Numbers 13 commentary

A memorable and melancholy history is related in this and the following chapter, of the turning back of Israel from the borders of Canaan, and the sentencing them to wander and perish in the wilderness, for their unbelief and murmuring. It appears, De 1:22, that the motion to search out the land came from the people. They had a better opinion of their own policy than of God's wisdom. Thus we ruin ourselves by believing the reports and representations of sense rather than Divine revelation. We walk by sight not by faith. Moses gave the spies this charge, Be of good courage. It was not only a great undertaking they were put upon, which required good management and resolution; but a great trust was reposed in them, which required that they should be faithful. Courage in such circumstances can only spring from strong faith, which Caleb and Joshua alone possessed.

The searchers of the land brought a bunch of grapes with them, and other fruits, as proofs of the goodness of the country; which was to Israel both the earnest and the specimen of all the fruits of Canaan. Such are the present comforts we have in communion with God, foretastes of the fulness of joy we expect in the heavenly Canaan. We may see by them what heaven is.

We may wonder that the people of Israel staid forty days for the return of their spies, when they were ready to enter Canaan, under all the assurances of success they could have from the Divine power, and the miracles that had hitherto attended them. But they distrusted God's power and promise. How much we stand in our own light by our unbelief! At length the messengers returned; but the greater part discouraged the people from going forward to Canaan. Justly are the Israelites left to this temptation, for putting confidence in the judgment of men, when they had the word of God to trust in. Though they had found the land as good as God had said, yet they would not believe it to be as sure as he had said, but despaired of having it, though Eternal Truth had engaged it to them. This was the representation of the evil spies. Caleb, however, encouraged them to go forward, though seconded by Joshua only. He does not say, Let us go up and conquer it; but, Let us go and possess it. Difficulties that are in the way of salvation, dwindle and vanish before a lively, active faith in the power and promise of God. All things are possible, if they are promised, to him that believes; but carnal sense and carnal professors are not to be trusted. Unbelief overlooks the promises and power of God, magnifies every danger and difficulty, and fills the heart with discouragement. May the Lord help us to believe! we shall then find all things possible.

2. Of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man. If all had been taken from one tribe, or from any single portion of the people, their fidelity might have been suspected by the others. God, therefore, would have each tribe assured by its own witness, in order that their report might be more unquestionable. All cause for jealousy was also to be taken away; lest, if any tribe had been passed over, it might have excepted against the messengers, whom it supposed to have been elected in contempt of it. This, then, was the advantage of the equal distribution, lest any sinister suspicion or offence might disturb the unanimity of the whole people. Secondly, it is required that they should be possessed of personal dignity, since God commands that chief men should be chosen, whose testimony would be of greater authority; for it would have been easy to throw discredit upon obscure individuals. Since, however, both precautions were unsuccessful, it appears from hence that there is no counsel so wise and salutary as not to be capable of perversion by the wickedness of mankind. Thus this excellent providence of God rendered the people the more inexcusable. At the same time, God has reminded us once for all by this example that, however those, who seemed to be like pillars, may totter and stumble, or even fall altogether, still our minds must be supported by faith, so as not to give way.

Their names are enumerated, in perpetual remembrance of their ignominy, except in the case of two, Joshua and Caleb; for it was just that their crime should be handed down to all ages, and that the infamy of their perfidiousness should never be blotted out, since they endeavored, as far as in them lay, to bring to naught the promise and the grace of God.

Moses gave the name of Jehoshua to the son of Nun in the spirit of prophecy, as a presage of the exalted function to which he was destined. Ambition is so rash, that men are often disappointed in the result, when they invent titles of honor of their own accord; but Moses was not induced by the blindness of affection to change the name Oshea into Jehoshua; but God directed his tongue and mind thus to commend, beforehand, him who “Afin que ce nom d’honneur servist a l’authoriser;” in order that this name of honor might serve to give him authority. — Fr.

Calvin here alludes to the apparent contradiction arising from the fact that Joshua had already been called by his new name in Exodus 17:9; 24:13; 33:11; and Numbers 11:28, which, as Hengstenberg remarks, was a topic of discussion as early as the times of Justin Martyr. Hengstenberg reviews the three modes of meeting the difficulty proposed, viz., 1. That he was so called in the earlier passages by prolepsis. 2. That Moses now only renewed the name. 3. That a statement is here made of what had taken place a considerable time before. To this view he himself inclines, and says, “That the author here first mentioned that he, whom he had originally called simply Joshua, originally bore the name of Hoshea, was not without good reason. What had been hitherto related of Joshua, belonged to him as a servant of God; the sacred name was, therefore, properly employed. But here Hoshea must stand; for he went to spy out the land, not as a servant of Moses, but as one of the heads of the children of’ Israel,’ — one of the plenipotentiaries of the congregation.” — Genuineness of Pentateuch, vol. 2, p. 323. was to be the future minister of their preservation. Still it cannot be inferred with certainty from this passage at what time the new name was given him; for it is not specified that he was called Jehoshua at the time he was sent out; nay, it is probable that he had been previously thus distinguished, viz., from the period in which he had been associated with Moses as his companion and minister in all important matters.

18. And see the land what it is. The counsel of Moses had this object, that the people might be made aware how rich and fertile the land was; for a barren country does not support a large population; and the healthfulness of a locality is inferred from the rigor of its inhabitants, tie, therefore, chiefly insists on the goodness of the land and its abundant production of fruits. Still, perhaps, God would intentionally have the Israelites forewarned, that they would have to do with strong and powerful enemies; lest they might be alarmed and discouraged at suddenly beholding them. But the main point was, that the pleasantness and fertility of the land might allure them to take possession of it.

22. And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron. Their direct course was not, indeed, towards the south, but they proceeded along the southern border, until they came to Rehob and Hamath, after having passed the mountains. Hebron, however, in which Abraham had sojourned, is specified from amongst the other cities; and it is probable that the three sons of the giant, who are here named, were in possession of that city. But some think that Anak is not a proper name, and is used, by enallage of the number, for giants. In fact, giants are elsewhere called Anakim. Nor is there any doubt but that these three, who are mentioned, were formidable from their great stature and strength, as we gather from the book of Joshua. It is, then, equivalent to saying that this city was then possessed by warlike men, famous for their prowess. It will, however, appear from the end of the chapter, that Anak was the proper name of a man, whose sons were of excessive height. The antiquity of the city is afterwards signalized by comparison, viz., that it was founded seven years before Zoan, one of the chief cities of Egypt, and of which mention is often made in Scripture. Heathen writers call it Tanis; Thus the word is translated by the LXX. See note on Psalm 78. — C. Soc. Edit. Vol. 3 p. 239. and it is situated on one of the seven famous mouths of the Nile, which is called from the city, Ostium Taniticum. Now, since the Egyptians gloried in their antiquity above all other nations, it is evident that the land of Canaan was well peopled immediately after the deluge; and this is a sign of its great fertility, for if the neighboring countries had been more so, they would. not have settled themselves there by preference, when they were at liberty to make their choice. A prolepsis is to be noted in the name of the valley of Eshcol: for it was afterwards that it began to be so called by the Israelites in memory of the remarkable cluster of grapes which Moses states to have been brought from hence; and this is immediately after specified,

25. And they returned from searching of the land. The activity and diligence of the twelve men is commended, who in so short a time examined the whole of the land from the desert of Sin to the sea, and along the whole course of the Jordan; and this, too, in the hottest part of the year, when the grapes were beginning to ripen. Thus far, then, they faithfully executed the task intrusted to them. In their report, also, there seems to be nothing unworthy of honest men. They had been commanded by Moses to consider the inhabitants of the land, whether they were strong or weak, and also whether the cities were fortified; and they relate nothing which was not true and fully ascertained by them. In a word, at first sight their relation contains nothing worthy of reprehension. Nevertheless, we may gather from the context that the ten of them, whose desire was to turn away the people, spoke in such discouraging terms of their difficulties, that they produced exactly the contrary effect to what Moses had hoped. No other accusation, however, is as yet alleged against them, than that, by maliciously and deceptively inspiring despondency, they held back the people from entering the land. Although, therefore, they had not openly lied, they were wanting in sincerity. Perhaps, too, the whole of their address is not recorded; because Moses deemed it sufficient to state their perversity of feeling, in that they added to their praises of the land an exception, which overwhelmed the people’s minds with fear. From whence also we gather a useful admonition, that crafty sophists avail nothing with God, when they endeavor to cover their deceit by tortuous prevarication’s. Wherefore, if we desire to approve our discourse to God, we must take care to lay aside all such unfair evasions, and, rejecting all disguise, to speak simply and from the heart. The ten spies, then, lay a foundation of good faith, in order that they may afterwards be more competent to deceive. The land, they say, is a good one, except that the people are strong; and what is this but that there was little hope that the Israelites would obtain the blessing promised them by God, and that the attempt must by no means be made? With the same view they thunder out “Ils parlent a plene bouche;” they speak with open mouth. — Fr. the names of several nations, in order to increase the alarm; for, after having reported that they had seen the sons of Anak, they state that their contests would be too arduous with the various peoples, who would advance from all sides to resist them.

30. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses. That is, he restrained the murmurs of the people before Moses, against whom they had begun to rise tumultuously. Hence it appears that much was said on both sides which is passed over in silence, for there would have been no need of restraining the violence of the people, unless the contention had waxed warm. His words, however, show what was the state of the whole case and question, viz., that the ten treacherous spies had dissuaded the people from foolishly advancing to the land, which it was impossible to win; and urged them not to attack rashly very powerful enemies, to whom they would be far from equally matched. But Caleb opposes them with the confidence of victory. We (he says) shall conquer the land, and upon this he grounds his exhortation. Moreover, there is no doubt but that, relying on God’s promise, he believed that they would, be successful, and thus boldly foretold it, whilst the others took not at all into consideration that, with the banner of the Lord before them, the people would come into the promised inheritance.

This does not appear to accord with what Moses relates in Deuteronomy 1, where he absolves the spies, and casts the whole blame on the people; but the contradiction is easily reconciled, for there he had no other object than to assert the criminality of the Israelites, who, by their contumacy, had for a long time impeded the fulfillment of God’s promise. Omitting, therefore, that part of the history which did not affect the matter in hand, he only adverts to that which convicted them of wicked ingratitude, i.e., that the fertility of the land was commended by the spies; and consequently, since the people were abundantly assured of God’s liberality, that they sinned grossly by rejecting it. He, therefore, states their crime to have been, that they were rebellious against the mouth or word of Jehovah, viz., because they had refused to follow Him when He invited them.

What Moses here ascribes to Caleb alone, he elsewhere attributes to Joshua also. It is plain, then, that Caleb spoke for both of them, and that Joshua was prudently and modestly silent, lest a tumultuous altercation should arise. It may, however, be probably conjectured that the bravery and firmness of him, who is praised, was the more conspicuous, whilst the honesty of Moses is perceivable, inasmuch as, by his preference of Caleb, he obscures and diminishes the praise due to his own minister.

