In Andrew Murray's classic devotional book Humility he defines biblical humility
over against the popular conception of humility as self-abasement. Christian humility recognizes two realities at once: by virtue of our creatureliness we are 'nothing' (that is, not God, ex nihilo) but it must go further in recognizing that as such God may be all in and through us. This union with God is accomplished in the work of Christ and the Spirit.

The failure of the children of Israel at Kadesh Barnea recounted in Numbers 13-14 illustrates this kind of true humility, and its lack, very well. The conflicting reports of the spies demonstrated two kinds of humility, one biblical, the other false. The majority reported that while the land "flowed with milk and honey" the inhabitants were "very strong, and the cities are fortified and very large, and besides we saw the descendants of Anak there... We seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them." Their assessment was simple and might even be confused with a humble response to these harrowing realities "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are."

The minority report of Caleb saw these same giants in the land but recommended a different course of action: "Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it." On the surface this short speech might seem to come from a certain hubris on Caleb's part. He did not even couch his recommendation in pious platitudes. But Caleb's is the humble response to the Israelites' circumstances. The reality that God's promise of victory was truly theirs was entirely owned by Caleb so that he could make such a bold assertion without equivocation. For Caleb, God was with them, God had promised, what else was there to consider? In the children of God, humility sometimes look like presumption. But it is not presumption when the foundation for their action is the unmistakable clarity of God's Word of promise to them, coupled with the ever-present Spirit of God within them.

The humility of Caleb and the hubris of the majority is finally revealed in the final act of this moment of Israel's history. After rebuking the majority for their unbelief and cursing them to a death in the wilderness, they presumed to go into Canaan anyway. Their act of heroism was foolish, as Caleb and Moses warned, because the LORD was not with them any longer. They were doomed to defeat.