17Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way by the South, and go up into the hill country.
18See the land, what it is; and the people who dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many;
19and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds;
20and what the land is, whether it is fertile or poor, whether there is wood therein, or not. Be courageous, and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes.
17 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way by the South, and go up into the hill country.
18 See the land, what it is; and the people who dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many;
19 and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds;
20 and what the land is, whether it is fertile or poor, whether there is wood therein, or not. Be courageous, and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes.
KJVKing James Version
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.
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them: 'Get you up here into the South, and go up into the mountains;
18 and see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many;
19 and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds;
20 and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is 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. —
Deuteronomy 31:23(v20)He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and courageous; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which…
Judges 1:9(v17)After that, the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, and in the South, and in the…
Ezekiel 34:14(vv18, 20)I will feed them with good pasture; and their fold will be on the mountains of the height of Israel. There they will lie down in a good…
Genesis 12:9(v17)Abram traveled, still going on toward the South.
Deuteronomy 31:6-8(v20)Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or scared of them; for Yahweh your God himself is who goes with you. He will not fail you nor…
Show all 27 cross-references
Nehemiah 9:25(v20)They took fortified cities and a rich land, and possessed houses full of all good things, cisterns dug out, vineyards, olive groves, and…
Nehemiah 9:35(v20)For they have not served you in their kingdom, and in your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land which you gave…
Deuteronomy 1:25(v20)They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, “It is a good land…
Joshua 1:6(v20)“Be strong and courageous; for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
Joshua 1:9(v20)Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed, for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 2:3(v20)Jericho’s king sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered into your house; for they have come to spy…
Joshua 2:22-23(v20)They went and came to the mountain, and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers sought them all along the…
1 Chronicles 22:11(v20)Now, my son, may Yahweh be with you and prosper you, and build the house of Yahweh your God, as he has spoken concerning you.
Micah 7:1(v20)Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard: There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My…
Hebrews 13:6(v20)So that with good courage we say, “The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
Genesis 13:1(v17)Abram went up out of Egypt—he, his wife, all that he had, and Lot with him—into the South.
Exodus 3:8(v18)I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a…
Numbers 13:23-24(v20)They came to the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it on a staff between two.…
Numbers 13:30-31(v20)Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, “Let’s go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it!” But the men…
Joshua 15:3(v17)and it went out southward of the ascent of Akrabbim, and passed along to Zin, and went up by the south of Kadesh Barnea, and passed along…
Judges 1:15(v17)She said to him, “Give me a blessing; because you have set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water.” Then Caleb gave her…
Judges 1:19(v17)Yahweh was with Judah, and drove out the inhabitants of the hill country; for he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because…
Genesis 14:10(v17)Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and some fell there. Those who remained fled to…
Numbers 13:21-22(v17)So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath. They went up by the South, and came…
Numbers 13:29(v17)Amalek dwells in the land of the South. The Hittite, the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwell in the hill country. The Canaanite dwells by the…
Numbers 14:40(v17)They rose up early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which…
Deuteronomy 1:44(v17)The Amorites, who lived in that hill country, came out against you and chased you as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even to Hormah.
27 distinct cross-references across this passage (28 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv17, 18, 20Which in number were twelve, according to the twelve…
Which in number were twelve, according to the twelve tribes.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv17–18Num 13:17 And Moses sent them to spy out…
Num 13:17 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:
Ver. 17. Go up into the mountain.] This was the great mountain of Seir, which encloseth Palestine on that side.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv17–20Southward, i.e. into the southern part of Canaan, which…
Southward, i.e. into the southern part of Canaan, which was the nearest part, and the worst too, being dry and desert, Jos 15:1,3; Jdg 1:15; Psa 126:4, and therefore fittest for them to enter and pass through with less observation.
