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Joshua and Caleb Reported by Faith

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Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them." (Numbers 14:9)

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God saved the Israelites from Egypt.

For the Israelites to go to Canaan, God even used a cloud and a fire pillar to lead them.

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When they arrived at the Paran Desert, God gave one order to Moses.

"Send some people to observe the land of Canaan.

Pick one leader from each tribe and send them. I will give you that land."

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Moses followed God's order and picked a leader from each of the 12 tribes.

"You need to go into the land of Canaan and you should look around the land without the people of Canaan knowing it. Look also whether the people there are strong or weak and look whether the land is good or not. Look at every single detail then come back and report. "

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The 12 explorers who got the order from Moses went to the land without the people of Canaan knowing it. And they looked around the land. For 40 days, they looked at every single thing of that land.

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40 days has passed and they returned to the Israelite camp.

And they started to report to Moses about the things they saw.

All the people wanted to know about the land so they gathered to listen to their reports.

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The first person started to report. He showed the fruit that he had brought from the land and he said, “Plants grow very well in the land that we spied on. This is the fruit that grows there.” The Israelites were surprised because the fruit was very big and fresh.

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But then that reporter started to say very negative things.

“But the people living in that land are very strong. Their kingdom has a big and strong wall around it. We cannot fight against them. There were also children of the Anak people.”

Upon hearing this, the people started buzzing.

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At that moment, Caleb stood up. “Everyone please be quiet.

We should go up and have that land. We can do it. Don’t be afraid.”

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But the other explorers stood up and said.

“We cannot attack those people of Canaan. They are stronger than us.”

They only said that they could never win.

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They kept saying bad news.

“That land will swallow us. The people we saw were very tall.

They were giants. In front of them, we felt small like grasshoppers.”

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Upon hearing that, the Israelites were very disappointed.

They started to complain to Moses and Aaron. They even said like this, “Why did you drag us until here then you are letting us die in this desert? I think it is better to go back to Egypt and live as slaves again. Let’s pick a new leader and return back to Egypt.”

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Moses and Aaron were very shocked by the Israelites words so they fell facedown in front of all the Israelites. At that moment, Joshua and Caleb, who were among the 12 explorers, tore their clothes and said to the Israelites: “Everyone, the land we explored was a very good land. If God will be with us, HE will lead us to that land. Don’t betray God. This will be a piece of cake to us to defeat them.”

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But the people tried to throw stones at Joshua and Caleb to kill them.

Then at that moment, God appeared from the middle of the tent and God stopped the Israelites.

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And God punished the 10 explorers who spoke those faithless words.

They died by a terrible sickness that God sent.

But Joshua and Caleb did not die because they did not lose their faith until the end.

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Among the Israelites who acted without faith, God did not allow even one of them to enter Canaan. But God allowed Joshua; the man of faith, to succeed Moses and to become a great leader and God allowed Caleb to enter Canaan and allowed him to have a big part of the land.

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To those people who see things by faith, God adds more blessings. Even if we think it is impossible, God has the power to make them possible. Dear friends of faith, we should work hard to become people who see everything in front of us with faith just like how Joshua and Caleb did.