But among these there was not a man of those who were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they numbered the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said of them, “They shall surely die in the wilderness.” So there was not left a man of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. (Numbers 26:64-65)
Of the tens of thousands who were of age when Israel left Egypt, only two were left to cross over into the land. Only two could bear witness of the great and wonderful things that God had done among the children of Israel in Egypt and beyond. This drastic statistic conveys to us two primary things to consider. First, when Paul says that, “With most of them God was not well pleased,” (1 Corinthians 10:5), he comes close to understating the fact. Maybe he should have said, “Almost all.”
The point that Paul was truly making, however, was to alert those of us “upon whom the ends of the ages have come” not to make the same mistakes they made. He tells us that the things that were written down concerning them were for “our admonition” suggesting that there will come a day when we will be given the opportunity to either repeat or avoid those same mistakes. Moreover, that if we are going to repeat any of the attributes and characteristics of that generation, we should emulate those we see in Joshua and Caleb — the two who bore witness to God’s faithfulness.
Their example provides us with the second thing we need to glean from this scenario: it doesn’t matter how many stand in opposition to God’s purpose and plan, we need to be of a “different spirit” and resolve to do what He has called us to do. When we commit ourselves to His Plan, though others may fall, we will see the salvation of the LORD.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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