But outside his tent, beyond his cloistered family members, out there among the thousands upon thousands, the seed of fear had taken root and was spreading its malevolent tendrils through the camp, stifling anticipation, smothering joy, and bringing a wave of murderous wrath.
When Caleb finally stretched out to rest, he slept fitfully. People wailed in the distance. He awakened once to shouts in the darkness. What had the people expected? That the Lord would wipe out everyone before they reached the borders of Canaan, so they could enter unoccupied land? He got up before sunrise, washed, and dressed in his best clothing.
Ephrathah heard him moving about the tent and rose. She awakened the others. “Hurry. We must go with your father. Come, Jerioth. We must stand behind our husband.”
Caleb pushed aside the curtain. “Stay here.” Both women were pregnant, and he didn’t want any harm to come to them or the babies they carried. “The people are angry. I don’t know what will happen. It’s best if you both remain here rather than be caught up in their rebellion.”
“What would you have us do?”
“Pray to the Lord our God that the people will listen and obey the Lord.”
Thousands were coming from every area of the camp, marching and shouting. Caleb ran ahead and pressed his way through those who had already gathered before the Tabernacle. He shoved his way through the crowd and broke free at the front, running to stand beside Joshua. “We have to stop them from rebelling!”
“What have you done to us, Moses?”
“We wish we had died in Egypt!”
“Or even here in the wilderness!”
“Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to have us die in battle?”
“Our wives and little ones will be carried off as slaves!”
“We should go back!”
Elders from the tribes came to the front, the ten other scouts among them. Red-faced men shouted, “Let’s choose a leader and go back to Egypt!”
Crying out in fear, Moses and Aaron dropped to the ground before the people. Caleb understood, for he felt the change in the air around him. It was not just fear of the people that made them prostrate themselves. Were the people so foolish they didn’t know the Lord heard them crying to go back to the land from which He had delivered them? to go back to slavery? to go back to false gods and idols?
Caleb let out a cry and ripped his garment. While Moses and Aaron covered their heads in fear of what the Lord would do, Caleb dove into the fracas, shouting with all his strength, “Listen, you people! Listen! The land we explored is wonderful land!”
Joshua shouted with him. “If the Lord is pleased with us, He will bring us safely into that land and give it to us!”
Caleb strode toward the elders and scouts, pointing at them. “Do not rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land.”
“They are only helpless prey to us!” Joshua shouted. “They have no protection, but the Lord is with us!”
“The Lord is with us!”
“Don’t be afraid of them!”
Korah stepped forward. “Don’t listen to this Caleb! He and Moses’ lackey would lead you into a land filled with enemies who have the power to slay your little ones.”
“Do you want to be slaughtered?”
“No!”
“Stone them!”
Caleb saw the hatred in the people’s faces, the fury growing past reason as they scraped around on the ground for rocks and pebbles.
Is this where my faith has led me, Lord? To death? Then let it be.
Screams rent the air and people scattered, for the cloud moved, changing color as it rose, spread, compressed, descended, and stood between the people and Caleb and Joshua. Caleb threw himself to the ground, covering his head in terror. Joshua lay beside him, crying out to God not to kill everyone.
Moses cried out, too. “Oh, Lord, no!” Moses was on his feet, hands raised, pleading frantically. “What will the Egyptians think when they hear about it?”
About what? Caleb’s heart pounded. He felt the presence of the Lord, the rising wrath, the chill of death close at hand. He shook violently and clutched the earth.
“The Egyptians know full well the power You displayed in rescuing these people from Egypt!” Moses cried out to the Lord. “They will tell this to the inhabitants of this land, who are well aware that You are with this people. They know, Lord, that You have appeared in full view of Your people in the pillar of cloud that hovers over them. They know that You go before them in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.”
Never had Caleb heard Moses speak so fast. He felt judgment at hand. Oh, Lord, have mercy upon us. Speak faster, Moses. Plead for us. God hears your voice. Without you, the Lord will kill us. My children! My wives!
“Now if You slaughter all these people . . .”
People screamed and scattered.
“ . . . if You slaughter all these people, the nations that have heard of Your fame will say, ‘The Lord was not able to bring them into the land He swore to give them, so He killed them in the wilderness.’”
Wailing rose. Thousands of voices cried out in terror, “Save us, Moses!”
Caleb wanted to rise up and scream to the people, “Cry to the Lord, for it is He who saves!” Were they still so foolish they could not hear Moses’ pleading? “Cry out to the Lord for forgiveness.”
“Please, Lord, prove that Your power is as great as You have claimed it to be.” Moses held his hands high. “For You said, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and rich in unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. Even so He does not leave sin unpunished, but He punishes the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations.’ Please pardon the sins of this people because of Your magnificent, unfailing love, just as You have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”
Moses went down on his face before the Lord, and there was silence, such a silence that Caleb’s ears rang with it. And then he thought he heard a still, quiet Voice whisper his name like a breath of warm, life-giving air. He strained mentally toward that Voice, listening intently, yearning to hear it again, so soft and loving but with the power of Almighty God behind it. But it was not for him to hear more. Not yet. Not now.