Into the mountain, i.e. into the mountainous country, and thence into the valleys, and so take an exact survey of the whole land.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv17–20And they came unto the brook of Eshcol,.... Or…
And they came unto the brook of Eshcol,.... Or "valley of Eshcol" (u), which is here so called by anticipation from the following circumstance; and perhaps had not this name given it, until the children of Israel were possessed of the land, and then they called it so, in memory of what was done here at this time; it was not far from Hebron, as may be concluded from thence; and so Jerom, relating the travels of Paula in those parts, says (w), she came from Betzur to Eshcol, where having seen the little cells of Sarah, the cradle of Isaac, and the traces of the oak of Abraham, under which he saw the day of Christ, and was glad, rising up from thence, she went up to Hebron; which shows this Eshcol to be near Hebron, and to lie low, and was a valley; see Deu 1:24,
and cut down from thence a branch, with one cluster of grapes; in this valley was a vineyard, or at least a vine tree, on which they observed one cluster, which perhaps was of an uncommon size, as it seems by what follows, and they cut down the branch, and that with it:
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and they bare it between two upon a staff; it was so big; and which was not done only for the ease of carrying it, but that it might not have any of its grapes squeezed, bruised, and broken off, but that they might carry it entire and whole for the Israelites to behold: these two men were probably Caleb and Joshua; though Jarchi says they carried nothing, which is more than he could say with certainty. Some historians report very surprising things of the size of vines, and the largeness of their clusters, which, when observed, this account will not at all seem incredible. Strabo says (x), it is reported, that in Hyrcania, a vine produced a firkin of wine, and, the trunk of a vine was so large, that it was as much as two men could grasp with both arms, and bore clusters of two cubits long (y); the same he says (z) of the size of vines in Mauritania, and of their clusters being a cubit long; and of others in Carmania being two cubits long, as before (a): it is reported of the Indian fig tree, that it sometimes has an hundred figs more or less on a branch, and all in a cluster like grapes; and some of the clusters are sometimes so large as to be carried by two men on a staff (b), as here; and some have thought, that it is the fruit here meant; but this is expressly called a cluster of grapes. About half a mile from Eshcol, as Adrichomius (c) says, was the brook or valley of Sorek, which was famous for vines; and it is affirmed by many writers and travellers, that to this day there are vines in that place, which produce clusters of twenty five pounds weight and more; and that in Lebanon, and other parts of Syria, the kernels of grapes are as big as a man's thumb (d). Leo Africanus speaks (e) of grapes in some parts of Africa somewhat red, which, from their size, are called hens' eggs: and the Talmudists (f) are extravagant, and beyond all belief, in the account they give of the vines in the land of Canaan, and of the clusters of them, and the quantity of wine they had from them; and of this cluster they suppose (g), that the "two" spoken of are not to be understood of men, but of bars or staves; and that this cluster was carried by eight, four at the four ends of the two staves, and that there were, besides, two staves or bars that went across, at the ends of which were four more men, who carried the cluster hanging in the middle; a figure of which Wagenseil (h) has given us: but Philo the Jew (i) has given a better account of it, and more agreeable to the Scripture, as that it was put upon a staff, and hung at the middle of it, the ends of which were laid on the shoulders of two young men, who carried it; though he adds, that such was the weight of it, that these were relieved by others in succession:
and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs; that is, others of them did; which seems to favour the notion that they were in a body, and that there were more than two together at this place; but even these two might be able to bring some of this sort of fruit along with them, as well as bear the cluster of grapes; besides, the text does not oblige us to understand it of the same persons in the same place.
(u) "vallem", Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius. (w) Epitaph. Paulae, fol. 59. G. H. (x) Geograph. l. 2. p. 50. (y) Ibid. (z) lbid. l. 17. p. 568. (a) Ibid. l. 15. p. 500. (b) Salmuth. in Pancirol. rer. memorab. par. 2. p. 55. (c) Theatrum Terrae Sacr. p. 24. (d) Huet. Alnetan. Quaest. l. 2. c. 12. sect. 22. (e) Descript. Africae, l. 2. p. 204. (f) T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 111. 2. (g) T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 34. 1. (h) Sotah, p. 707, 708. (i) De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 638.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv17–20Southward - Into the southern part of Canaan, which…
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.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv18, 20Verse 18. See the land, what it is] What…
Verse 18. 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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv17, 19Num 13:17-18. Southward — Into the southern part of…
Num 13:17-18. 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.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv17, 19, 20Southward - Rather, “by the Negeb,” or south-country; a…
Southward - Rather, “by the Negeb,” or south-country; a well-defined tract of territory forming the southernmost and least fertile portion of the land of Canaan and of the subsequent inheritance of Judah. It extended northward from Kadesh to within a few miles of Hebron, and from the Dead Sea westward to the Mediterranean (see especially Jos 15:21-32).
