I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 14-15.

    In yesterday’s passage we read about the 12 spies who went into the land of Canaan and returned to give a report on the land. Ten of the spies reported that the people of the land were too powerful for the Israelites, while two, Joshua and Caleb (especially Caleb), reported that they would be able to defeat the people of the land with God’s help. Today we read that the people listened to the ten and rebelled against going into the land. When the ten got sick and died the people realized their mistake, but by them it was too late. The window of opportunity had closed and God was going to lead them through the wilderness for 40 more years.

    This passage demonstrates the dangers of following the majority opinion of the “experts”. Ten out of twelve of the spies, ten out of twelve of the “experts”, said that the people of the land were too powerful for the children of Israel to overcome. Caleb and Joshua argued that they had God on their side and thus would be able to overcome the people of the land. However, the people of Israel chose to follow the opinion of the majority of the experts. The majority of the experts told them that they should be afraid of the people of the land. So, they were afraid of the people of the land. We need to listen to the arguments being made by the experts, not just follow what most of them are saying.