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.

CHAPTER 13

Nu 13:1-33. The Names of the Men Who Were Sent to Search the Land.

1-2. The Lord spake unto Moses, Send thou men, that they may search the land, of Canaan--Compare De 1:22, whence it appears, that while the proposal of delegating confidential men from each tribe to explore the land of Canaan emanated from the people who petitioned for it, the measure received the special sanction of God, who granted their request at once as a trial, and a punishment of their distrust.

3. those men were heads of the children of Israel--Not the princes who are named (Nu 10:14-16, 18-20, 22-27), but chiefs, leading men though not of the first rank.

16. Oshea--that is, "a desire of salvation." Jehoshua, by prefixing the name of God, means "divinely appointed," "head of salvation," "Saviour," the same as Jesus [Mt 1:21, Margin].

17. Get you up this way ... , and go up into the mountain--Mount Seir (De 1:2), which lay directly from Sinai across the wilderness of Paran, in a northeasterly direction into the southern parts of the promised land.

20. Now the time was the time of the first grapes--This was in August, when the first clusters are gathered. The second are gathered in September, and the third in October. The spies' absence for a period of forty days determines the grapes they brought from Eshcol to have been of the second period.

21-24. So they ... searched the land--They advanced from south to north, reconnoitering the whole land.

the wilderness of Zin--a long level plain, or deep valley of sand, the monotony of which is relieved by a few tamarisk and rethem trees. Under the names of El Ghor and El Araba, it forms the continuation of the Jordan valley, extending from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akaba.

Rehob--or, Beth-rehob, was a city and district situated, according to some, eastward of Sidon; and, according to others, it is the same as El Hule, an extensive and fertile champaign country, at the foot of Anti-libanus, a few leagues below Paneas.

as men come to Hamath--or, "the entering in of Hamath" (2Ki 14:25), now the valley of Balbeck, a mountain pass or opening in the northern frontier, which formed the extreme limit in that direction of the inheritance of Israel. From the mention of these places, the route of the scouts appears to have been along the course of the Jordan in their advance; and their return was by the western border through the territories of the Sidonians and Philistines.

26. they came ... to Kadesh--an important encampment of the Israelites. But its exact situation is not definitely known, nor is it determined whether it is the same or a different place from Kadesh-barnea. It is supposed to be identical with Ain-el-Weibeh, a famous spring on the eastern side of the desert [Robinson], or also with Petra [Stanley].

27-28. they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey--The report was given publicly in the audience of the people, and it was artfully arranged to begin their narrative with commendations of the natural fertility of the country in order that their subsequent slanders might the more readily receive credit.

29. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south--Their territory lay between the Dead and the Red Seas, skirting the borders of Canaan.

Hittites ... dwell in the mountains--Their settlements were in the southern and mountainous part of Palestine (Ge 23:7).

the Canaanites dwell by the sea--The remnant of the original inhabitants, who had been dispossessed by the Philistines, were divided into two nomadic hordes--one settled eastward near the Jordan; the other westward, by the Mediterranean.

32. a land that eateth up the inhabitants--that is, an unhealthy climate and country. Jewish writers say that in the course of their travels they saw a great many funerals, vast numbers of the Canaanites being cut off at that time, in the providence of God, by a plague or the hornet (Jos 24:12).

men of a great stature--This was evidently a false and exaggerated report, representing, from timidity or malicious artifice, what was true of a few as descriptive of the people generally.

33. there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak--The name is derived from the son of Arba, a great man among the Arabians (Jos 15:14), who probably obtained his appellation from wearing a splendid collar or chain round his neck, as the word imports. The epithet "giant" evidently refers here to stature. (See on Ge 6:4). And it is probable the Anakims were a distinguished family, or perhaps a select body of warriors, chosen for their extraordinary size.

we were in our own sight as grasshoppers--a strong Orientalism, by which the treacherous spies gave an exaggerated report of the physical strength of the people of Canaan.

Send thou men, that they may search - It appears from Deu 1:19-24 that this was done in consequence of the request of the people, after the following address of Moses: "And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness - and we came unto Kadesh-Barnea; and I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us. Behold the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said: We Will Send Men Before Us, And They Shall Search Us Out The Land and bring us word again, by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. And the saying pleased me well, and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe," etc., etc. Nearly the whole of these verses is added here by the Samaritan.

Every one a ruler - Not any of the princes of the people, (see Numbers 1) for these names are different from those; but these now sent were men of consideration and importance in their respective tribes.

Sethur, the son of Michael - It would have been strange had the numerous searches after the explanation of the mystical number 666, Rev 13:18; Rev 17:5, met with nothing to their purpose in the name of this son of Michael. סתור Sethur, from סתר sathar, to hide or conceal, signifies hidden or mysterious, and includes in it the numerical letters of the No. 666: ס60, + ת400, + ו6, + ר200, = 666. But of what utility can such expositions be to any subject of history or theology?

And Moses called Oshea Jehoshua - Oshea, Heb. הושע should be written Hoshea: the word signifies saved, or a savior, or salvation; but יהושע, he shall save, or the salvation of God; a letter, says Calmet, of the incommunicable name of God, being added to his former name. This was not the first time in which he had the name Joshua; see Exo 17:9 (note), and the note there. Some suppose he had this change of name in consequence of his victory over Amalek; see Exo 17:13, Exo 17:14.

See the land, what it is - What sort of a Country it is; how situated; its natural advantages or disadvantages.

And the people - whether they be strong or weak - Healthy, robust, hardy men; or little, weak, and pusillanimous.

The land - whether it be fat or lean - Whether the Soil be rich or poor; which might be known by its being well wooded, and by the fruits it produced; and therefore they were desired to examine it as to the trees, etc., and to bring some of the fruits with them.

From the wilderness of Zin - The place called; צן Tsin, here, is different from that called סין Sin or Seen. Exo 16:1; the latter was nigh to Egypt, but the former was near Kadesh Barnea, not far from the borders of the promised land. "The spies having left Kadesh Barnea, which was in the desert of Paran, see Num 13:26, they proceeded to the desert of Tsin, all along the land of Canaan, nearly following the course of the river Jordan, till they came to Rehob, a city situated near Mount Libanus, at the northern extremity of the Holy Land, towards the road that leads to Hamath. Thence they returned through the midst of the same land by the borders of the Sidonians and Philistines, and passing by Mount Hebron, rendered famous by the residence of Abraham formerly, and by the gigantic descendants of Anak at that time, they passed through the valley of the brook of Eshcol, where they cut down the bunch of grapes mentioned Num 13:23, and returned to the Israelitish camp after an absence of forty days," Num 13:25. See Calmet on this place.

Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt - The Zoan of the Scriptures is allowed to be the Tanis of the heathen historians, which was the capital of Lower Egypt. Some think it was to humble the pride of the Egyptians, who boasted the highest antiquity, that this note concerning the higher antiquity of Hebron was introduced by Moses. Some have supposed that it is more likely to have been originally a marginal note, which in process of time crept into the text; but all the versions and all the MSS. that have as yet been collated, acknowledge it.

They bare it between two upon a staff - It would be very easy to produce a great number of witnesses to prove that grapes in the promised land, and indeed in various other hot countries, grow to a prodigious size. By Calmet, Scheuchzer, and Harmer, this subject has been exhausted, and to these I may refer the reader. Pliny mentions bunches of grapes in Africa each of which was larger than an infant. Radzvil saw at Rhodes bunches of grapes three quarters of an ell in length, each grape as large as a plum. Dandini saw grapes of this size at Mount Libanus; and Paul Lucas mentions some bunches which he saw at Damascus that weighed above forty-five pounds. From the most authentic accounts the Egyptian grape is very small, and this being the only one with which the Israelites were acquainted, the great size of the grapes of Hebron would appear still more extraordinary. I myself once cut down a bunch of grapes nearly twenty pounds in weight. Those who live in cold climates can scarcely have any conception to what perfection both grapes and other fruits grow in climates that are warm, and where the soil is suitable to them.

From what is mentioned Num 23:20, Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes, it is very probable that the spies received their orders about the beginning of August, and returned about the middle of September, as in those countries grapes, pomegranates, and figs, are ripe about this time; see Harmer, vol. i., p. 108-110. At Sheeraz, in Persia, I find from a MS. journal, that the small white grape, askerie, came into season August 6; and pomegranates September 6; and the large red grape, sahibi, September 10.

The spies' carrying the bunch of grapes on a staff between two men was probably not rendered necessary by the size of the bunch or cluster; but to preserve it from being bruised, that the Israelites might have a fair specimen of the fruit As Joshua and Caleb were the only persons who gave a favorable account of the land, it is most likely that they were the persons who had gathered these fruits, and who brought them to the Israelitish camp. And it is likely they were gathered as short a time as possible before their return, that they might not be injured by the length of the time they had been separated from their respective trees.

We came unto the land, etc. - It is astonishing that men so dastardly as these should have had courage enough to risk their persons in searching the land. But probably though destitute of valor they had a sufficiency of cunning, and this carried them through. The report they brought was exceedingly discouraging, and naturally tended to produce the effect mentioned in the next chapter. The conduct of Joshua and Caleb was alone magnanimous, and worthy of the cause in which they were embarked.

Men of a great stature - אנשי מדות anshey middoth, men of measures - two men's height; i. e., exceedingly tall men.

There we saw the giants - נפלים nephilim. It is evident that they had seen a robust, sturdy, warlike race of men, and of great stature; for the asserted fact is not denied by Joshua or Caleb.

Tales of gigantic men are frequent in all countries, but they are generally of such as have lived in times very remote from those in which such tales are told. That there have been giants at different times, in various parts of the earth, there can be no doubt; but that there ever was a nation of men twelve and fourteen feet high, we cannot, should not believe. Goliath appears to have been at least nine feet high: this was very extraordinary. I knew three young men in my own neighborhood, two of them brothers, each of whom was upwards of seven feet, the third was eight feet six inches, and these men were very well proportioned. Others I have seen of extraordinary stature, but they were generally disproportioned, especially in their limbs. These instances serve to prove the possibility of cases of this nature. The Anakim might appear to the Israelites as a very tall, robust nation; and in comparison of the latter it is very probable that they were so, as it is very likely that the growth of the Israelites had been greatly cramped with their long and severe servitude in Egypt. And this may in some measure account for their alarm. On this subject the reader is desired to turn back to the note on Gen 6:4 (note).

