So who's to blame?

When Israel sent 12 leaders to spy out the land, 2 brought back a favourable report; 10 did not. The upshot was that Israel refused to try to enter the land and incurred God's wrath. So who was to blame?

Clearly, the 10 who talked up the issues involved with entering the land and making it their own -

But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them. (Numbers 13:31ff; TNIV)

Leaders within the church have a solemn duty to exercise faith and to encourage faith in others. It is so easy to discourage, to dampen and to damage. And it is no refuge to say 'I'm a natural pessimist and it's just how I am'; unbelief needs to be named for what it is.

But the account in Deuteronomy shows that the people as a whole were also at fault for listening to the bad report and refusing to act on the advice of Joshua and Caleb, for failing to believe God:

But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You grumbled in your tents and said, "The LORD hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, 'The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.' " (Deuteronomy 1:26ff; TNIV)

Interestingly, it had been their idea in the first place to send the spies, a suggestion that Moses recognised as God-given (cf. Dt. 1:22f & Num 13:1). But, sadly, that doesn't guarantee a faithful response.

The community needs to evaluate what it hears and follow advice that is both wise and faithful.