Stretching out his arms on the ground, his face in the dust, Caleb prayed. Lord, Lord, if You slay me now because I failed to convince these people of what I saw, I will die happy because it is by Your hand my life ends.
The glorious presence of the Lord lifted. Moses sobbed in relief.
Caleb raised his head as the old man rose slowly to his feet, trembling, tears running into his white beard. But when Moses looked out at the people, his eyes blazed. Caleb felt fear then, a fear that welled up inside him and made his stomach quiver, sweat bead, his mouth go dry.
“Listen, all of you, and hear the Word of the Lord!” The power of the Lord was behind Moses’ voice and it carried like a storm.
Caleb moved quickly so that he was standing beside Joshua again. The other ten scouts did not join them, but remained among the elders of their tribes. There might as well have been a chasm between them. On one side stood six hundred thousand men who had chosen to fear the enemy rather than follow their trusted Friend. They had chosen to speak against the One who had saved them and provided for them every day since they had been rescued from slavery. On the other side stood Caleb and Joshua, two strong voices of reason not heeded.
The people came closer, but rebellion still shone in their eyes. The elders of each tribe came to the front with their scout. Caleb looked out at them and wondered how they could think the threat was past, that the Lord would do whatever Moses asked.
We deserve nothing, Lord. After all You have done for us, and this is what the people decide.
“Hear the Word of the Lord!” Moses’ voice went forth like fire. “‘I will pardon them as you have requested. But as surely as I live, and as surely as the earth is filled with the Lord’s glory, not one of these people w
ill ever enter that land.’”
The Promised Land was lost to them. While many cried out in relief, Caleb cried out in grief and fell upon his face again. He drew his knees up under his body and threw dust on his head. Imagining the ten scouts, he pounded the earth with his fists and wept bitterly.
Moses’ voice rose, hot with anger, weighed with grief.
“‘They have seen My glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again and again they tested Me by refusing to listen. They will never even see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have treated Me with contempt will enter it.’”
Moses paused and then spoke tenderly. “‘But my servant Caleb . . .’”
My servant Caleb . . . The Voice again, so tenderly calling him. Caleb, My servant . . .
Caleb raised his face to the heavens. Moses spoke, but it was the Lord’s voice Caleb heard. Caleb is different from the others. He has remained loyal to Me, and I will bring him into the land he explored. His descendants will receive their full share of that land.
Caleb bowed his face to the ground. Unworthy, Lord, I am an unworthy dog.
What of Joshua?
“‘Now, turn around,’” Moses said in the power of the Spirit, “‘and don’t go on toward the land where the Amalekites and Canaanites live. Tomorrow you must set out for the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.’”
The people wailed, but some stood their ground.
“No. We want our land.”
Caleb covered his head. It was never their land. It had always been the Lord’s land. And it was the Lord who would have placed them there as He had placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Why do men always refuse to listen and act upon what the Lord says? Lord, give me the heart to hear and the courage to obey.
“Thus says the Lord, ‘How long will this wicked nation complain about Me? I have heard everything the Israelites have been saying. You will all die here in this wilderness! Because you complained against Me, none of you who are twenty years old or older and were counted in the census will enter the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will be Caleb and Joshua.
“‘You said your children would be taken captive. Well, I will bring them safely into the land, and they will enjoy what you have despised. But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness. And your children will be like shepherds, wandering in the wilderness forty years. In this way, they will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the wilderness.’”
The people drew back from Moses as he came forward, hands spread, his voice carrying over the throng. “‘Because the men who explored the land were there for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years—a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins. You will discover what it is like to have Me for an enemy.’”
Gagging violently, Palti fell to the ground in convulsions. People screamed and withdrew as Palti bit off his own tongue. People ran from Shaphat, who dropped where he stood among the elders. Igal and Gaddiel pitched over. Ammiel ran, Gaddi on his heels, but both fell as though struck by invisible arrows. Sethur and Nahbi, Geuel and Shammua died as Palti did.
Of the twelve who had explored the land, only Caleb and Joshua stood untouched by God’s judgment, for they hadn’t spread lies about the land and its people.
Caleb shook as the Lord took swift vengeance. The people scattered, but still God’s hand of judgment was upon them, and many others died that night.
In the morning, hundreds went out with their weapons to take Canaan. “Let’s go,” they said. “We realize that we have sinned, but now we are ready to enter the land the Lord has promised us.”
“What are you doing?” Moses ran after them, Joshua with him. “God has told us to turn back to the Red Sea!”
“We’re not going back to the Sinai. The Lord said He would give us the land, and we’re going to take it.”
But Moses said, “Why are you now disobeying the Lord’s orders to return to the wilderness? It won’t work. Do not go into the land now. You will only be crushed by your enemies because the Lord is not with you. When you face the Amalekites and Canaanites in battle, you will be slaughtered. The Lord will abandon you because you have abandoned the Lord!”
“Who are you to tell us to stay here? We’re sick of you telling us what not to do and what to do. We will take the land. God will help us.”