Canaan was a type of the kingdom of God; the wilderness through which the Israelites passed, of the difficulties and trials to be met with in the present world. The promise of the kingdom of God is given to every believer; but how many are discouraged by the difficulties in the way! A slothful heart sees dangers, lions, and giants, every where; and therefore refuses to proceed in the heavenly path. Many of the spies contribute to this by the bad reports they bring of the heavenly country. Certain preachers allow "that the land is good, that it flows with milk and honey," and go so far as to show some of its fruits; but they discourage the people by stating the impossibility of overcoming their enemies. "Sin," say they, "cannot be destroyed in this life - it will always dwell in you - the Anakim cannot be conquered - we are but as grasshoppers against the Anakim," etc., etc. Here and there a Joshua and a Caleb, trusting alone in the power of God, armed with faith in the infinite efficacy of that blood which cleanses from all unrighteousness, boldly stand forth and say: "Their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us; let us go up at once and possess the land, for we are well able to overcome." We can do all things through Christ strengthening us: he will purify us unto himself, and give us that rest from sin here which his death has procured and his word has promised. Reader, canst thou not take God at his word? He has never yet failed thee. Surely then thou hast no reason to doubt. Thou hast never yet tried him to the uttermost. Thou knowest not how far and how fully he can save. Do not be dispirited: the sons of Anak shall fall before thee, if thou meet them in the name of the Lord of Hosts.

Speak unto Moses - In answer to the peoples petition about it, as is evident from Deu 1:22. And it is probable, the people desired it out of diffidence of God's promise.

A ruler - A person of wisdom and authority.

Oshea - Called also Joshua, Nu 13:16.

Of Joseph - The name of Joseph is elsewhere appropriated to Ephraim, here to Manasseh; possibly to aggravate the sin of the ruler of this tribe, who did so basely degenerate from his noble ancestor.

Jehoshua - Oshea notes a desire of salvation, signifying, Save we pray thee; but Jehoshua, or Joshua, includes a promise of salvation, He will save. So this was a prophecy of his succession to Moses in the government, and of the success of his arms. Joshua is the same name with Jesus, of whom Joshua was a type. He was the Saviour of God's people from the powers of Canaan, Christ from the powers of hell.

Southward - Into the southern part of Canaan, which was the nearest part, and the worst too, being dry and desert, and therefore fit for them to enter and pass through with less observation. Into the mountain - Into the mountainous country, and thence into the valleys, and so take a survey of the whole land.

What it is - Both for largeness, and for nature and quality.

In tents - As the Arabians did; or in unwalled villages, which, like tents, are exposed to an enemy.

Fat - Rich and fertile.

Zin - In the south of Canaan, differing from the wilderness of Sin, which was nigh unto Egypt. To Hamath - From the south they passed through the whole land to the northern parts of it; Rehob was a city in the north - west part, Hamath, a city in the north - east.

By the south - Moses having described their progress from south to north, more particularly relates some memorable places and passages. They came - Heb. He came, namely, Caleb, as appears from Jos 14:9,12,14. For the spies distributed their work among them, and went either severally, or by pairs; and it seems the survey of this part was left to Caleb. Anak - A famous giant, whole children these are called, either more generally, as all giants sometimes were, or rather more specially because Arbah, from whom Hebron was called Kiriath - arbah, was the father of Anak, Jos 15:13. And this circumstance is mentioned as an evidence of the goodness of that land, because the giants chose it for their habitation. Before Zoan - This seems to be noted to confront the Egyptians, who vainly boasted of the antiquity of their city Zoan above all places.

Upon a staff - Either for the weight of it, considering the, length of the way they were to carry it, or for the preservation of it whole and entire. In those eastern and southern countries there are vines and grapes of an extraordinary bigness as Strabo and Pliny affirm.

Eschol - That is, a cluster of grapes.

They returned after forty days - 'Tis a wonder the people had patience to stay forty days, when they were just ready to enter Canaan, under all the assurances of success they could have from the Divine power, proved by a constant series of miracles, that had hitherto attended them. But they distrusted God, and chose to be held in suspence by their own counsels, rather than to rest upon God's promise! How much do we stand in our own light by unbelief?

Kadesh - Kadesh - barnea, which some confound with Kadesh in the wilderness of Sin, into which they came not 'till the fortieth year after their coming out of Egypt, as appears from Num 33:37,38, whereas they were in this Kadesh in the second year, and before they received the sentence of their forty years abode in the wilderness.

They told him - In the audience of the people.

The Amalekites in the south - Where we are to enter the land, and they who were so fierce against us that they came into the wilderness to fight with us, will, without doubt, oppose us when we come close by their land, the rather, to revenge themselves for their former loss. Therefore they mention them, though they were not Canaanites. In the mountains - In the mountainous country, in the south - east part of the land, so that you cannot enter there without great difficulty, both because of the noted strength and valour of those people, and because of the advantage they have from the mountains. By the sea - Not the mid - land sea, which is commonly understood by that expression, but the salt or dead sea, as appears, Because it is that sea which is next to Jordan, Because the Canaanites dwelt principally in those parts, and not near the mid - land sea. So these guard the entrance on the east - side, as the others do on the south.

Caleb - Together with Joshua, as is manifest from Nu 14:6,7,30, but Caleb alone is here mentioned, possibly because he spake first and most, which he might better do, because he might be presumed to be more impartial than Joshua, who being Moses's minister might be thought to speak only what he knew his master would like. Stilled the people - Which implies either that they had began to murmur, or that by their looks and carriage, they discovered the anger which boiled in their breasts. Before Moses - Or, towards Moses, against whom they were incensed, as the man who had brought them into such sad circumstances. Let us go up and possess it - He does not say, Let us go up and conquer it. He looks on that to be as good as done already: but, Let us go up and possess it! There is nothing to be done, but to enter without delay, and take the possession which our great Lord is now ready to give us! Thus difficulties that lie in the way of salvation, vanish away before a lively faith.

The men - All of them, Joshua excepted. Stronger - Both in stature of body and numbers of people. Thus they question the power, and truth, and goodness of God, of all which they had such ample testimonies.

Eateth up its inhabitants - Not so much by civil wars, for that was likely to make their conquest more easy; but rather by the unwholesomeness of the air and place, which they guessed from the many funerals, which, as some Hebrew writers, not without probability affirm, they observed in their travels through it: though that came to pass from another cause, even from the singular providence of God, which, to facilitate the Israelites conquest, cut off vast numbers of the Canaanites either by a plague, or by the hornet sent before them, as is expressed, Jos 24:12.

1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses , saying,

In answer to the peoples petition about it, as is evident from Deut. 1. 22. And it is probable from the following story, that the people desired it out of diffidence of Gods promise, and providence, though Moses liked of it as a prudent course to learn where or how to make the first invasion. And God granted their desire for their trial and punishment, as well knowing from what root it came.

2 Send thou men , that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.

Do as the people press thee to do.

(i. e.) Which comes from their several parents or Patriarchs.

A person of wisdom and authority which might make his witness more considerable with the people.

Marginal references: chap. 32. 8. Deut. 1. 22.

8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun.

Called also Ioshua, ver. 16.

11 Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh , Gaddi the son of Susi.

(i. e.) Of that part of the tribe of Ioseph, which is peculiarly called the tribe of Manasseh, [illegible: 1 word] the other part of it was called the tribe of Ephraim, ver. 8. The name of Ioseph is elsewhere appropriated to Ephraim, as Ezek. 37. 16, 19. Rev. 7. 8. here to Manesseh, possibly to aggravate the sin of the ruler of this tribe, who did so basely degenerate from his noble ancestor, Ioseph.

16 These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land: and Moses called Oshea the son of Nun, Jehoshua .

Oshea notes a desire of Salvation, signifying, Save we pray thee, but Iehoshua, or Ioshua includes a promise of Salvation, that he should save, or that God by his hands should save the people. So this was a prophecy of his succession to Moses in the government and of the success of his arms.

17 And Moses sent them to spie out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get ye up this way southward , and go up into the mountain :

(i. e.) Into the Southern part of Canaan, which was the nearest part, and the worst too, being dry and desert, Ios. 15. 1, 3. Iudg. 1. 15. Psal. 126. 4. and therefore fittest for them to enter and pass through with less observation.

(i. e.) Into the mountainous country, and thence into the valleys, and so take an exact survey of the whole land.

18 And see the land what it is , and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many:

Both for largeness, and for nature and quality as is more particularly expressed ver. 19, 20.

19 And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad , and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents or in strong holds:

Healthful, or unwholesome, fruitful or barren.

As the Arabians did, or in unwalled Villages, which, like tents, are exposed to an enemy.

20 And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage , and bring of the fruit of the land, (now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.)

Rich and fertile.

Doubt not but God will preserve you in this dangerous journey, and be not dismayed nor discouraged if you find the people numerous and potent and well fortified.

21 So they went up, and searched the land, from the wilderness of Zin , unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath .

In the south of Canaan, Numb. 34. 3. Jos. 15. 3. differing from the wilderness of Sin, which was nigh unto Egypt, Exod. 16. 1.

(i. e.) From the South they passed through the whole land even to the Northern parts of it, Rehob, a city in the North-west part, Ios. 19. 28. Iudg. 1. 31. and Hemath, a city in the North-east part, Ios. 19. 35. Ezek. 47. 17. And that they might more expeditiously and securely perform this office it is probable, that they divided themselves into several small parties, and informed themselves not onely by their eye, but also by their ear and the information of persons of whom they enquired about the nature and condition of their land.

22 And they ascended by the south , and came unto Hebron: where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak were: (now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt )

Here Moses having generally described their progress and course from South to North, now returns more particularly to relate some memorable places and passages, as that having entred the land in the southern parts, they travelled then till they came to Hebron.

Heb. He came, to wit, Caleb, as appears from Ios. 14. 9, 12, 14. For, as was now intimated, the spies distributed their work among them, and went either severally, or by pairs, and, it seems, the survey of this part was left to Caleb.

A famous giant so called, whose children these are called, either more generally, as all giants sometimes were, or rather more specially, because Arbah, from whom Hebron was called Kiriath-arbah, was the father of Anak, Ios. 15. 13. And this circumstance is mentioned as an evidence of the goodness of that land and soil, because the giants chose it for their habitation.

A famous giant so called, whose children these are called, either more generally, as all giants sometimes were, or rather more specially, because Arbah, from whom Hebron was called Kiriath-arbah, was the father of Anak, Ios. 15. 13. And this circumstance is mentioned as an evidence of the goodness of that land and soil, because the giants chose it for their habitation.

u This seems to be noted to confront the Egyptians who vainly boasted of the antiquity of their city Zoan above all places.

Marginal references: Josh. 15. 14. Judg. 1. 10.

23 And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff , and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.

Either for the weight of it, considering the length of the way they were to carry it, or for the preservation of it whole and entire. In those Eastern and Southern countries there are vines and grapes of an extraordinary bigness as Strabo and Pliny affirm.

Marginal references: Deut. 1. 24.; Or, Valley.

26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh , and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.

So called by way of abbreviation, which is frequent in Hebrew names, for Kadesh-barnea, Deut. 1. 19. which some rashly confound with Kadesh in the wilderness of Sin, Numb. 20. 1. and 27. 14. and 33. 16. into which they came not till the 40th. year after their coming out of Egypt, as appears from Numb. 33. 37, 38. whereas they were in this Kadesh in the second year and before they received the sentence of their forty years abode in the wilderness.

