Gods Sabbath

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E NTERING INTO G OD ’ S S ABBATH R EST

a plan of attack by their own wisdom. It was a clear case of men replacing God with themselves by devising their own spe cific orders. “Then all of you came to me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.’” Deuteronomy 1:22. This idea originated with the people who brought it to Moses. He, on their behalf, took the plan before the Lord. Because the Lord will never force the will of any of His children, He granted them permission to do what they wished. “Eleven days after leaving Mount Horeb the Hebrew host en camped at Kadesh, in the wilderness of Paran, which was not far from the borders of the Promised Land. Here it was proposed by the people that spies be sent up to survey the country. The mat ter was presented before the Lord by Moses, and permission was granted, with the direction that one of the rulers of each tribe should be selected for this purpose. The men were chosen as had been directed, and Moses bade them go and see the country, what it was, its situation and natural advantages; and the people that dwelt therein, whether they were strong or weak, few or many; also to observe the nature of the soil and its productiveness and to bring of the fruit of the land.” Patriarchs and Prophets , 387.1. Note that Moses did not seek the Lord’s will, but merely His approval of the people’s plan. But because they were willing to accept some advice from Him, God gave them counsel outlining the best way to do what they had chosen. He gave them advice on how to choose the best men from among the people so that the resulting frustration would be reduced as much as possible. Here is God’s answer to the desire of the people that Moses pre sented to Him: “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ances tral tribe send one of its leaders.’ So at the L ORD ’ S command Mo ses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.” Numbers 13:1–3. The saddest thing was that the Israelites did not fully under stand what they were doing. They were convinced they were ea gerly doing God’s work, when in reality they were furthering the objectives of the arch-apostate. Kadesh Barnea was a place