Caleb stood at the edge of camp, watching several of his friends head north for Canaan. They had fretted and argued all night, and finally convinced themselves they could do it. They thought there was power in their dream, power to reach out and grab what they wanted for themselves.
He had heard his brother say, “If we just believe we can do it, it will happen.”
They assumed God would give in to their desire and bless their endeavors. Faith in God would have given them everything they ever hoped to have, but faith in themselves would bring them death.
Caleb shouted after them, “When will you learn to obey the Lord?”
One of his brothers shouted back, “Come with us, Caleb. When will you learn it is not the Lord who speaks, but Moses! And who is he to tell us what to do?”
Helpless, angry, Caleb stood his ground. “Fools! All of you!” His eyes hot, Caleb dropped to his knees and hung his head. Someone gripped his shoulder.
Joshua watched the rebels. “When they are dead, the others will heed the Word of the Lord.”
Caleb gave a laugh of despair. “Do you really think so? Like begets like. Their children will be just like them.”
“Your voice is filled with hatred.”
“I hate those who hate Moses. To hate God’s prophet is to hate God Himself. I hate them with a passion almost as great as my love for God!”
“Brother . . .”
“It sears my heart,” Caleb cried out in wrath. “We were so close. So close! And their faithlessness has stripped us bare. Now, you and I must wait forty years to enter into the land God gave us. Forty years, Joshua! My sons and little ones will suffer in the desert because of them. Our wives will die without ever seeing what you and I saw.” He grasped Joshua’s garment. “And I see it in your eyes, too, my friend.”
“It chews at my soul. What must we do about it?”
Caleb gripped the robe over Joshua’s heart. “Go back.” He shut his eyes and spoke quietly, in despair. “Go back to the last place where we rejoiced over God our Savior. Go back to the Red Sea and begin again.”
And God preserve us, may we continue in faith this time.
THREE
The congregation hadn’t even traveled toward the Red Sea for a day when another rebellion broke out, this time led by Korah, a Levite who blamed Moses for the deaths of those who had gone into the Promised Land. He scorned Aaron as high priest and roused others to think likewise. Two hundred and fifty Levites stood with Korah, determined to preside over worship. Moses told them to stand at the entrances of their tents with censors of burning incense the next morning and the Lord would decide.
Struck by fire from the Holy of Holies, Korah and his rebels died horribly. The earth opened with a roar and swallowed them, along with their households. Tumbling down into the yawning jaws of Sheol, they screamed, as the jagged edges of the precipice closed over them like the teeth of a lion.
And still, it was not enough to put an end to the stubbornness of hearts baked and hardened to stone beneath the sun of Egypt’s profane and profligate gods.
“Stay away from the people.” Caleb kept his wives and children inside the tent. “Stay out of it.” He could feel the heat of rebellion building all around him, even in the tribe of Judah as people wailed and cried out through the night.
“I can’t bear it!” Ephrathah covered her ears.
The people rose up again, and accused Moses of killing God’s people. The glory of the Lord appeared and struck the camp with plague. Men and women blaspheming God and His prophet dropped dead where th
ey stood. Ten, a hundred, a thousand, thousands upon thousands. The rebels could not run and hide, for God knew them and sought them out for destruction. Moses cried out for mercy and sent Aaron running to burn incense to atone for the people. Aaron ran to do what was asked of him, and stood between the living and the dead.
Finally, the people were silent, too afraid to open their mouths lest another plague fall upon them. Too late, they remembered what the Lord had done in Egypt. If not for Moses and Aaron, they would all be dead.
Caleb came out of hiding to help carry Judah’s dead from the camp. But he knew it wasn’t over. “I can see it in their eyes.”
Ephrathah put her arm around him in the darkness of their tent. “What do you see, my love?” She pressed into the shelter of his arm.
“Wrath. But it isn’t for those who rebelled against the Lord, but against God Himself for holding true to His word.” It was as though the muddy waters of the Nile still ran in their veins, his included, for Caleb knew sin dwelt in him. He loved these men who had become his brothers. He loved them, and yet, he hated them, too. When he heard a man grumbling close by, he could have so easily raised his hand against him and struck him down. Resentment rose, bringing with it a lust for vengeance.
My heart is a storm within me, Lord. You are my God! Let nothing stand between You and me. Sin crouches at the entrance of my heart waiting to devour me. And I must fight against it. Oh, God, how I must fight against the fire in my blood! Their faithlessness kept me and my sons from Canaan. Help me not to hate these people. Help me to stand firm beneath the cooling spring of Your living water so that I may obey Your every command whether I understand or not.
But the grumbling persisted, low, an undercurrent that still pulled at the souls of some, sucking the hope from God’s promises.
Bowing his head, Caleb gripped the hoe he used to dig graves until his fingers hurt.
Help me, Lord. Oh, God, help me not to give in to my wrath.
The multitude followed the Lord and Moses back to the Red Sea, and then the wandering began. No one knew how long they would remain in one place. Caleb kept his eyes on the cloud, for when it rose, so too did he and his family members. “Rise up. The Lord is on the move. Rise up!”
Sons of Encouragement Page 27