Spying in the Bible 9 - 1442 BC - 1406 BC

Try Before You Spy

The consequences for Moses' failure were quite severe for both the entire nation as well as the individuals involved. The punishment for the entire nation was forty years of hard times wandering in the desert and most of them not being able to see the Promised Land. The spies who spread the bad report were immediately killed with the plague as their punishment. Moses should have never allowed these breakdowns in the Intelligence Cycle, because when he did the operation suffered from political issues. However, Caleb and Joshua were exempt from the punishment because of their faithfulness during the mission, so they were to be allowed to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 14:28-34).

“As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.”

From Kadesh, the Israelites traveled south back toward the Red Sea, and then wandered around the desert for thirty eight more years, until God told them it was time to head back north through modern day Jordan. The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) is the Jewish remembrance of the Hebrews living in tents and worshiping in the Tabernacle for forty years. This is celebrated around October and so was combined with a Feast of the Harvest. When the Israelites finally headed back north to begin their campaign to occupy the Promised Land, they passed through Edom (also referred to as Seir), which was given to the descendants of Esau, and then through Moab (also referred to as Ar), which was given to the descendants of Lot.

While going through these foreign lands, they were careful not to provoke them, getting permission to travel through the land, and paying for what they used. They did not want to waste their resources on a long war campaign before they even got to the land they were going to invade. When the Israelites arrived at the eastern border of Canaan, just north of the Dead Sea, they began their military campaigns to retake the Promised Land. These campaigns involved numerous recorded instances of espionage.

The first campaign in the invasion of the Promised Land began with the Amorites, just north of Moab. God told the Israelites to take possession of the land, but more interestingly from a military perspective, he told them why. This campaign was more important as a psychological operation (PSYOP) than as a military victory. God’s instruction to the Israelites was to take control of the Amorite lands, and once that was done the rest of Canaan would be afraid of them. Harming the enemy’s morale is important at this point because this was just the first battle in a long war (Deuteronomy 2:24b-25)

“See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you.”

Moses explains his plan of entering enemy territory with a plot of denial and deception. He proposed to ask the Amorites for permission to travel through their land, just as they had passed through Edom and Moab until the cross the Jordan, north of the Dead Sea (Deuteronomy 2:26-29).

From the Desert of Kedemoth I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace and saying, “Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left. Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot — as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us—until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.”

Since God had already tasked them with invading this land, this was a tactic to get his army behind enemy lines and catch them by surprise. However, King Sihon did not believe that the Israelites had a peaceful intent, so he sent his army against the Israelites. This delayed the conquest because even though Israel won that battle, they could only get as far as the Ammonites led by King Og, who had a fortified border. To get past that, Moses sent out spies to find out how to infiltrate that border (Numbers 21:23-24,31-32)

But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel. Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites, because their border was fortified.... So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites. After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured its surrounding settlements and drove out the Amorites who were there.

There is little information about how many spies were sent to Jazer or how Moses administered their mission, but it appears that Moses learned from his past mistakes. The fact that the spies are not named probably indicates he did not pick political leaders like he did thirty eight years earlier. Moses then promised the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh the land they had conquered so far east of the Jordan as their inheritance. Once the Israelites had reached the Jordan River, Moses named Joshua (one of the original twelve leaders and spies) as his successor to the people, because he knew that God would not let him in the Promised Land. At this point, Moses set up a system of laws, rules, and regulations for governing once they took over the Promised Land and instituted a system of Judges to preside over them. He then said goodbye to his people, gave them a blessing, and died at 120 years old. Joshua took over as leader of the Israelites and was involved the second major espionage campaign recorded in the Bible.