The Hills Have Spies
Numbers 13: 1-25

So God tells Moses to send out some leaders to scout out the land. So he does- and in this passage he lists each one by name and clan. While it doesn't make for interesting reading there are a couple of things about it that I do find interesting. Knowing what is to come in regards to these explorers, I wonder how Moses chose the order of listing them. Joshua and Caleb are tucked in the middle of the list- is Moses building suspense? Are they listed based on geography? Age of traveler? I'd like to think it's a literary device- although much of Moses' writing style works agaisnt that theory.

Second, while this might at first appear as a list of honor...these men were so well thought of that they are forever immortalized in sacred text... perhaps the opposite is true. Since the expedition (as we'll find out soon) doesn't go so well, perhaps this is a list of shame. Maybe it's a constant reminder that our leaders can let us down, can make mistakes, are far from perfect- and can't be the litmus of our own faith. If my spiritual stability is dependent upon church leaders, then I'm in trouble- because when they mess up (as they will- as I do...) my faith is damaged. I have to recognize the fallibility of us all and trust in God's grace- not in the models of leaders.

So Moses instructs them to go up through the Negev into the Hill country. He wants them to find out some particulars of the area- things like what the land is like- demographic information- how tough are these guys? What are the towns like? Good restaurants? How's the night life? Do they have trees? He instructs them to bring back some fruit. It happened to be grape season during the expedition. You know what that means... lots of grape juice.

So they came to a valley where they cut off a cluster of grapes to carry back on a pole- along with some pomegranates and figs. This was such an important moment that the valley was named the valley of cluster (Eshkol). Must have been a slow news day.

After forty days they returned home. Hope the grapes were still fresh.