Lesson 15

The Jews Enter the Land

Numbers 13 and 14, Joshua 2 and 6

 

After the Jews crossed the Red Sea, God led them through the desert.  He led them to the land He had promised to give them.  Every day God sent manna in the morning and quail at night for the Jews to eat.  God protected the Jews from enemies.  He led them to a place that was near the promised land.

 

Then God told Moses to send twelve spies to explore the promised land.  Moses told the spies to find out what the land was like.  “Find out if the land is fertile and good for growing things,” Moses said.  “Find out what their cities are like.  Are they big or small?  Do they have walls around them to protect them?  Are there many people there?  Are they strong or weak?  And bring back some of the fruit of the land.”

 

The twelve spies explored the land for forty days.  It was a beautiful, fertile land.  The spies found one cluster of grapes so big that they couldn’t carry it very well.  They put the cluster of grapes on a pole and carried it between them.

 

When the spies returned they told Moses and the people how wonderful the land was.  But ten of the spies said, “The people who live in the land are very big and strong.  The cities are large and protected by high walls.  The people are too strong for us.  We must not try to go into the land.”

 

Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, did not agree.  They said, “It is a very good land.  God has given us the land.  He will help us fight our enemies.  God will protect us.”

 

Most of the Jews were afraid.  They listened to the ten spies.  They did not want to go into the new land.  “We should have stayed in Egypt,” they said.

 

This made God very angry.  God had done many miracles to help the Jews.  He had made a path in the Red Sea for them to cross.  He sent enough manna and quail to feed them every day, even though there were probably over two million (2,000,000) Jews.  But the Jews were still afraid to trust God.  God told the Jews that they would have to live in the desert for forty more years.  All the men who were over twenty years old at that time would die in the desert.  Only Joshua and Caleb would be able to enter the land.

 

Vocabulary

Names

Joshua

Caleb

 

Other

explore (v)	cluster (n)
fertile (adj)	pole (n)
weak (adj)

Questions

1.  How many spies did Moses send to explore the promised land?

2.  What did Moses want the spies to find out about the promised land?

3.  Why did ten spies not want to go into the promised land?

4.  Why did Joshua and Caleb think the Jews should go into the land?

5.  How much longer did God say the Jews would live in the desert?

 

Forty years later the people were ready to enter the promised land.  Joshua and Caleb were the only men over sixty years old who were still alive.  God had chosen Joshua to be the new leader after Moses died.

 

In the promised land the first city the Jews came to was Jericho.  Joshua sent two spies to Jericho to find out what it was like.  In Jericho the spies met a woman named Rahab.  Rahab lived in a house on the wall around Jericho.  When the king of Jericho sent men to find the spies, she hid the spies in her house. 

 

Rahab told the Jewish spies, “Our people have heard about how your God protects you.  We heard how He made a path in the Red Sea for you to cross.  All of our people are afraid of you.  I know God has given you this land.  When your people come to fight our city, please do not kill anyone in my family.”

 

“You have saved our lives,” the spies said.  “If you don’t tell what we’re doing we will not kill your family.”

 

The spies went back to Joshua and told him,  “The people are afraid of us.  God will surely give us the whole land.”

 

The people of Jericho were so afraid of the Jews that they would not open the gates to their city.  But God had a plan to help the Jews fight the people of Jericho.  It was a very strange plan.

 

God told Joshua what to do.  For six days all the Jewish soldiers marched around the city of Jericho once every day.  On the seventh day the soldiers marched around the city seven times.  Then the priests blew their trumpets and all the soldiers shouted.  When they shouted, God made the walls of the city collapse.  The Jewish soldiers ran into the city, fought with the men of Jericho, and won the battle. 

 

One part of the wall did not collapse, however.  The part of the wall where Rahab lived stayed standing.  The soldiers brought Rahab and her family out of the city.  Then they burned the whole city.

God helped the Jews fight battles so that they could get the land God had promised them.  As long as the Jews obeyed God, He helped them win their battles.  A few times they didn’t obey God.  Then they lost their battles. 

 

Joshua was the leader of the Jews for about twenty-five years.  During that time the Jews usually obeyed God.  They did not worship idols.  By the time Joshua died, the Jews had driven almost all of their enemies out of the promised land. 

 

Hundreds of years before, God had promised Abraham to make his family into a great nation.  God had promised to give them a land of their own.  Now the Jews were a great nation with their own land.  God had kept His promise.

 

Vocabulary

Name of Place

Jericho

 

Name of Person

Rahab

 

Other

chosen (v)	shout (v)
save (v)	collapse (v)
gate (n)	win (v)
soldier (n)	battle (n)
march (v)	drive (v)
blow (v)	almost (adv)
trumpet (n)

 

Irregular Verbs

Present	Past	Past Participle	Future
choose	chose	has chosen	will choose
blow	blew	has blown	will blow
win	won	has won	will win
lose	lost	has lost	will lose
drive	drove	has driven	will drive

Questions

 6.  Who were the only men over sixty years old who entered the promised land?

 7.  After Moses died who was the new leader of the Jews?

 8.  What did the Jewish spies promise Rahab because she helped them?

 9.  How many days did the Jewish soldiers march around the city only one time?

10.  On the seventh day how many times did the Jewish soldiers march around the city?

11.  What happened when the Jewish soldiers shouted? 

 

To Think About

                        When the twelve spies went into the land to explore it, ten were afraid for the Jews to enter the land.  Two spies trusted God and wanted to enter the land.  Ten were wrong.  Two were right. 

                       

In a democracy* the majority* rules.  Do you think the majority is usually right?  Is it easy to do the right thing when most of the people around you are doing the wrong thing?  Can you think of an example when you or someone you know did the right thing when most people were doing the wrong thing? 

                        There is a saying that says, “Honesty pays.”  It means you will gain* more by being honest than by being dishonest.  Do you think this is true?

                       

Vocabulary

democracy (n)	gain (v)
majority (n)