27 And they told him , and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey , and this is the fruit of it.

In the audience of the people, as appears from ver. 30.

They craftily begin their relation with commendations that their following slanders might be more easily believed.

Marginal references: Exod. 33. [illegible: 1 word] ▪

28 Nevertheless, the people, be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover, we saw the children of Anak there.

Potent both for the strength of their body and the valour of their minds.

Marginal references: Deut. 2. 1[illegible: 1+ letters] 21.; Deut. 1. [illegible: 1 word] ▪

29 The Amalekite dwelleth in the land of the south : and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwelleth in the mountains : and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea , and by the coast of Jordan.

Where we are to enter the land, and they who were so eager and fierce against us that they came into the wilderness to fight with us, will without doubt oppose us when we come close by their land and are about to settle in their neighbourhood, the rather, to revenge themselves for their former loss and shame received by us. Therefore they mention them, though they were no Canaanites.

(i. e.) In the mountainous country in the South-east part of the land, so that you cannot enter there without great difficulty both because of the noted strength and valour of those people, and because of the advantage they have from the mountains.

Not the midland Sea, which is commonly understood by that expression, but the salt or dead sea, as appears, 1. because it is that sea which is next to Iordan, as here follows: 2. because the Canaanites dwelt principally in those parts and not near the mid-land sea. So these guard the entrance on the east-side, as the others do on the South.

30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses , and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it .

Together with Ioshua, as is manifest from Numb. 14. 6, 7, 30. but Caleb alone is here mentioned, possibly because he spake first and most, which he might better do, because he might be presumed to be more impartial than Ioshua, who being Moses his Minister might be thought to speak onely what he knew his master would like.

Which implies either that they had began to murmur, or that by their looks and carriages they discovered that grief and anger which boiled in their breasts.

Or, towards Moses, against whom they were incensed, as the man who had brought them into such sad circumstances.

Partly in moral probability, because we are one people united under one head, whereas they are divided into several nations and governments of differing counsels and interests and inclinations, and principally because of the assistance of the almighty God.

31 But the men that went up with him , said, We be not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we .

All of them, Ioshua excepted.

Both in stature of body and numbers of people. Thus they wickedly question the power and truth and goodness of God, of all which they had such ample testimonies.

32 And they brought up an evil report of the land , which they had searched, unto the children of Israel, saying, The land through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof : and all the people that we saw in it, are men of a great stature.

Heb. brought forth, to wit, out of their mouthes: they uttered a reproach or reproachful words.

(i. e.) Against, or, concerning the land. It is the genitive case of the object, as Mat. 10. 1. and 14. 1.

Not so much by civil wars, as most think, for that was likely to make their conquest more easie; nor by the barrenness of the soil, which consumed the people with the excessive pains it required to make it fruitful, as others think, for they confessed the excellency of the land, ver. 27. but rather by the unwholesomness of the air and place which they guesse[illegible: 1+ letters] from the many funerals, which, as some Hebrew Writers not without probability affirm, they observed in their travels through it: though that came to pass from another cause, even from the singular providence of God, which, to facilitate the Israelites conquest, cut off vast numbers of the Canaanites either by a plague, or by the hornet sent before them, as is expressed, Ios. 24. 12. or some other way.

Marginal references: Lev. 2[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ [illegible: 1 word] ▪; Amos 2[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ [illegible: 1 word] ▪; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] statures.

33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grashoppers , and so we were in their sight.

(i. e.) Small and contemptible.

Numbers 13:1-17

Despatch of the Spies of Canaan. - Num 13:1. The command of Jehovah, to send out men to spy out the land of Canaan, was occasioned, according to the account given by Moses in Deu 1:22., by a proposal of the congregation, which pleased Moses, so that he laid the matter before the Lord, who then commanded him to send out for this purpose, “of every tribe of their fathers a man, every one a ruler among them, i.e., none but men who were princes in their tribes, who held the prominent position of princes, i.e., distinguished persons of rank; or, as it is stated in Num 13:3, “heads of the children of Israel,” i.e., not the tribe-princes of the twelve tribes, but those men, out of the total number of the heads of the tribes and families of Israel, who were the most suitable for such a mission, though the selection was to be made in such a manner that every tribe should be represented by one of its own chiefs. That there were none of the twelve tribe-princes among them is apparent from a comparison of their names (Num 13:4-15) with the (totally different) names of the tribe-princes (Num 1:3., Num 7:12.). Caleb and Joshua are the only spies that are known. The order, in which the tribes are placed in the list of the names in Num 13:4-15, differs from that in Num 1:5-15 only in the fact that in Num 13:10 Zebulun is separated from the other sons of Leah, and in Num 13:11 Manasseh is separated from Ephraim. The expression “of the tribe of Joseph,” in Num 13:11, stands for “of the children of Joseph,” in Num 1:10; Num 34:23. At the close of the list it is still further stated, that Moses called Hoshea (i.e., help), the son of Nun, Jehoshua, contracted into Joshua (i.e., Jehovah-help, equivalent to, whose help is Jehovah). This statement does not present any such discrepancy, when compared with Exo 17:9, Exo 17:13; Exo 24:13; Exo 32:17; Exo 33:11, and Num 11:28, where Joshua bears this name as the servant of Moses at a still earlier period, as to point to any diversity of authorship. As there is nothing of a genealogical character in any of these passages, so as to warrant us in expecting to find the family name of Joshua in them, the name Joshua, by which Hosea had become best known in history, could be used proleptically in them all. On the other hand, however, it is not distinctly stated in the verse before us, that this was the occasion on which Moses gave Hosea the new name of Joshua. As the Vav consec. frequently points out merely the order of thought, the words may be understood without hesitation in the following sense: These are the names borne by the heads of the tribes to be sent out as spies, as they stand in the family registers according to their descent; Hosea, however, was named Joshua by Moses; which would not by any means imply that the alteration in the name had not been made till then. It is very probable that Moses may have given him the new name either before or after the defeat of the Amalekites (Exo 17:9.), or when he took him into his service, though it has not been mentioned before; whilst here the circumstances themselves required that it should be stated that Hosea, as he was called in the list prepared and entered in the documentary record according to the genealogical tables of the tribes, had received from Moses the name of Joshua. In Num 13:17-20 Moses gives them the necessary instructions, defining more clearly the motive which the congregation had assigned for sending them out, namely, that they might search out the way into the land and to its towns (Deu 1:22). “Get you up there (זה in the south country, and go up to the mountain.” Negeb, i.e., south country, lit., dryness, aridity, from נגב, to be dry or arid (in Syr., Chald, and Samar.). Hence the dry, parched land, in contrast to the well-watered country (Jos 15:19; Jdg 1:15), was the name given to the southern district of Canaan, which forms the transition from the desert to the strictly cultivated land, and bears for the most part the character of a steppe, in which tracts of sand and heath are intermixed with shrubs, grass, and vegetables, whilst here and there corn is also cultivated; a district therefore which was better fitted for grazing than for agriculture, though it contained a number of towns and villages (see at Jos 15:21-32). “The mountain” is the mountainous part of Palestine, which was inhabited by Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites (Num 13:29), and was called the mountains of the Amorites, on account of their being the strongest of the Canaanitish tribes (Deu 1:7, Deu 1:19.). It is not to be restricted, as Knobel supposes, to the limits of the so-called mountains of Judah (Jos 15:48-62), but included the mountains of Israel or Ephraim also (Jos 11:21; Jos 20:7), and formed, according to Deu 1:7, the backbone of the whole land of Canaan up to Lebanon.

Num 13:18-20

They were to see the land, “what it was,” i.e., what was its character, and the people that dwelt in it, whether they were strong, i.e., courageous and brave, or weak, i.e., spiritless and timid, and whether they were little or great, i.e., numerically; (Num 13:19) what the land was, whether good or bad, sc., with regard to climate and cultivation, and whether the towns were camps, i.e., open villages and hamlets, or fortified places; also (Num 13:20) whether the land was fat or lean, i.e., whether it had a fertile soil or not, and whether there were trees in it or not. All this they were to search out courageously (התחזק, to show one’s self courageous in any occupation), and to fetch (some) of the fruits of the land, as it was the time of the first-ripe grapes. In Palestine the first grapes ripen as early as August, and sometimes even in July (vid., Robinson, ii. 100, ii. 611), whilst the vintage takes place in September and October.

Num 13:21-22

Journey of the Spies; Their Return, and Report. - Num 13:21. In accordance with the instructions they had received, the men who had been sent out passed through the land, from the desert of Zin to Rehob, in the neighbourhood of Hamath, i.e., in its entire extent from south to north. The “Desert of Zin” (which occurs not only here, but in Num 20:1; Num 27:14; Num 33:36; Num 34:3-4; Deu 32:51, and Jos 15:1, Jos 15:3) was the name given to the northern edge of the great desert of Paran, viz., the broad ravine of Wady Murreh, which separates the lofty and precipitous northern border of the table-land of the Azazimeh from the southern border of the Rakhma plateau, i.e., of the southernmost plateau of the mountains of the Amorites (or the mountains of Judah), and runs from Jebel Madarah (Moddera) on the east, to the plain of Kadesh, which forms part of the desert of Zin (cf. Num 27:14; Num 33:36; Deu 32:51), on the west. The south frontier of Canaan passed through this from the southern end of the Dead Sea, along the Wady el Murreh to the Wady el Arish (Num 34:3). - “Rehob, to come (coming) to Hamath,” i.e., where you enter the province of Hamath, on the northern boundary of Canaan, is hardly one of the two Rehobs in the tribe of Asher (Jos 19:28 and Jos 19:30), but most likely Beth-rehob in the tribe of Naphtali, which was in the neighbourhood of Dan Lais, the modern Tell el Kadhy (Jdg 18:28), and which Robinson imagined that he had identified in the ruins of the castle of Hunin or Honin, in the village of the same name, to the south-west of Tell el Kadhy, on the range of mountains which bound the plain towards the west above Lake Huleh (Bibl. Researches, p. 371). In support of this conjecture, he laid the principal stress upon the fact that the direct road to Hamath through the Wady et Teim and the Bekaa commences here. The only circumstance which it is hard to reconcile with this conjecture is, that Beth-rehob is never mentioned in the Old Testament, with the exception of Jdg 18:28, either among the fortified towns of the Canaanites or in the wars of the Israelites with the Syrians and Assyrians, and therefore does not appear to have been a place of such importance as we should naturally be led to suppose from the character of this castle, the very situation of which points to a bold, commanding fortress (see Lynch’s Expedition), and where there are still remains of its original foundations built of large square stones, hewn and grooved, and reminding one of the antique and ornamental edifices of Solomon’s times (cf. Ritter, Erdkunde, xv. pp. 242ff.). - Hamath is Epiphania on the Orontes, now Hamah (see at Gen 10:18).

