Spiritual Leaders Do Not Necessarily Go Along With The Majority Opinion
The Mt Kenya Times 
We next see Joshua’s name in connection with the famous incident of spying out the land in Numbers 13, 14. Moses commissioned twelve spies (one from each tribe) to reconnoiter the Promised Land as a prelude to conquest. Caleb and Joshua were representatives of their respective tribes (13:6, 8). After fortydays of covert inspection, the scouts returned. All agreed that the land was bountiful (13:23, 24).
However, ten of the spies said it could not be conquered because the cities were well-fortified and some of the people were giants (vv. 28, 29). Caleb and Joshua countered by saying almost literally that victory would be a “piece of cake.” The Hebrew of 14:9 literally says, “Do not fear the people of the land, for our bread they are” — “Do not worry, it is a piece of bread!” All Israel had to do, the two men insisted, was move in (13:30; 14:9). But the rest of Israel sided with the majority report, and even tried to stone Joshua and Caleb (14:1-10). As a result the people came under God’s judgment and would spend forty years wandering in the desert (one year for each of the forty days of spying out the land) until all had become corpses except.
For Joshua( Numbers 13, 14), the lesson was quite clear: the majority is not always right. In fact, it is very often wrong. The men God uses have always stood against the flow — Luther, Knox, Fox, Wilberforce, Booth, Carey, Bonhoeffer. How we need to remember this. Ours is a day when truth is determined by consensus, when justice is struck by a five-four vote, when “everybody is doing it” has become the pervasive rationale for behavior, when Jefferson’s fear of the tyranny of the majority is a reality. Spiritual leaders do not necessarily go along with the majority opinion.
Joshua and Caleb stood alone, a common characteristic among good leaders. But the prominent leadership quality we see in their solitary stand is a great faith. They simply believed in the glorious God Joshua glimpsed from afar on Sinai. There was no way they could share the “grasshopper” complex of the other spies, for how could they feel thus when they truly believed in such a great God. Without exception, great spiritual leaders have a faith that towers above their contemporaries. The grammar of their lives is “By faith, by faith, by faith . . .” (see Hebrews 11).
Significantly, it was at this time that Moses changed Joshua’s original name Hoshea (“salvation”) to Joshua (“Jehovah is salvation”) (Numbers 13:16). This is a high leadership name, for Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua. “[Y]ou are to give him the name Jesus,” said the angel, “because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
HALELUJAH.
References:
The Living Bible
Discipline of a Godly Man (Book by Kent Hughes)
Evangelist Eric Musa:
(My message continuously: If you are not saved: Believe, accept, receive and confess Christ Jesus as your Lord and Saviour and be filled with the Holy Spirit, as it is written; “NOW is the acceptable time, TODAY is the day of SALVATION.- 2 Cor 6:2”. For prayers, devotion, and to support the ministry contact Evangelist on +254722157300 ( Email: EMEA.ericmusa@gmail.com). Remember, God Loves you and I unconditionally, perfectly and always: SHALOM
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