A year after the Israelites had camped at the foot of Mount Sinai, Moses led them towards Chanaan. To guide them, God sent a cloud to go before them.A year after the Israelites had camped at the foot of Mount Sinai, Moses led them towards Chanaan. To guide them, God sent a cloud to go before them.
One day God told Moses to send men to look over the land of Chanaan which He had promised the Israelites. Moses chose one man from each of the twelve tribes into which the Children of Israel were divided.
To the twelve men Moses said, "Go and see what sort of land it is. See what people are living there now. Find out whether the land is good or bad."
The twelve spies journeyed to the Promised Land. They stayed there forty days.
Upon their return to the Israelite camp, they carried with them an enormous cluster of grapes and other good fruits. They reported, "The land is very rich. But it has strong inhabitants and great walled cities. The people are as large as giants."
However, two of the spies, Caleb and Josue, advised, "Let us go to that land, for we can conquer it. The country is flowing with milk and honey. If the Lord is with us, we shall possess that land and live there happily."
The Israelites were frightened, and did not want to go. Murmuring against Moses, they said to each other, "Let us choose another leader to take us back to Egypt."
To Moses they cried, "Why have you brought us to this land to die? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?"
God was very much displeased because the people had no faith. He would have destroyed them, but Moses prayed Him to have patience.
God forgave the people, but said, "I will punish them. None of those who are twenty years old and over, and murmured against Me, shall reach the Promised Land. Only Caleb and Josue shall enter it. For forty years the Children of Israel shall wander in the desert."
Moses who so often prayed God to pardon the Israelites was a figure of our Lord Jesus Christ Who intercedes for us before the Eternal Father.
- from My Bible History in Pictures, by Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow, D.D., 1934; it has the Imprimatur of Archbishop Michael J O'Doherty of Manila, Philippines