After the general statement, that the spies went through the whole land from the southern to the northern frontier, two facts are mentioned in Num 13:22-24, which occurred in connection with their mission, and were of great importance to the whole congregation. These single incidents are linked on, however, in a truly Hebrew style, to what precedes, viz., by an imperfect with Vav consec., just in the same manner in which, in 1Ki 6:9, 1Ki 6:15, the detailed account of the building of the temple is linked on to the previous statement, that Solomon built the temple and finished it;A comparison of 1 Kings 6, where we cannot possibly suppose that two accounts have been linked together or interwoven, is specially adapted to give us a clear view of the peculiar custom adopted by the Hebrew historians, of placing the end and ultimate result of the events they narrate as much as possible at the head of their narrative, and then proceeding with a minute account of the more important of the attendant circumstances, without paying any regard to the chronological order of the different incidents, or being at all afraid of repetitions, and so to prove how unwarrantable and false are the conclusions of those critics who press such passages into the support of their hypotheses. We have a similar passage in Jos 4:11., where, after relating that when all the people had gone through the Jordan the priests also passed through with the ark of the covenant (Jos 4:11), the historian proceeds in Jos 4:12, Jos 4:13, to describe the crossing of the two tribes and a half; and another in Judg 20, where, at the very commencement (Jdg 20:35), the issue of the whole is related, viz., the defeat of the Benjamites; and then after that there is a minute description in Jdg 20:36-46 of the manner in which it was effected. This style of narrative is also common in the historical works of the Arabs. so that the true rendering would be, “now they ascended in the south country and came to Hebron (ויּבא is apparently an error in writing for ויּבאוּ), and there were הענק ולידי, the children of Anak,” three of whom are mentioned by name. These three, who were afterwards expelled by Caleb, when the land was divided and the city of Hebron was given to him for an inheritance (Jos 15:14; Jdg 1:20), were descendants of Arbah, the lord of Hebron, from whom the city received its name of Kirjath-Arbah, or city of Arbah, and who is described in Jos 14:15 as “the great (i.e., the greatest) man among the Anakim,” and in Jos 15:13 as the “father of Anak,” i.e., the founder of the Anakite family there. For it is evident enough that הענק (Anak) is not the proper name of a man in these passages, but the name of a family or tribe, from the fact that in Num 13:33, where Anak’s sons are spoken of in a general and indefinite manner, ענק בּני has not the article; also from the fact that the three Anakites who lived in Hebron are almost always called הענק ולידי, Anak’s born (Num 13:22, Num 13:28), and that הענק בּני (sons of Anak), in Jos 15:14, is still further defined by the phrase הענק ולידי (children of Anak); and lastly, from the fact that in the place of “sons of Anak,” we find “sons of the Anakim” in Deu 1:28 and Deu 9:2, and the “Anakim” in Deu 2:10; Deu 11:21; Jos 14:12, etc. Anak is supposed to signify long-necked; but this does not preclude the possibility of the founder of the tribe having borne this name. The origin of the Anakites is involved in obscurity. In Deu 2:10-11, they are classed with the Emim and Rephaim on account of their gigantic stature, and probably reckoned as belonging to the pre-Canaanitish inhabitants of the land, of whom it is impossible to decide whether they were of Semitic origin or descendants of Ham. It is also doubtful, whether the names found here in Num 13:21, Num 13:28, and in Jos 15:14, are the names of individuals, i.e., of chiefs of the Anakites, or the names of Anakite tribes. The latter supposition is favoured by the circumstance, that the same names occur even after the capture of Hebron by Caleb, or at least fifty years after the event referred to here. With regard to Hebron, it is still further observed in Num 13:22, that it was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. Zoan - the Tanis of the Greeks and Romans, the San of the Arabs, which is called Jani, Jane in Coptic writings - was situated upon the eastern side of the Tanitic arm of the Nile, not far from its mouth (see Ges. Thes. p. 1177), and was the residence of Pharaoh in the time of Moses. The date of its erection is unknown; but Hebron was in existence as early as Abraham’s time (Gen 13:18; Gen 23:2.).

Num 13:23-24

The spies also came into the valley of Eshcol, where they gathered pomegranates and figs, and also cut down a vine-branch with grapes upon it, which two persons carried upon a pole, most likely on account of its extraordinary size. Bunches of grapes are still met with in Palestine, weighing as much as eight, ten, or twelve pounds, the grapes themselves being as large as our smaller plums (cf. Tobler Denkblätter, pp. 111, 112). The grapes of Hebron are especially celebrated. To the north of this city, on the way to Jerusalem, you pass through a valley with vineyards on the hills on both sides, containing the largest and finest grapes in the land, and with pomegranates, figs, and other fruits in great profusion (Robinson, Palestine, i. 316, compared with i. 314 and ii. 442). This valley is supposed, and not without good ground, to be the Eshcol of this chapter, which received its name of Eshcol (cluster of grapes), according to Num 13:24, from the bunch of grapes which was cut down there by the spies. This statement, of course, applies to the Israelites, and would therefore still hold good, even if the conjecture were a well-founded one, that this valley received its name originally from the Eshcol mentioned in Gen 14:13, Gen 14:24, as the terebinth grove did from Mamre the brother of Eshcol.

Num 13:25-29

In forty days the spies returned to the camp at Kadesh (see at Num 16:6), and reported the great fertility of the land (“it floweth with milk and honey,” see at Exo 3:8), pointing, at the same time, to the fruit they had brought with them; “nevertheless,” they added (כּי אפס, “only that”), “the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are fortified, very large: and, moreover, we saw the children of Anak there.” Amalekites dwelt in the south (see at Gen 36:12); Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites in the mountains (see at Gen 10:15-16); and Canaanites by the (Mediterranean) Sea and on the side of the Jordan, i.e., in the Arabah or Ghor (see at Gen 13:7 and Gen 10:15-18).

Num 13:30

As these tidings respecting the towns and inhabitants of Canaan were of a character to excite the people, Caleb calmed them before Moses by saying, “We will go up and take it; for we shall overcome it.” The fact that Caleb only is mentioned, though, according to Num 14:6, Joshua also stood by his side, may be explained on the simple ground, that at first Caleb was the only one to speak and maintain the possibility of conquering Canaan.

Num 13:31

But his companions were of an opposite opinion, and declared that the people in Canaan were stronger than the Israelites, and therefore it was impossible to go up to it.

Num 13:32-33

Thus they spread an evil report of the land among the Israelites, by exaggerating the difficulties of the conquest in their unbelieving despair, and describing Canaan as a land which “ate up its inhabitants.” Their meaning certainly was not “that the wretched inhabitants were worn out by the laborious task of cultivating it, or that the land was pestilential on account of the inclemency of the weather, or that the cultivation of the land was difficult, and attended with many evils,” as Calvin maintains. Their only wish was to lay stress upon the difficulties and dangers connected with the conquest and maintenance of the land, on account of the tribes inhabiting and surrounding it: the land was an apple of discord, because of its fruitfulness and situation; and as the different nations strove for its possession, its inhabitants wasted away (Cler., Ros., O. v. Gerlach). The people, they added, are מדּות אנשׁי, “men of measures,” i.e., of tall stature (cf. Isa 45:14), “and there we saw the Nephilim, i.e., primeval tyrants (see at Gen 6:4), Anak’s sons, giants of Nephilim, and we seemed to ourselves and to them as small as grasshoppers.”

Missions of the Twelve Spies. (b. c. 1490.)

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. 3 And Moses by the commandment of the Lord sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel. 4 And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. 5 Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori. 6 Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 7 Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. 8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun. 9 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu. 10 Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi. 11 Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi. 12 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli. 13 Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael. 14 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. 15 Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 16 These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua. 17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: 18 And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; 19 And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; 20 And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.

Here we have, I. Orders given to send spies to search out the land of Canaan. It is here said, God directed Moses to send them (v. 1, 2), but it appears by the repetition of the story afterwards (Deut. i. 22) that the motion came originally from the people; they came to Moses, and said, We will send men before us; and it was the fruit of their unbelief. They would not take God's word that it was a good land, and that he would, without fail, put them in possession of it. They could not trust the pillar of cloud and fire to show them the way to it, but had a better opinion of their own politics than of God's wisdom. How absurd was it for them to send to spy out a land which God himself had spied out for them, to enquire the way into it when God himself had undertaken to show them the way! But thus we ruin ourselves by giving more credit to the reports and representations of sense than to divine revelation; we walk by sight, not by faith; whereas, if we will receive the witness of men, without doubt the witness of God is greater. The people making this motion to Moses, he (perhaps not aware of the unbelief at the bottom of it) consulted God in the case, who bade him gratify the people in this matter, and send spies before them: "Let them walk in their own counsels." Yet God was no way accessory to the sin that followed, for the sending of these spies was so far from being the cause of the sin that if the spies had done their duty, and the people theirs, it might have been the confirmation of their faith, and of good service to them.

II. The persons nominated that were to be employed in this service (v. 4, &c.), one of each tribe, that it might appear to be the act of the people in general; and rulers, person of figure in their respective tribes, some of the rulers of thousands or hundreds, to put the greater credit upon their embassy. This was designed for the best, but it proved to have this ill effect that the quality of the persons occasioned the evil report they brought up to be the more credited and the people to be the more influenced by it. Some think that they are all named for the sake of two good ones that were among them, Caleb and Joshua. Notice is taken of the change of Joshua's name upon this occasion, v. 16. He was Moses's minister, but had been employed, though of the tribe of Ephraim, as general of the forces that were sent out against Amalek. The name by which he was generally called and known in his own tribe was Oshea, but Moses called him Joshua, in token of his affection to him and power over him; and now, it should seem, he ordered others to call him so, and fixed that to be his name henceforward. Oshea signifies a prayer for salvation, Save thou; Joshua signifies a promise of salvation, He will save, in answer to that prayer: so near is the relation between prayers and promises. Prayers prevail for promises, and promises direct and encourage prayers. Some think that Moses designed, by taking the first syllable of the name Jehovah and prefixing it to his name, which turned Hoshea into Jehoshua, to put an honour upon him, and to encourage him in this and all his future services with the assurances of God's presence. Yet after this he is called Hoshea, Deut. xxxii. 44. Jesus is the same name with Joshua, and it is the name of our Lord Christ, of whom Joshua was a type as successor to Moses, Israel's captain, and conqueror of Canaan. There was another of the same name, who was also a type of Christ, Zech. vi. 11. Joshua was the saviour of God's people from the powers of Canaan, but Christ is their Saviour from the powers of hell.