Into the mountain - The hill-country of southern and central Canaan, mostly within the borders of Judah and Ephraim. It commences a few miles south of Hebron, and extending northward to the plain of Jezreel, runs out eventually northwest-ward into the sea in the headland of Carmel.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv17–18Josue. His former name Osee, or Hoseah, means "one…
Josue. His former name Osee, or Hoseah, means "one saved, or salvation:" but the addition of the i, taken from the name of the Lord, intimates, "he shall save, or the Saviour of God." Some think that Moses had given him this name after the defeat of the Amalecites; but the Book of Exodus, where the name is found, might have been written after he received this commission. (Calmet) --- The Septuagint have, "Ause, the son of Nave, Jesus," as he was a striking figure of our blessed Saviour, and their names are written with the same letters, Yehoshuah. This Moses foresaw, and also that he should be the happy instrument, in the hand of God, of saving the Israelites, by introducing them to the land of promise, and establishing them in peace therein. (Menochius) --- The changing of his name imported, likewise, that he should be the chief leader. (Theodoret, q. 25.) (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv17, 20Get you up this way . . . ,…
Get you up this way . . . , and go up into the mountain--Mount Seir (Deu 1:2), which lay directly from Sinai across the wilderness of Paran, in a northeasterly direction into the southern parts of the promised land.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv17–2017. Southward — Hebrew, Negeb, or South-Country. “As a…
17. Southward — Hebrew, Negeb, or South-Country. “As a geographical term the name has been entirely ignored in the English version, where the word is invariably translated ‘the south,’ (as a point of the compass;) and the misapprehension has given rise to several absurd contradictions in terms. Thus, when the spies went up from Kadesh we are told that Moses ‘said unto them, Get you up this way southward,’ [R.V., ‘by’ (marg. ‘into’) ‘the South;’] ‘and they went up by the South, and came unto Hebron.’ As Hebron certainly lay to the north of Kadesh, this express mention of the South is not only meaningless, but inaccurate. But if we render the word ‘South Country,’ applying it to the mountain plateau in the north-west corner of the Tih, all difficulty vanishes, and the words of the text are geographically exact.” — E.H. Palmer. The Negeb rises in a vast steppe, of about eighty miles from south to north, and gradually passes in successive terraces into the hill country of Beer-sheba. The most southerly of these, Jebel Magrah, is a great plain of fifty or sixty miles from east to west. Over all this region there still are found fertile spots, with grass and water, and signs of ancient populousness and prosperity appear in every direction. Here, at Kadesh-barnea, on the eastern slope of the hills, in a wady noted for its pastures and abundant springs, Moses chose his headquarters, in anticipation of presently passing on to Canaan. This was their rallying point and centre during more than thirty-eight years. Jos_10:41, note. The Negeb literally signifies dry, or parched. If we assume that Moses attached to the Negeb the simple idea of “the dry land,” there will be no need of supposing that the term is proleptically used.
The mountain — Western Palestine is an elevated ridge or mountain running from south to north between the Dead Sea and the Jordan valley on the east and the Shephelah, or sea-coast plain, on the west. Jos_9:1, note. The different portions of this mountainous region, or backbone of the country, were subsequently named the mountains of Judah, the mountains of Ephraim, and the mountains of Galilee. This ridge is intersected only by one valley — that of Jezreel.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn v1717. get you up this way by the South]…
17. get you up this way by the South] go up now into the Negeb. The name Negeb, which denotes ‘dry,’ ‘parched,’ was applied to the waste country on the southern border of Palestine, between the cultivated land and the deserts. After the settlement in Canaan ‘the Negeb’ gained the secondary sense of ‘the south,’ just as ‘the Sea,’ acquired that of ‘the west’ (see on Num_3:23). The Negeb is described in G. A. Smith, Hist. Geogr. 278–286.
the mountains] A second description of the Negeb (cf. Num_14:40). In Deu_1:20 it is called ‘the hill-country of the Amorites.’
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv17–20(17) Get you up this way southward.—Rather, by the…
(17) Get you up this way southward.—Rather, by the Negeb, or south country (comp. Num_13:22). The southern part of Palestine was known by the name of the Negeb. It formed the transition from the desert to the more highly cultivated land, and was more fitted for grazing than for agricultural purposes. (See Wilton’s The Negeb.)
