A Thought For The Week Of October 30, 2017

"The Lord said to Moses, 'Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.' ... Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.'" (Numbers 13:1 & 30) There's an interesting contrast in these two verses - the words of God to Moses and the words of Caleb to the people - and I think they have something to say to us today. God's command to Moses was that the people should go into the promised land of Canaan and explore it. They should learn about the land and its inhabitants. There's no doubt that they were going as spies and preparing for conquest, but still - that's a risky thing in some ways because by exploring - by seeking to learn - it's possible that they might actually develop some respect for the land and its inhabitants that could get in the way of their plans for conquest. Caleb seemed to understand that danger. He shared none of that stuff about exploring. Once he heard the initial reports, there was no desire on his part to get to know the land or its people any deeper. "It's ours. Let's go and take it. No one can stop us." That was his attitude. Do you see the difference? Which version, tragically, is generally listened to? Unfortunately, we usually choose the way of Caleb when dealing with such things. It has often become our go-to way of dealing with people of other lands and cultures. We don't bother to learn about other people and their land. Or we learn as little as possible - and usually only enough to be able to take advantage of their weaknesses - and then we just go and take exploit it (and them) for our own benefit. That's a pattern of history. We have obvious examples of that here in North America with the history of European colonization, with tragic results for the native peoples. There was little respect; little attempt to learn about native culture. There was simply a belief that this was a land that God had given "us" - no matter that there were people already here whose land it was. This was covetousness (a violation of the Tenth Commandment) at its finest - or worst! And it isn't just in North America. We see it happen all over the world and across cultures. It is, indeed, an interesting contrast we find in these two verses - with an interesting suggestion inherent in it for how we should treat other people: by trying to learn about them rather than fearing them, exploiting them or taking from them. This would be giving glory to God!