The spies in effect declare, Arise, let’s go! That land is very good, it is prosperous, it is spacious, and best of all, the people will not suspect a thing. They will be totally unprepared for an attack. We can walk right in, take the land, and get our inheritance. Go, for God has given it into your hands.
This positive report contrasts starkly with the earlier report by the majority of the Israelite spies about the real Promised Land (Numbers 13:25–33). Those spies did describe the land in glowing terms—the land of milk and honey!
—but then they discouraged the people from taking on the Canaanites. The spies of Numbers 13:1–33 spoke of large, mighty people and fortified cities. Here in Judges, the Danites emphasize the weakness of Laish, and fully believe that it will be easy to attack and win. The confidence of the Danites is almost more like the confidence of Caleb and Joshua—except for a massive difference. Caleb and Joshua were not intimidated by the same obstacles that the other spies were—because they trusted in God to overcome those obstacles. The Danites, who were too fearful to conquer their own territory, are happy to go out and cruelly conquer because they saw an isolated, defenceless, innocent people as easy prey. The Danites were not living by faith; they had no right to conquer Laish. They are instead living by greed, selfishness. They are doers of injustice. Their migration looks like the world upside down.
9 They said, “Arise, and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. And will you do nothing? Do not be slow to go, to enter in and possess the land.