22. And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come” (Deuteronomy 1:22-23). One can already sense the hesitancy of God’s people to obey God’s Words.

    God instructed Moses. “Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them” (Numbers 13:2). Twelve men were sent to spy out Canaan land, the land promised to God’s people. Most remember the report they brought after searching the land for forty days. “23. And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs… 27. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it” (Numbers 13:23, 27). But more than the good news, some brought a discouraging report. “28. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there… 31. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we” (Numbers 13:28, 31). Take note of the following: “And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel…” (Numbers 13:32a). God sent these men to search the land, and “they brought up an evil report”. God had already told them that this was their land, “… the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel …” (Numbers 13:2). Joshua and Caleb, two of the twelve, believed God’s Words. Remember Caleb’s declaration. “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30). Caleb believed God. When he used the word “possess”, he understood that God had already conquered it for them – they just needed to go occupy it. Joshua and Caleb tried again to encourage the people. “8. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. 9. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not” (Numbers 14:8-9). They recognized it was rebellion to go against the Lord. Nevertheless, the people would not listen to Joshua and Caleb. All of the people over the age of twenty (except for Joshua and Caleb) died for their unbelief and disobedience of God’s Word in the wilderness instead of entering the promised land. They had believed the ten who brought the “evil report of the land” instead of God. Do you remember what God did to these men for leading God’s people to disobey Him? “Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD” (Numbers 14:37).

    Often times in the Old Testament, God’s judgment and justice were immediate: like the ten men who brought the evil report dying of the plague. However in the New Testament, we often recognize God’s long-suffering patience and grace.

    Jesus came to bring men into the kingdom of heaven. “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). He also encouraged His disciples to preach the same. “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10:7). However, the religious leaders of His day were constantly challenging Jesus, for they did not believe in Him. Remember what Jesus said to the religious leaders of His day. “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13). Worse than not believing in Jesus themselves, they “suffer ye them that are entering to go in”. This means they were sending others away and keeping them from entering the kingdom of heaven as well (trusting in Jesus). That is much like the ten men who brought the evil report that caused all of the people over the age of twenty to miss entering into the Promised Land. Although the men in the Old Testament died immediately, Jesus gave the religious leaders of His day every chance to repent and turn to Him. Remember why Jesus came. “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

    Do you listen to evil reports and those who shut up the kingdom of heaven from men?

    Or

    Do you stand with those who believe God’s Word?

  • Wholly Follow the Lord

    “But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.”

    Numbers 14:24

    Joshua and Caleb are famously known for being the only two of the twelve spies who believed God would allow them to posses the Promised Land. We remember Joshua. God chose him to victoriously lead His people into the Promised Land after Moses’ death and the forty years of wanderings. But have you ever taken time to consider the man Caleb?

    The twelve spies brought a report after searching Canaan land for forty days. Ten declared “surely it floweth with milk and honey” and showed the fruit of the land (including “a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff” see Numbers 14:23, 27). However, they also reported that the people were strong, with walled cities, the men were of great stature, and the sons of Anak were giants “and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight” (see Numbers 13:28, 32-33). Joshua and Caleb understood and believed that God would give them the land just as He had promised. “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30). Caleb tried to convince the people, but they tried to stone Joshua and Caleb (see Numbers 14:6-10). The people refused to enter the land. After Moses interceded for the people, God declared all of that disbelieving generation (all over the age of twenty) would die in the wilderness and not enter into the Promised Land (see Numbers 14:26-35). “10. And the LORD’S anger was kindled the same time, and he sware, saying, 11. Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me” (Numbers 32:10-11). The people did not wholly follow God. “Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the LORD” (Numbers 32:12). Caleb and Joshua would enter the land for they “wholly followed the LORD.”

