WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An international Sunday school lesson commentary
For Sunday September 22, 2019
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GOD
IS FAITHFUL DESPITE OUR UNFAITHFULNESS
(When
we look away from GOD our faith falters)
(Numbers
13-14:9)
It
is my belief, that, we cannot rightfully profess to have faith in GOD and, at
one and the same time, perpetually disobey HIS Word. “False religion” (including
“playing church”) is when we try to reach GOD by means which have not been
prescribed by GOD HIMSELF. It is one thing to “recognize” GOD, but it is quite
another thing to “obey” GOD. To believe that “there is a GOD” is not the same
thing as “believing the GOD that is”.
The Christian becomes “legit” when we begin
to fear, reverence, and worship GOD for “what HE can do for us now, regarding the
living of this life here on earth, and, in the eternal life to come”. We must
not find ourselves fearing, reverencing, and worshiping “mankind” more than the
GOD WHO made us all.
In this passage we’ll see how the
Israelites had begun to do just that. They had gone from fearing, reverencing,
and worshiping the Egyptians, whom GOD had just delivered them from, to now
fearing the Canaanites and “what they could possibly do and impose upon them in
this new life that GOD was trying to give to them”. This attitude of “fear” is
something that can only be overcome by one’s “faith” in GOD.
In the Book of Numbers, chapters 13 and 14,
GOD puts the Israelites to a test so that he could expose to them, just who among
them were “HIS legit faithful followers”, out of all the tribes of HIS “chosen
nation” of Israel. The legit leader among men here on earth, must be a genuine
follower of “the only wise living GOD”, if they are to have any lasting success
in the work of JESUS CHRIST.
Here in this passage, GOD instructs Moses
to send the twelve leaders of the tribes of Israel to explore the land of
Canaan, of which HE had already promised that they would soon possess (Numbers
13:1-16). Moses then gave these instructions to the men, and sent them out into
this new and mysterious land, and asked them to bring back a report of what
they found there. He instructed them to go north through the Negev, the desert
land of southern Canaan. From there they would travel up into the hill country
(v.17).
The Israelites had been camped in the
desert of Paran for a while at that time (v.3), probably in Kadesh, which was
technically the desert of Zin, a sort of subdivision of the great Paran
wilderness. One can just imagine how rich, green, and fertile the land of
Canaan must have looked to the twelve scouts, after they had been wandering in
the desert for so long.
After exploring the land of Canaan for
forty days, the men returned to give their reports to Moses. They brought back
many samples of crops that they had seen while in Canaan, just as Moses had
instructed them to do (v.20). They all reported that Canaan was a wonderful
place, “flowing with milk and honey”, confirming GOD’s earlier promise and
analogy.
However, they also reported that the
Canaanites were a powerful people with very large fortified cities. They also
reported that the descendants of Anak, who were giants (nephilim) in physical
stature, also resided in this area (v.13b). They said that these people were so
large that they made them look like grasshoppers (v.33).
Ten out of the twelve scouts were so
intimidated by these “nephilim” that they refused to go back and fight them for
this “rich land of plenty”, where GOD had already promised them victory. Only Joshua
(Hoshea), son of Nun, the leader of the tribe of Ephraim, and Caleb, son of
Jephunneh, the leader of the tribe of Judah, “had the faith”, and were willing
to fight to conquer the land of Canaan (Numbers 14:30).
Joshua and Caleb were the only tribal
leaders who “believed GOD” would do what HE said HE would do, when HE said that
“HE would give this land to them as an
inheritance”. And even though the other ten genuinely “believed there was a
GOD”, they, unlike Joshua and Caleb, did not have enough faith to “believe GOD
at HIS Word”, and “trust HIM in their heart”.
In Numbers 14, verses 1-10, we see that
most of the Israelites, because of their fear of what man (the Canaanites)
could do to them, began to rebel against GOD, and, against Moses. They thereby “placed
a curse upon themselves” by saying, “they
would rather have died in Egypt, or in the wilderness” than try to fight
and take over the land of Canaan, as GOD had instructed them to do (v.2).
Most of the Israelites had let the ten “doubting”
and “unbelieving” scouts convince them that they would face an “insurmountable
task” if they tried to conquer the land of Canaan, despite GOD’s promise of
victory. They began to weep out loud all night long, like babies, and they grumbled
and complained heavily against Moses and Aaron, and even plotted among
themselves to select new leaders who were willing to lead them back to Egypt
(Vs.1-4). After all that GOD had done for them, just like us today, they still
thought it to be “impossible to obey GOD, and faithfully follow HIS
instructions”, one day at a time. Stay tuned.
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website
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