English: Moses and the Messengers from Canaan, by Giovanni Lanfranco, oil on canvas, 85-3/4 x 97 inches, at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Those Israelites that Moses was leading sure had to hang out in the desert for a long time before God would let them go to the Promised Land.
Really? They finally were almost there? Are they going to march right in and take over?
Oh. They sent some explorers in first, huh? That’s what God told Moses to do? I guess that’s a pretty good idea. Could I go with them? I could wear my explorer hat.
What do you mean, I don’t have an explorer hat?
I wouldn’t run off. Really I wouldn’t.
I’m listening.
Moses sent a leader from each of the twelve tribes of Israel to explore the land. He told them to see what the people were like and what kind of land they lived in. He told them to see if the towns were fortified or not, if the land was good for farming, and if there were trees. And he asked them to bring back some of the fruit of the land.
Could they bring back some dog treats too?
Yes, I’ll listen.
Those men explored the land for forty days and when they came back they brought a branch with a cluster of grapes that was so big it took two of them to carry it on a pole between them.
That’s a lot of grapes. I hope they’ll share some with me.
What do you mean, dogs aren’t supposed to eat grapes? I think they should go back then and get something I can eat. A nice meaty bone maybe.
I’ve been listening all along.
The explorers told Moses that the land truly was a land flowing with milk and honey, but the people were powerful, the cities fortified, and they even saw giants.
Only Caleb and Joshua said that they should go take the land, because those two knew that God was with them and they could do it.
The other ten explorers turned the Israelites against Moses and Aaron and they all grumbled. They were afraid they would all die by the sword and their wives and children would be taken as plunder. They wanted to choose a leader to take them back to Egypt.
The Lord became angry with the people, and Moses had to talk Him out of destroying them and using Moses to start a new nation.
So what happened? Did they go back to Egypt?
They did? They had to hang out in the desert for forty years? Wow! That’s a long time.
No way! God said everyone over twenty except Joshua and Caleb would die in the desert during those forty years? And their children would be the ones to take the land?
Do you think when those children go in there they could get me some treats?
bongodogblog 