Read Numbers 13 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
13:1-14:10 {p} Twelve spies sent out; ten bring back an evil report
These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun, Jehoshua. Num 13:16
There is no “j” in Hebrew. Jehoshua or Joshua, is in Hebrew, Yehoshua or Yeshua. The name means, salvation, or, Yehovah is my salvation. Yes, this is the same name that Joseph was told to name Mary’s son when He was born. Joshua has been emerging as a Prophetic Type of Messiah, in the same vein as Joseph the son of Jacob—the second in command, always faithful to YHVH regardless of the situation.
Out of the twelve spies who spied out the Promised Land, ten of them discouraged the children of Israel to enter the Land, while only two, Joshua for the tribe of Ephraim and Caleb for the tribe of Judah, encouraged the children of Israel to enter the Land.
Really, what Joshua and Caleb were encouraging, was for Israel to have faith in YHVH and trust Him. They were encouraging Israel to believe in God; and to believe God, that what He told them was the truth.
For some, when they had heard, rebelled; however not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was He grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they should not enter into His rest, but to those who believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Heb 3:16-19
But ultimately, Israel did not enter in because of unbelief. They rebelled because they did not believe that what God had told them—“you will prevail over giants”—was true. This is the Gospel of grace! We too can only enter in to our promised inheritance of salvation and eternal life, when we believe God and place our trust in Him.
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