“The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south; and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, ... for we are well able to overcome it. “But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. “And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched, ... saying, ... all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. “And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, ... and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so were we in their sight.” Had Moses been gifted with military talent, or with any of the higher instincts of the soldier, he would have arranged to have received this report in private and would then have acted as he thought best. Above all he would have avoided anything like a council of war by the whole congregation, for a vast popular meeting of that kind was certain to become unmanageable the moment a division appeared in their command, upon a difficult question of policy. Moses did just the opposite. He convened the people to hear the report of the “spies.” And immediately the majority became dangerously depressed, not to say mutinous. “And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. “And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would God we had died in this wilderness!... “And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. “Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.” But Joshua, who was a soldier, when Moses thus somewhat ignominiously collapsed, retained his presence of mind and his energy. He and Caleb “rent their clothes,” and reiterated their advice. “And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. “If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. “Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them... fear them not. “But all the congregation bade stone them with stones.” By this time Moses seems to have recovered some composure. Enough, at least, to repeat certain violent threats of the “Lord.” Nothing is so impressive in all this history as the difference between Moses when called upon to take responsibility as a military commander, and Moses when, not to mince matters, he acted as a quack. On the one hand, he was all vacillation, timidity, and irritability. On the other, all temerity and effrontery.