III. The instructions given to those spies. They were sent into the land of Canaan the nearest way, to traverse the country, and to take account of its present state, v. 17. Two heads of enquiry were given them in charge, 1. Concerning the land itself: See what that is (v. 18, and again, v. 19), see whether it be good or bad, and (v. 20) whether it be fat or lean. All parts of the earth do not share alike in the blessing of fruitfulness; some countries are blessed with a richer soil than others. Moses himself was well satisfied that Canaan was a very good land, but he sent these spies to bring an account of it for the satisfaction of the people; as John Baptist sent to Jesus, to ask whether he was the Christ, not to inform himself, but to inform those he sent. They must take notice whether the air was healthful or no, what the soil was, and what the productions; and, for the better satisfaction of the people, they must bring with them some of the fruits. 2. Concerning the inhabitants—their number, few or many—their size and stature, whether strong able-bodied men or weak,—their habitations, whether they lived in tents or houses, whether in open villages or in walled towns,—whether the woods were standing as in those countries that are uncultivated, through the unskillfulness and slothfulness of the inhabitants, or whether the woods were cut down, and the country made champaign, for the convenience of tillage. These were the things they were to enquire about. Perhaps there had not been of late years such commerce between Egypt and Canaan as there was in Jacob's time, else they might have informed themselves of these things without sending men on purpose to search. See the advantage we may derive from books and learning, which acquaint those that are curious and inquisitive with the state of foreign countries, at a much greater distance than Canaan was now from Israel, without this trouble and expense.

IV. Moses dismisses the spies with this charge, Be of good courage, intimating, not only that they should be themselves encouraged against the difficulties of this expedition, but that they should bring an encouraging account to the people and make the best of every thing. It was not only a great undertaking they were put upon, which required good management and resolution, but it was a great trust that was reposed in them, which required that they should be faithful.

21 So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. 22 And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. 24 The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. 25 And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.

We have here a short account of the survey which the spies made of the promised land. 1. They went quite through it, from Zin in the south, to Rehob, near Hamath, in the north, v. 21. See ch. xxxiv. 3, 8. It is probable that they did not go altogether in a body, lest they should be suspected and taken up, which there would be the more danger of if the Canaanites knew (and one would think they could not but know) how near the Israelites were to them; but they divided themselves into several companies, and so passed unsuspected, as way-faring men. 2. They took particular notice of Hebron (v. 22), probably because near there was the field of Machpelah, where the patriarchs were buried (Gen. xxiii. 2), whose dead bodies did, as it were, keep possession of that land for their posterity. To this sepulchre they made a particular visit, and found the adjoining city in the possession of the sons of Anak, who are here named. In that place where they expected the greatest encouragements they met with the greatest discouragements. Where the bodies of their ancestors kept possession for them the giants kept possession against them. They ascended by the south, and came to Hebron, that is, "Caleb," say the Jews, "in particular," for to his being there we find express reference, Josh. xiv. 9, 12, 13. But that others of the spies were there too appears by their description of the Anakim, v. 33. 3. They brought a bunch of grapes with them, and some other of the fruits of the land, as a proof of the extraordinary goodness of the country. Probably they furnished themselves with these fruits when they were leaving the country and returning. The cluster of grapes was so large and so heavy that they hung it upon a bar, and carried it between two of them, v. 23, 24. The place whence they took it was, from this circumstance, called the valley of the cluster, that famous cluster which was to Israel both the earnest and the specimen of all the fruits of Canaan. Such are the present comforts which we have in communion with God, foretastes of the fulness of joy we expect in the heavenly Canaan. We may see by them what heaven is.

26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. 30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. 31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

It is a wonder how the people of Israel had patience to stay forty days for the return of their spies, when they were just ready to enter Canaan, under all the assurances of success they could have from the divine power, and a constant series of miracles that had hitherto attended them; but they distrusted God's power and promise, and were willing to be held in suspense by their own counsels, rather than be brought to a certainty by God's covenant. How much do we stand in our own light by our unbelief! Well, at length the messengers return, but they agree not in their report.

I. The major part discourage the people from going forward to Canaan; and justly are the Israelites left to this temptation, for putting so much confidence in the judgment of men, when they had the word of God to trust to. It is a righteous thing with God to give those up to strong delusions who will not receive his truth in the love of it.

1. Observe their report. (1.) They could not deny but that the land of Canaan was a very fruitful land; the bunch of grapes they brought with them was an ocular demonstration of it, v. 27. God had promised them a land flowing with milk and honey, and the evil spies themselves own that it is such a land. Thus even out of the mouth of adversaries will God be glorified and the truth of his promise attested. And yet afterwards they contradict themselves, when they say (v. 32), It is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; as if, though it had milk, and honey, and grapes, yet it wanted other necessary provision; some think that there was a great plague in the country at the time they surveyed it, which they ought to have imputed to the wisdom of the divine Providence, which thus lessened the numbers of their enemies, to facilitate their conquests; but they invidiously imputed it to the unwholesomeness of the air, and thence took occasion to disparage the country. For this unreasonable fear of a plague in Canaan, they were justly cut off immediately by a plague in the wilderness, ch. xiv. 37. But, (2.) They represented the conquest of it as altogether impracticable, and that it was to no purpose to attempt it. The people are strong (v. 28), men of a great stature (v. 32), stronger than we, v. 31. The cities are represented as impregnable fortresses: they are walled and very great, v. 28. But nothing served their ill purpose more than a description of the giants, on whom they lay a great stress: We saw the children of Anak there (v. 28), and again, we saw the giants, those men of a prodigious size, the sons of Anak, who come of the giants, v. 33. They spoke as if they were ready to tremble at the mention of them, as they had done at the sight of them. "O these tremendous giants! when we were near them, we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, not only little and weak, but trembling and daunted." Compare Job xxxix. 20, Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? "Nay, and so we were in their sight; they looked upon us with as much scorn and disdain as we did upon them with fear and trembling." So that upon the whole matter they gave it in as their judgment, We are not able to go up against them (v. 31), and therefore must think of taking some other course.

2. Now, even if they had been to judge only by human probabilities, they could not have been excused from the imputation of cowardice. Were not the hosts of Israel very numerous? 600,000 effective men, well marshalled and modelled, closely embodied, and entirely united in interest and affection, constituted as formidable an army as perhaps was ever brought into the field; many a less has done more than perhaps the conquering of Canaan was, witness Alexander's army. Moses, their commander-in-chief, was wise and brave; and if the people had put on resolution, and behaved themselves valiantly, what could have stood before them? It is true the Canaanites were strong, but they were dispersed (v. 29): Some dwell in the south and others in the mountains; so that by reason of their distance they could not soon get together, and by reason of their divided interests they could not long keep together, to oppose Israel. The country being plentiful would subsist an army, and, though the cities were walled, if they could beat them in the field the strong-holds would fall of course into their hands. And, lastly, as for the giants, their overgrown stature would but make them the better mark, and the bulkiest men have not always the best mettle.

3. But, though they deserved to be posted for cowards, this was not the worst, the scripture brands them for unbelievers. It was not any human probabilities they were required to depend upon, but, (1.) They had the manifest and sensible tokens of God's presence with them, and the engagement of his power for them. The Canaanites were stronger than Israel; suppose they were, but were they stronger than the God of Israel? We are not able to deal with them, but is not God Almighty able? Have we not him in the midst of us? Does not he go before us? And is any thing too hard for him? Were we as grasshoppers before the giants, and are not they less than grasshoppers before God? Their cities are walled against us, but can they be walled against heaven? Besides this, (2.) They had had very great experience of the length and strength of God's arm, lifted up and made bare on their behalf. Were not the Egyptians as much stronger than they as the Canaanites were? And yet, without a sword drawn by Israel or a stroke struck, the chariots and horsemen of Egypt were quite routed and ruined; the Amalekites took them at great disadvantages, and yet they were discomfited. Miracles were at this time their daily bread; were there nothing else, an army so well victualled as theirs was, so constantly, so plentifully, and all on free cost, would have a might advantage against any other force. Nay, (3.) They had particular promises made them of victory and success in their wars against the Canaanites. God had given Abraham all possible assurances that he would put his seed into possession of that land, Gen. xv. 18; xvii. 8. He had expressly promised them by Moses that he would drive out the Canaanites from before them (Exod. xxxiii. 2), and that he would do it by little and little, Exod. xxiii. 30. And, after all this, for them to say, We are not able to go up against them, was in effect to say, "God himself is not able to make his words good." It was in effect to give him the lie, and to tell him he had undertaken more than he could perform. We have a short account of their sin, with which they infected the whole congregation, Ps. cvi. 24. They despised the land, they believed not his word. Though, upon search, they had found it as good as he had said, a land flowing with milk and honey, yet they would not believe it as sure as he had said, but despaired of having it, though eternal truth itself had engaged it to them. And now this is the representation of the evil spies.

II. Caleb encouraged them to go forward, though he was seconded by Joshua only (v. 30): Caleb stilled the people, whom he saw already put into a ferment even before Moses himself, whose shining face could not daunt them, when they began to grow unruly. Caleb signifies all heart, and he answered his name, was hearty himself, and would have made the people so if they would have hearkened to him. If Joshua had begun to stem the tide, he would have been suspected of partiality to Moses, whose minister he was; and therefore he prudently left it to Caleb's management at first, who was of the tribe of Judah, the leading tribe, and therefore the fittest to be heard. Caleb had seen and observed the strength of the inhabitants as much as his fellows, and upon the whole matter, 1. He speaks very confidently of success: We are well able to overcome them, as strong as they are. 2. He animates the people to go on, and, his lot lying in the van, he speaks as one resolved to lead them on with bravery: "Let us go up at once, one bold step, one bold stroke more, will do our business; it is all our own if we have but courage to make it so: Let us go up and possess it." He does not say, "Let us go up and conquer it;" he looks upon that to be as good as done already; but, "Let us go up and possess it; there is nothing to be done but to enter, and take the possession which God our great Lord is ready to give us." Note, The righteous are bold as a lion. Difficulties that lie in the way of salvation dwindle and vanish before a lively active faith in the power and promise of God. All things are possible, if they be but promised, to him that believes.

CHAP. XIII.

[non-Latin text not transcribed]

ANd Iehovah spake unto Moses, saying; Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give to the sonnes of Israel: one man, one man for a tribe of his fathers, shall yee send every one a ruler among them. And Moses sent them from the Wildernesse of Pharan, at the mouth of Iehovah: all those men were heads of the sonnes of Israel. And these were their names: Of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the sonne of Zaccur. Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the sonne of Hori.

