John Calvin on Numbers 13:32-33

32. But the men that went up with him said. We here see, as in a mirror, how impiety gradually gathers audaciousness in evil. At the outset, the authors of the rebellion were ambiguous in their expressions, and contented themselves with obscure insinuations; they now throw aside all shame, and openly and acrimoniously oppose the address of Caleb, which was certainly nothing less than casting discredit on God’s words, and setting at naught His power. God had promised to give the land to the Israelites; they deny that He will do so. He had afforded them many proofs that nothing is difficult to Him: they deny that His aid will suffice against the forces of their enemies. Moreover, they at length break out into such impudence, that in their falsehood they contradict themselves. They had confessed that the land was rich; they now declare that it consumes or devours its inhabitants, which is entirely the reverse. For this is equivalent to saying, that the wretched men, who cultivated it, wore themselves out with their assiduous labors; or, at ally rate, that it was pestilential from the inclemency of its climate; either of which statements was utterly false. The mode in which some understand it, viz., that the giants Corn. a Lapide has the following note on verse 33; “נפלים, nephilim, i.e., giants, who are called nephilim, that is, falling, because they were so tall, that those who saw them fell from terror, or rather falling, i.e., making to fall, (the Kal being put for the Hiphil,) laying prostrate and slaying other men in all directions, for these giants were savage men and truculent tyrants.” in their violence committed indiscriminate slaughter, is without foundation; for this evil was by no means to be feared by the people, after the extermination of the inhabitants. I do not doubt, then, but that it means that the cultivation of the land was difficult, and full of much inconvenience.

At the end of the last verse, where it is said, “as grasshoppers,” etc., I think the words are inverted, and ought to be thus connected; “As grasshoppers are despised in our eyes, so we were looked down upon by these giants on account of our lowness of stature.”

Numbers 14

Numbers 14:1-9

1. And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

1. Tunc sustulit universus coetus, edideruntque vocem suam, et flevit populus nocte illa.

2. 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!

2. Et murmuraverunt adversus Mosen et adversus Aharon omnes filii Israel: ac dixerunt universa multitudo, Utinam mortui essemus in terra AEgypti: aut in deserto hoc utinam mortui essemus.

3. And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt?

3. Et quare Jehova introducit nos in hanc terram, ut cadamus gladio, uxores nostrae et parvuli nostri sint in praedam? Nonne satius esset nobis reverti in AEgyptum?

4. And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

4. Dixerunt itaque alter ad alterum, Constituamus ducem, et revertamur in Aegyptum.

5. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

5. Tunc cecidit Moses et Aharon super faciem suam coram universo coetu congregationis filiorum Israel.

6. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:

6. Jehosua vero filius Nun, et Caleb filius Jephuneh, de exploratoribus terrae sciderunt vestimenta sua.

7. And they spoke unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.

7. Ac loquuti sunt ad universam congregationem filiorum Israel, dicendo, Terra per quam transivimus ut exploraremus eam, optima terra est.

8. 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.

8. Si complacitum fuerit Jehovae in nobis, introducet nos in terram istam, tradetque eam nobis, terram quae affluit lacte et melle.

9. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us; fear them not.

9. Tantum ne sitis rebelles Jehovae, neque timeatis populum terrae hujus: quia velut panis noster sunt, recessit praesidium eorum ab ipsis: Jehova autem nobiscum est, ne timeatis eos.