Many of the stories recounted about the people of Israel in their journey through the desert can be understood as parables about life. God had promised the people of Israel a land of their own. When God asked Moses to send scouts to survey the land of Canaan, we may surmise that God somehow intended that this exercise would help the Israelites to understand the greatness of the gift and so appreciate it even more. If they had responded with faith, they would have been able to see far beyond the apparent difficulties facing them: they would have listened to Caleb. Caleb, however, could have been more careful in his manner of speaking: Israel was not being asked to seize the land but to receive it as a gift. They were not to rely on their own physical and military strength to go against all the fortified cities and the giants: they were to move forward, in faith, trusting in the Lord.

The balance between making good use of one's own talents or resources and relying entirely on the grace of God has always been a matter of delicate and prudent spiritual judgement.