Of the trbe of Iudah, Caleb the sonne of Iephunneh. Of the tribe of Issachar, Iigal the sonne of Ioseph. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the sonne of Nun. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the sonne of Raphu. Of the tribe of Zabulon, Gaddiel the sonne of Sodi. Of the tribe of Ioseph, of the tribe of Manasses, Gaddi the sonne of Susi. Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the sonne of Gemalli. Of the tribe of Aser, Sethur the sonne of Michael. Of the tribe of Naphtali; Nahbi the sonne of Vophsi. Of the tribe of Gad; Gevel the sonne of Machi. These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spie out the land: and Moses called Hoshea the sonne of Nun, Ioshua. And Moses sent them to search the land of Canaan, and said unto them; Goe up this way Southward, and goe up into the mountaine. And see the land what it is, and the people that dwelleth theron, whether they be strong or weak, whether they be few or many. And what the land is that they dwell in; whether it be good or bad, and what the cities be that they dwell in; whether in tents or in strong holds. And what the land is, whether it bee fat or leane, whether there be wood therein or not: and be ye of good courage, and take of the fruit of the land; (Now the dayes were the dayes of the first ripe grapes.) And they went up and searched the land, from the Wildernesse of Zin, unto Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath. And they went up by the South, and he came unto Chebron: and there were Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the children of Anak: now Hebron was built seven yeares, before Zoan in Egypt. And they came unto the bourne of Eshcol, and cut downe from thence a branch, and one cluster of grapes; and they bare it on a staff, by two: and (they brought) of the pomegranates, and of the figs. That place was called the bourne of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sonnes of Israel cut downe from thence. And they returned from searching the land at the end of fortie dayes. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the sonnes of Israel, unto the Wildernesse of Pharan, to Kadesh: and brought backe word unto them and unto all the congregation; and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said; We came unto the land whither thou sentest us: and surely it floweth with milke and honey, and this is the fruit of it. Neverthelesse, the people is strong that dwelleth in the land; and the cities sensed very great: and moreover, we saw the children of Anak there. Amalek dwelleth in the land of the South: and the Chethite, and the Iebusite, and the Amorite dwelleth in the mountaine; and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and by the coast of Iordan. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Going up, let us goe up and possesse it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him, said; We be not able to goe up against the people: for they are stronger than wee. And they brought up an evill report of the land which they had searched, unto the sonnes of Israel, saying; The land, thorow which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the Inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw within it, are men of statures. And there we saw the Giants, the sonnes of Anak, which come of the Giants: and we were in our owne eyes as grashoppers; and so we were in their eyes.

