The biblical book of Numbers has a reputation for being boring, and that reputation is largely undeserved. Yes, there are lists of names which are often difficult to read and follow, but there is a lot of meaty story, too.
Within the broader story, the Israelites have escaped from their slavery in Egypt and are heading -- slowly, as it turns out -- toward Canaan. At God's command, Moses sends a handful of leaders to scout out the land. The group spends some time discovering what is ahead -- the towns, the soil, the trees, the fruit, the people -- and returns with its report: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey!" They brought back some apparently impressive fruit, too. The men who had done the exploring were clearly quite impressed with Canaan.
The report continues: "But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large." They all agreed that they would likely encounter significant opposition. While they admired the land, most didn't believe they could have it. Only two of them -- Caleb and Joshua -- believed they could move forward at God's direction with God's help.
The group's admiration of the land makes sense. The land promised to them by God was indeed wonderful, and could provide very well for their massive group. The fear of the majority in the group is also normal and natural. They saw powerful people and large, fortified cities. They worried that they might be defeated. The differences in perspective within the group is not unusual, and it is appropriate to consider the various perspectives among them, to respect each other enough to allow the truth of their fear to be spoken as they figure out what to do next. So far, that's probably all okay.
But it doesn't stay that way, because rather than recognizing and dealing appropriately with their fear, those who hesitated "spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, 'The land we explored devours those living in it.... We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.'" Rather than acknowledging their fears and pondering the possibilities together, the foothold of their fears became a stronghold as they stirred up dissension to the point that the whole community started into some pretty serious grumbling. Through that process, they started to believe that their fears were representative of reality, and allowed those fears to dominate their thoughts. They started talking foolishly: "Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt? We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt."
Back to Egypt? Seriously? The land of slavery and oppression? The place they had miraculously escaped? The land God had miraculously brought them out of? And this same God promised the great land they'd just explored? What were they thinking??
In the end, they didn't turn around and go back to Egypt, but they also weren't able to really move forward, either. Their willingness to give in to their fears rather than seek God's direction, exacerbated by banding together with like-minded people, had serious consequences (Numbers 14:20-24).
Human beings are created for relationship and community. We are designed to work together, to share our ideas, fears, hopes, experiences and perspectives with each other. Partnering with others is to be a very good thing, a healthy and natural part of who we are. At the same time, there is also a risk of allowing distortion and distraction to develop when we trust ourselves and others more than God.
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