Twelve spies were sent into the Promised Land. As far as the land itself was concerned, the reports of the twelve spies agreed: it was a land flowing with milk and honey, a good land. They even brought back a huge cluster of grapes, pomegranates, and figs as proof of the land’s fertility. But this is where the similarity ended. Ten of the twelve spies added, “However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. . . . We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are. . . . The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. . . . We seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them” (vv. 28, 31–33).

Of all the spies, only two, Joshua and Caleb, thought differently. Caleb said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it” (v. 30).

The people of the land were the same, regardless of who was looking at them. The difference in the reports was due solely to whether the spies had their eyes on God, as was the case with Joshua and Caleb, or whether they had forgotten God, which was the case with the ten others. Some of the people of the land were giants; Caleb later asked to conquer some of them. But when the spies kept their eyes on God, the giants shrank to manageable proportions. The two spies were right to say, “We are well able to overcome it.” Later on in the story, they add, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us” (14:7–8). On the other hand, when the ten forgot God, the giants seemed overwhelming and they appeared to be grasshoppers in their own eyes.

The people of Israel decided to follow the majority report, forgetting God and despising his promise. For this they had to wander in the wilderness for the next thirty-eight years, until all who were over the age of twenty at this time died. This was a watershed moment, a tragic one. Nevertheless, it was a great moment for Caleb and Joshua. These two stood for God and his promises, and they were still operating this way nearly forty years later, when they again stood at the border of the land.

The only thing that matters in the long run is trusting and obeying God.