Annotations. Here beginneth the 37 section of the [non-Latin text not transcribed] Law: see Gen. 6. 9. IEhovah spake] By Moses relation after, it appeareth, that when God had led his people from mount Horeb to Cadesh Barnea, thorow the great and fearfull Wildernesse, and they were come to the mountaine of the Amorites; then Moses said, See, the LORD thy God hath given the land before thee; Goe up possesse it. And all the people came neere unto Moses, and said; We will send men before us, and they shall search out the land for us, and bring us word againe by what way we shall go up, &c. That word liked Moses well; and he tooke of them twelve men, and sent them to spie out the land, Deut. 1. 19—24. So where here it is said, Iehovah spake, &c. it is not meant, that this motion came first from the Lord; but the people first spake of it to Moses, he consulted with the Lord about it; and the Lord approved, or at least permitted the thing which they desired. Verse 2. Send thou] or, Send for thee: which Sol. Iarchi expoundeth to this sense; I comm[illegible: 3 letters] thee not; if thou pleasest, send: for as much as Israel came and said, wee will send men, &c. Deut. 1. 22. that they may search] or, and let them search, or espie, by searching round about: and the word implieth the action of the heart and minde, not of the eyes onely, Eccles. 1. 13. and 7. 25. Thus God let them goe search or espie the land, which hee him-selfe before had espied for them, Ezek. 20. 6. and went before them in the way, to search them out a place to pitch their tents in, in fire by night, and in a cloud by day, Deut. 1. 33. of Canaan] that is, as the Greeke translateth, of the Chanaanites: named as the chiefe, for it was the land of seven mightie nations, Deut. 7. 1. I give] or, am giving: so he speaketh as of a thing present, for more assurance. one man one man] an Hebrew phrase, meaning, of every tribe one man, excepting the tribe of Levi, for of them none was sent; because they were to have no inheritance in the land, Deut. 18. 1. a ruler] or, a prince; not of the baser sort, because the businesse was weighty: whereupon their rebellion following was of the more note. Verse 3. at the mouth] or, according to the mouth, that is, the word of the LORD, as the Chaldee translateth; and the Greeke, by the voice of the Lord: and this Sol. Iarchi expoundeth by his permission. So in the commentarie called Phesikta. f. 47. it is said, The election of the Spies was according to the mouth of the LORD; not that God commanded them to send them. If thou sayest, why did he not forbid them to send? To accomplish their desire, and to render them their recompense, and to give unto Ioshua and Caleb a goodreward. heads] that is, as the Greeke saith, Chiefe-rulers; and Chazkuni expoundeth them Captaines over thousands: as in Exod. 18. 25. Verse 4. Shammua] in Greeke, Samiel sonne of Zacchour. Verse 5. Shaphat] in Greeke, Saphat sonne of Souri. Verse 6. Caleb] in Greeke, Chaleb son of Iephonne. See 1 Chron. 4. 15. His name signifieth Hartie: and he brought Moses word againe, as it was in his heart, Ios. 14. 7. Verse 7. Iigal] in Greeke, Igad. Verse 8. Hoshea] in Greeke, Auses son of Naue. Verse 9. Palti] or as in Greeke, Phalti. Verse 10. Gaddiel] in Greeke, Goudiel sonne of Soudi. Verse 11. of Ioseph] He was father of Ephraim in vers. 8. as well as of Manasseh here; and sometime Ioseph is named for Ephraim, Ezek. 37. 16. 19. Revel. 7. 8. Here he is named as father of Manasseh, who was his first-borne, Ios. 17. 1. although the Hebrewes give another reason; namely, because both of them uttered an ill report; Ioseph, of his brethren, (Gen. 37. 2.) and the Prince of Manasseh, of the land: which Hoshea of Ephraim did not. Chazkuni on Num. 13. Verse 13. Sethur] in Greeke, Sadour. Verse 14. Nahbi] or Nachbi; in Greeke, Naabi sonne of Sabi. Verse 15. Geuel] in Greeke, Goudiel. Verse 16. These are the names] Chazkuni here obserueth, He sent no spie of the tribe of Levi, because he had no portion in the land. Nun] called also Non, 1 Chron. 7. 27. in Greeke, Naue. Ioshua] or, Iehoshua, called sometime Ieshua, Neh. 8. 17. in Greeke, Iesus; and so the New testament writeth him, Act. 7. 45. Heb. 4. 8. that signifieth [illegible: 1 word] Saviour, Mat. 1. 21. And this name Moses gave him by the spirit of God; either as foreseeing that be should be his successor, and save the people from their enemies the Canaanites; or, (as Sol. Iarchi here noteth) praying for him, that the Lord would save him from the counsell of the (wicked) spies. But Chazkuni readeth it, Moses had called Hoshea the sonne of Nun, Ioshua, not that he now first called him Ioshua, but before when he was made his [illegible: 1 span]ister, and found grace in his eyes. Wee finde him called Ioshua, before they came to mount Si [illegible: 1 span]i, Exod 17. 9. and after this, when Moses is ready to die, hee is called Hoshea, in Deut. 32. 44. where Chazkuni saith thus; At the first when hee was taken to bee Moses minister, Moses called him Ioshua; for so is the manner of Kings to change the name of their ministers, Gen. 41. 45. Dan. 1. 7. But now when hee is made King himselfe, his first name is restored: neverthelesse thorow all the scripture he is called Ioshua, because he was accustomed thereto already. By this reason, the change of his name should seeme to diminish from his dignitie; whereas it was changed rather for honour; as were the names of Abram, Sarai, Iacob, and others, Gen. 17. 5. 15. and 32. 28. Neh. 9. 7. Esai. 62. 2. Mar. 3. 16, 17. Verse 17. Southward] or, by the South; as in vers. 22. meaning the South part of the land of Canaan, as Chazkuni explaineth it. For that was nearest unto them, and the worst part of the land, because it was wildernesse, and waterlesse, as the originall word Negeb, signifieth D[illegible: 1 letter]ie ground: and Calebs daughter said to her father, Thou hast given me a south (that is, a drie) land, give me also springs of water, Iudg. 1. 15. and rivers in the south, Psal. 126. 4. meaneth refreshing after bondage and affliction. The Greeke here translateth, Goe up by this wildernesse: and so in that part was a wildernesse, Ios. 15. 1.—3. And Sol. Iarchi saith, Goe up this way by the south; that was the worst part of the land of Israel: for so is the manner of Merchants; they shew the worst things first, and afterward they shew the best. the mountaine] which was inhabited by Amalekites, Canaanites, and Amorites, Num. 14. 40. 45. Deut. 1. 44. Of this, Chazkuni giveth a reason thus; And when yee shall know how to subdue the mountaine, the vally will be [illegible: 1 letter]asi[illegible: 1 letter] to subdue. Verse 18. the land what it is] This is againe repeated in vers. 19. and the third time in vers. [illegible: 1 letter]0. which may thus be distinguished: by the land here, is meant the people of the land, as after Moses explaineth it; by the land in vers. 19. is meant the aire of the countrey, and the cities, villages, tents, which were by the hand of man set theron; and by the land in v. 20. is meant the soile or ground it selfe, & fruits that grew thereon. and the people] and is here for explanàtion, that is, or I meane the people: see the notes on Gen. 13. 15. So in Psal. 66. 4. Let all the earth bow downe to thee, that is, all peoples of the earth: likewise in Psal. 100. 1. and 96. 1. and often in the scriptures. So house for houshold or people in it, Gen. 45. 11. 18. Cities for citizens, Ios. 17. 12. whether they] Hebr. whether it bee strong &c. speaking of the people, as one in multitude. Verse 19. good or bad] this seemeth to respect the wholsomnesse of the countrie, for aire, waters, &c. as in 2 King. 2. 19. the situation of this citie is good, but the water is bad, and the land causeth to miscarie. To this Chazkuni referreth it, saying, or bad, if it cause the inhabitants thereof to mis[illegible: 1 span] (or to be barren,) as 2 King. 2. 19. and hereupon they answered, It is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof, Num. 13. 32. intents] or, in campes, troupes: the Chaldee calleth them Villages (or unwalled townes) the Greeke changeth the order, saying, in walled or in unwalled townes. Vers. 20. fat or leane] This respecteth the soile it selfe, which if it be fat, is fertile; if leane, barren. The Chaldee changeth the metaphor, saying, whether it be rich or poore. So in Neh. 9. 25. 35. they tooke strong cities, and a fat land; and in Ezek. 34. 14. fat pasture. wood] or, trees, as the Greeke and Chaldee interpret it, and Targum Ionathan, trees of food; that is, of fruit to bee eaten. be yee of good courage] or, strengthen, encourage your selves. the first ripe grapes] or, the first fruits of grapes. And then, as Chazkuni: observeth, they had need to have courage, because the keepers (of the vineyards) watched them there. Verse 21. of Zin] or, of Tsin: there was a wildernesse into which they came before, called Sin, so named of an Egyptian citie Sin neare it, Exod. 16. 1. Ezek. 30. 15, 16. This desart of Zin, seemeth to be so named as being a Thornie wildernesse; for Zinnim (in the forme plurall) signifieth thornes, Iob 5. 5. And as the former Sin bordered upon Egypt, so Zin bordered on the land of Canaan, Num. 34. 3, 4. Ios. 15. 3. Rehob] or Rechob, called in Greeke, Roob, (as Rechabham or Rehoboam, 1 King. 12. 1. is written in Greeke by the Holy Ghost Roboam, Mat. 1. 7.) This Rehob was a citie in the west part of the land of Canaan neare unto Sidon, which fell by lot to the tribe of Aser, Ios. 19. 28. Iudg. 1. 31. to the entrance] or, to the entring in of Hamath: so in Num. 34. 8. Ios. 13. 5. Iudg. 3. 3. Amos 6. 14. and so the Chaldee here translateth it. Hamath or Chamath, called also Hemath the great, Amos 6. 2. was a citie on the north part of Canaan, and on the East side, (as Rehob was on the West,) Num. 34. 8. Ios. 13. 5. By this description of their voyage, they went from south to north, and from west to east, so viewing the wholeland. This Hamath is in Targum Ionathan called Antiochia, (and so Hamath was after named of K. Antiochus:) and it was situate under mount Lebanan, by the river Iabok. Verse 22. by the south] or Southward; Gr. by the wildernesse: see vers. 17. and he came unto Chebron] or, unto Hebron; a place in the south parts of Canaan, where Abraham, Isaak and Iacob, with their wives, had beene buried, Gen. 23. 2. 19. and 49. 31. see the notes on Gen. 13. 18. By he came, Sol. Iarchi and others, understand Caleb onely; as if the twelve spies went not in one company, but one or two of them together: and Calebs comming thither is specially mentioned in Ios. 14. 9. the land whereon thy feet have troden, shall bee thine inheritance; and in vers. 12. now therefore give me this mountaine, whereof the Lord spake in that day; and in vers. 14. Chebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb. Others understand he came, that is, they came; as Chazkuni saith, It is the manner of the scripture to speake of many spies and lyers in wait, in the singular number; as (in Ios. 8. 19.) the lyer in ambush rose quickly out of his place. The Greeke translateth they came▪ the Chaldee hath in some copies Atha, he came; in othersome Atho, THEY came. Animan] or, as the Greeke writeth him, Achiman: he was one of the heathen Giants dwelling in Chebron: the Hebrewes interpret his name, Who is my brother? and that hee was so called, because none in the world was brother to him (that is, like unto him) in strength: yet Caleb slew him and his two brethren; Ios. 15. 14. Iudg. 1. 10. [illegible: 1 word] in Greeke, Sesei. Talmai] in Greeke, Thelames▪ children of Anak] in Greeke, generations of Enak: in Chaldee, sonnes of the Giant (or, of the mightie man.) Anak was the sonne of Arba, whereupon Chebron was in former times called Kirjah Arba, that is, the citie of Arba, Ios. 15. 13. Gen. 23. 2. before Zoan] or Tsoan, called in Greeke and Chaldee Tanes: (as of Tsor or Zor, is Tyrus in Greeke.) This declareth not onely the antiquitie of Chebron, but by consequence the goodnesse of the land. For the Anakims which reigned over all, seated themselves in the best places. Sol. Iatchi saith; It may be that Cham builded Chebron for his younger son Canaan, before he builded Zoan for Mizraim his elder son, &c. Of all countries none excelled Egypt; as it is written, Like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, (Gen. 13. 10.) And Zoan was the most excellent in the land of Egypt, for there the kings dwelt, as it is written, For his Princes were at Zoan, (Esai 30. 4.) but Chebron was seven time: better than it. Verse 23. bourne] or vallie, brooke. The Hebrew Nachal signifieth both a valley, Gen. 26. 17. 19. and a river or brooke running in a valley: our English word bourne answereth to them both▪ Esh[illegible: 1 span] signifieth a cluster; and of the Israelites cutting of the cluster, this place had the name, for a memoriall, vers. 24. The Greeke translateth it, the vallie of the cluster. This place is reported to have beene in the tribe of Dan, within a little of the vallie Sorck mentioned in Iudg. 16 4. a branch] to wit, of a vine, and one cluster of grapes upon it, as the Greeke version saith; and so Iarchi explaineth it, a branch of a vine, and a cluster of grapes hanging upon it. on a staffe] or, on a barre; the Greeke translateth, on barres (or leavers▪) and omitteth the words following by two: which seemeth to favour the exposition that Chazkuni giveth here, they bare it on a barre of the branch, with two other barres. But the more simple and plaine meaning is set downe in Targum Ionathan thus, on a barre, on the shoulders of two of them. Vers. 25. at the end of 40. dayes] in Greeke, after 40. dayes. In Targum Ionathan there is added, in the moneth of Ab (which wee call Iuly) at the end of 40. dayes. And Chazkuni explaineth it further, that they began on the 29. of Sivan (which we name May,) and ended on the eighth of Ab (or Iuly) So many dayes, our Lord Christ after his resurrection viewed his disciples, being seene of them 40. dayes, Act. 1. 3. And according to this number of daies, the Israelites had yeares allotted them to wander and perish in the wildernesse, because they beleeved not God, but refused to goe into the good land proffered them, Numb. 14. 33. 34. Of the mysterie in this number 40. see more in the notes on Deut. 25. 3. Verse 26. to Kadesh] called also Kadesh [illegible: 1 word] Deut. 1. 19. There was a citie of the Edomite called Kadesh, Num. 20. 16. whereupon the widernesse by it was called also Kadesh, Psal. 29. [illegible: 1 word] and the same was called the wildernesse of Zin, Num. 33. 36. Chazkuni here saith, The wildernesse of Pharan, and the wildernesse of Zin, and Hazeroth, and Kadesh barnea, and Rithmah (Num. 33. 18.) were one neare to another. This Kadesh (in Greeke Kades) The Chaldee nameth Rekam. Verse 27. they told him] to wit, Moses, in the hearing of all the congregation. and honey] that is, with all good things: see the notes on Exod. 3. 8. Thus they acknowledged the truth of Gods promises; they said, It is a good land which the Lord our God doth give unto us, Deut. 1. 25. Verse 28. Neverthelesse] or, But that. This latter part of the speech, was from the ten spies (not from Caleb or Iosua,) who here take occasion to terrifie the people from going to possesse the land, Deut. 1. 28. fenced] with strong holds, high walls and munition; the Greeke expresseth it by two words, fenced, walled: in Deut. 1. 28. and 9. 1. it is said, fenced up to heaven: and in Deut. 3. 5. fenced with high walls, gates and barres. children of Anak] in Greeke, the generation of Enak, in Chaldee, sonnes of the Giant: so in Deut. 1. 28. the Greeke translateth them, sonnes of the Giants; see before on vers. 20. Of these there went a proverbe, Who can stand before the sons of Anak? Deut. 9. 2. And of this, the Greekes borrowed the word Anakes, to signifie Kings: and by interpretation Anak signifieth a chaine, Prov. 1. 9. which is an ornament for kings and great personages, and of old, upon their beasts necks also, Iudg. 8. 26. And many such men were chained with pride, as Ps. 73. 6. Vers. 29. Amalek] that is, the Amalekites, the posteritie of Amalek the sonne of Esau; of whom see Exod. 17. 8, &c. Because they had beene smitten by Amalek (Deut. 25. 17, 18.) the spies doe now make mention of him, to make them afraid, saith Iarchion Num. 13. This Amalek (who was the first of the nations. Num. 24. 20. and an enemie to Israel) would hinder, as they thought, their entrance on the South side. in the mountaine] that is, the mountaines, or, as the Greeke translateth, the mountainy part; for these nations here reckoned were the most mighty; and the Chethites possessed mount Thabor, the Iebusites Ierusalem and mountaines about it, the Amorites mount Heres &c. Iudg. 1. 21. 34, 35, 36. and these Amorites were high as Cedars, and strong as Oakes, Amos 2. 9. so the land seemed in their eyes unpossible to be conquered. the coast] or side, Hebr. the land of Iordan; which was towards the East, as the Sea was to the west. Vers. 30. Caleb] and Iosua with him afterward, Num. 14. 6. 7. though now at first it may be Iosua purposely held his peace in prudence, because hee was Moses minister, and let Caleb speake. stilled the people before Moses] or made the people to keepe silence before (or unto) Moses: that is, the people beginning to mumure and speake unto Moses and against him, Caleb stilled them. The Chaldee expoundeth it, he made the people to attend (that is, to hearken) unto Moses: and Ionathan in his Targum saith, hee stilled the people and caused them to attend unto Moses. And it appeareth by Deut. 1. 29, 30. that Moses himselfe spake to incourage the people; but they would not obey. and said] that is, Caleb said; as the 31. vers. manifesteth; and the Greeke addeth, he said unto him. we are well able to overcome it] or, prevailing we shall prevaile over it; meaning the land; which the Greeke explaineth, over them, the people. And this was a speech of faith, beleeving in the power and promise of God; for Caleb now spake as it was in his heart, Ios. 14. 7. Vers. 31. But the men] Hebr. And the men; meaning ten of the twelve, all the other spies except Iosua, Num. 14. 6. Vers. 32. an evill report] an infamie, or diffamation: of which Solomon saith, hee that uttereth it, is a foole, Prov. 10. 18. And for this their sinne, these men dyed by a plague, before the Lord, Num. 14. 37. This infamie, the Chaldee calleth an evill name: the Greeke here, a dread of the land, but in Num. 14. 36. the Greeke expoundeth it evill words. And whereas the Hebrew Dibbah signifieth but a speech or report, though commonly of faults, which may be done without sinne; the word evill is added by Moses, in Num. 14. 37. to shew that this their diffamation was very sinfull. eateth up] consumeth; in Chaldee, killeth the inhabitants; which may bee understood of their civill warres, whereby they devoured one another. For the Amorites had conquered the Moabites, Num. 21. 28, 29. the Caphtorims (or Philistines) had destroyed the Avims, Deut. 2. 23. This phrase was after used against the land, when the Heathens had destroyed the Israelites in it, Thou (land) eatest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations, Ezek. 36. 13. of statures] or of dimensions, of measures; that is, of great stature, tall and bigge; as the Greeke translateth, exceeding tall men. And as the Prophet openeth it, high as Cedars, strong as Oakes, Amos 2. 9. An example of such a man of stature we have in 2 Sam. 21. 20. that had on every hand fix fingers, and on every foot six toes, &c. and another of an Egyptian five cubits high, with a speare in his hand like a weavers beame, 1 Chron. 11. 23. So in Ier. 22. 14. an house of measures (or of statures) is for a large high house. Vers. 33. Giants] Hebr. Nephilim, such as were before Noes floud; see Gen. 6. 4. with the annotations. as Grashoppers] or as locusts, that is, low, weake, base in comparison with them. So it is said of God, He sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as Grashoppers, Esai. 40. 22. in their eyes] that is, they so esteemed us. And by reason hereof, it may be the spies passed thorow their land more safely, whiles these mightie men despised and neglected them; as the Philistine disdained to meddle with little David, 1 Sam. 17. 42. The Hebrew Doctors to shew this, feigne this explanation; We heard them say one to another, there are pismires in the vineyards like unto men. Chazkuni on Num. 13. 33.