    This is all very familiar to us. However, consider why God allowed Caleb to enter into the land. “But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it” (Numbers 14:24). God declared that His servant, Caleb, followed Him fully. That is an amazing statement made by God. There are not many people who fully (or wholly) followed God. Caleb (and Joshua) stood strong for the Lord even when the whole nation refused to obey God and His Word. Caleb had to wander in the wilderness with the rest of God’s people for those forty years. Through those years, Caleb followed the Lord. He was with the people as they conquered the land, beginning with Jericho. Caleb reminded Joshua. “7. Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadeshbarnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. 8. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God” (Joshua 14:7-8). Caleb declared he “wholly followed the LORD my God.” He was ready to possess the land promised to him. “And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old” (Joshua 14:10). Caleb was now eighty-five years old, yet he was not finished. God had more for him to do. “Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said” (Joshua 14:12). Do you remember who the Anakims were? They were the giants that caused the people to be afraid and refuse to enter the land. Even after all of these years, Caleb was not afraid of them and wanted to defeat them. And he did (see Joshua 15:13-14). “Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel” (Joshua 14:14). Notice that Caleb’s greatest victory (and greatest reward) was not accomplished until he was eighty-five years old. He never quit wholly following the Lord. He believed what God said: “Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD” (Deuteronomy 1:36).

    The difference between Caleb and the rest of God’s people was that he believed and wholly followed the Lord. The same should be true of Christians today. Nevertheless, most Christians live like the nation of Israel: afraid of the giants in the land. If Christians would believe God and commit to wholly follow the Lord, the giants would be defeated, just as they were for Caleb. Age did not deter Caleb, do not let it deter you.

    Have you refused to wholly follow the Lord because you are afraid of the “giants of the land”?

  • Lesson 9 (Lesson 22): Numbers 1-19: Wandering in the Wilderness

    Key Verse

    “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.”  Hebrews 3:12

    Read today’s key verse with your class, helping them to understand it.  Take heed means to beware, or pay attention to.  Christians need to be careful to not have an evil heart (means any form of evil) that would cause them to quit believing in God or His ways.  Today we see where the people “depart” from the living God.  Anytime a Christian chooses his will over God’s, he has departed from God.  This verse was a warning.

    Summary:  The name Numbers comes from a numbering of the people at the beginning of the book and then again at the end.  These were two different groups of people.  Today we look at the old generation, and the many troubles they caused Moses.  When the 12 spies were sent into the land (the land promised to Abraham), only Joshua and Caleb brought back a good report claiming God would allow them to conquer the land.  When the Israelites disobeyed God’s command to cross over into the Promised Land, they were disciplined.  The old generation would wander in the wilderness and die, not entering into the Promised Land — all because they refused to obey God’s command.   Joshua and Caleb were the only ones allowed to survive and enter the Promised Land.

    Within we also find more murmurings of the people and their discipline.  Less than 40 years elapsed during the book of Numbers.  Throughout Numbers, we will see God guiding, providing for, and protecting His people in spite of their constant heart of unbelief.  God stayed with them even when they departed from Him and His Words.

    Encourage your students to bring their Bibles and use them!

    Emphasis:  Today we will see the children of Israel have a heart of unbelief and depart from the plans the living God had for them.  We must believe God’s Word, or we will spend our lives wandering – just like the children of Israel did in the wilderness.

     

    Optional Worksheets to be downloaded:

    Lesson 22 – Volume 1 Children’s Worksheet

    Lesson 22 – Volume 1 Reinforcement Worksheet

     

    Ideas for children:

    Stickers always work well with children. Often times I watch Wal-Mart or Oriental Trading Company for specials or deals on things I can use for crafts for Sunday School (i.e. foam sheets, Bible Story scene stickers, crowns, stick on jewels, construction paper, etc.).  I keep a stash and when I need something, I go search in my stash!  Pinterest always has great ideas!

    You could have a coloring sheet that goes with the lesson.

    One idea for today’s lesson:  (See picture below).  I printed copies of the verse (Hebrews 3:12, today’s Key Verse) that would fit in the frame for today.  We took the foam frame and glued the verse into it.  Since it was a heart frame and the verse spoke of the heart, we covered the frame with lots of small heart stickers.  Use your imagination!  Sometimes I would stick a small magnet on the back so they could be put on their refrigerator at home.  Other times I would just glue a small loop of a ribbon so they could hang it up somewhere.

     

    Mural idea:

    Refer to the wall in your classroom that has become a mural.  Today, help them recognize the importance of following God’s will.  The people could have entered the land if they had only trusted God and obeyed Him.  Have them write out the verse Hebrews 13:17.  Encourage them to remember to apply this verse to their lives – always submitting themselves to their authority (i.e.: especially emphasize God, parents, pastor, teachers, policemen, etc.).

    Have them each add anything else they may have brought to add to the wall.  Encourage everyone to participate.