Joshua and Caleb

God told Moses to send men to search the land of Canaan, the land He was giving to Israel. One leader from each tribe went. Among them were Caleb from Judah and Oshea from Ephraim, whom Moses called Jehoshua, or Joshua.

The men traveled through the land for forty days. They saw its towns and people, and they brought back fruit, including a cluster of grapes so large that two men carried it on a staff. When they returned to Moses, Aaron and the congregation, they agreed that the land was rich. But they also reported that its people were strong, its cities were walled, and descendants of Anak lived there.

Caleb quieted the people and said Israel should go up and possess the land, because they were able to do it. The other men who had gone with him disagreed. They said Israel could not defeat the people and gave a frightening report about the land. The congregation cried through the night. Many complained against Moses and Aaron and said they wished they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness. They even talked about choosing a leader and returning to Egypt.

Moses and Aaron fell before the congregation. Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes. They told the people that the land was exceedingly good and that, if the LORD delighted in Israel, He would bring them into it. They warned the people not to rebel against the LORD and not to fear the people of the land. When the congregation spoke of stoning them, the glory of the LORD appeared at the tabernacle.

The LORD spoke of judging the people for their unbelief. Moses pleaded for Israel, pointing to what the surrounding nations would say and asking God to show the mercy and patience He had already declared. The LORD said He had pardoned, yet the generation that had repeatedly tested Him would not enter the promised land. Caleb would enter because he had followed the LORD fully, and Joshua would also be spared.

Israel would remain in the wilderness for forty years, one year for each day the land had been searched. The adults counted from twenty years old and upward who had complained would die in the wilderness, while their children would later enter the land. The ten men who had brought the evil report died by a plague before the LORD. Joshua and Caleb remained alive.