190 PROMISED LAND. 



As they drew near the land of Canaan the trees of 

 the desert, the palm and the accacia, disappeared. But 

 the earth became carpeted with green plants, and 

 spotted with red anemones, like drops of blood. Here 

 and there might be seen a patch of corn, and at last in 

 the distance rounded hills with trees standing against 

 the sky. They encamped, and a man from each tribe 

 was deputed to spy the land. In six weeks they 

 returned bringing with them a load of grapes. Two 

 scouts only were in favour of invasion. The other ten 

 declared the land was a good land, as the fruits showed : 

 a land flowing with milk and honey : but the people 

 were like giants : their cities were walled and very 

 great ; the Israelites were as grasshoppers in compari- 

 son, and would not be able to prevail against them. 



This opinion was undoubtedly correct. The children 

 of Israel were a rabble of field slaves, who had never 

 taken a weapon in their hands. The business before 

 them was by no means to their taste ; and it was not 

 what Moses bad led them to expect. He had agreed 

 on the part of Jehovah to give them a land. They 

 had expected to find it unoccupied and prepared for 

 their reception like a new house. They did not require a 

 prophet to inform them that a country should be theirs 

 if they were strong enough to take it by the sword ; 

 and this it was clear they could not do. So they poured 

 forth the vials of their anger and their grief. They 

 lifted up their voice and cried ; they wept all the 

 night. Would to God they had died in the wilder- 

 ness ! "Would to God they had died in Egypt ! 

 Jehovah had brought them there that they might fall 

 by the sword, and that their wives and little ones 

 might be a prey. They would choose another captain ; 

 they would go back to Egypt. Joshua and Caleb, the 