Into the mountain.—The word which is here used commonly denotes the hill country, i.e., the mountainous part of Palestine, which was inhabited by the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites. It is called “the mount of the Amorites” in Deu_1:7, inasmuch as the Amorites were the strongest of the Canaanite tribes. The same word is rendered “the mountains” in Num_13:29. The reference here, however, may be to the particular mountain which was nearest to the encampment of the Israelites (see Num_14:40).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv17, 18, 20Get you up this way southward. Rather, "get you…
Get you up this way southward. Rather, "get you up there (hz) in the Negeb." The Negeb, meaning literally "the dryness," was the south-western district of Canaan, which bordered upon the desert, and partook more or less of its character. Except where springs existed, and irrigation could be carried out, it was unfit for settled habitation. See Jos_15:19 Jud_1:15, where the same word is used. Go up into the mountain. From the Negeb they were to make their way into the mountain or hill country which formed the back-bone of Southern Palestine, from the Wady Murreh on the south to the plain of Esdraelon on the north. In after ages it formed the permanent center of the Jewish race and Jewish power. Cf. Jud_1:9 where the three natural divisions of Southern Palestine are mentioned together: rhj (h oreinh ), the mountain; bgGh (oo Notov ), the steppe; hlpeVh (h pedinh ), the maritime plain.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren1905 · Public DomainOn v17Num 13:17 - Num 13:33.
Numbers
AFRAID OF GIANTS
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Num 13:17 - Num 13:33.
We stand here on the edge of the Promised Land. The discussion of the true site of Kadesh need not concern us now. Wherever it was, the wanderers had the end of their desert journey within sight; one bold push forward, and their feet would tread on their inheritance. But, as is so often the case, courage oozed out at the decisive moment, and cowardice, disguised as prudence, called for ‘further information,’-that cuckoo-cry of the faint-hearted. There are three steps in this narrative: the despatch of the explorers, their expedition, and the two reports brought back.
I. We have the despatch and instructions of the explorers. A comparison with Deu 1:22 shows that the project of sending the spies originated in the people’s terror at the near prospect of the fighting which they had known to be impending ever since they left Egypt. Faith finds that nearness diminishes dangers, but sense sees them grow as they approach. The people answered Moses’ brave words summoning them to the struggle with this feeble petition for an investigation. They did not honestly say that they were alarmed, but defined the scope of the exploring party’s mission as simply to ‘bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and the cities into which we shall come.’ Had they not the pillar blazing there above them to tell them that? The request was not fathomed in its true faithlessness by Moses, who thought it reasonable and yielded. So far Deuteronomy goes; but this narrative puts another colour on the mission, representing it as the consequence of God’s command. The most eager discoverer of discrepancies in the component parts of the Pentateuch need not press this one into his service, for both sides may be true: the one representing the human feebleness which originated the wish; the other, the divine compliance with the desire, in order to disclose the unbelief which unfitted the people for the impending struggle, and to educate them by letting them have their foolish way, and taste its bitter results. Putting the two accounts together, we get, not a contradiction, but a complete view, which teaches a large truth as to God’s dealings; namely, that He often lovingly lets us have our own way to show us by the issues that His is better, and that daring, which is obedience, is the true prudence.
The instructions given to the explorers turn on two points: the eligibility of the country for settlement, and the military strength of its inhabitants. They alternate in a very graphic way from the one of these to the other, beginning, in Num 13:18, with the land, and immediately going on to the numbers and power of the inhabitants; then harking back again, in Num 13:19, to the fertility of the land, and passing again to the capacity of the cities to resist attack; and finishing up, in Num 13:20, with the land once more, both arable and forest. The same double thought colours the parting exhortation to ‘be bold,’ and to ‘bring of the produce of the land.’ Now the people knew already both points which the spies were despatched to find out. Over and over again, in Egypt, in the march, and at Sinai, they had been told that the land was ‘flowing with milk and honey,’ and had been assured of its conquest. What more did they want? Nothing, if they had believed God. Nothing, if they had been all saints,-which they were not. Their fears were very natural. A great deal might be said in favour of their wish to have accurate information. But it is a bad sign when faith, or rather unbelief, sends out sense to be its scout, and when we think to verify God’s words by men’s confirmation. Not to believe Him unless a jury of twelve of ourselves says the same thing, is surely much the same as not believing Him at all; for it is not He, but they, whom we believe after all.
There is no need to be too hard on the people. They were a mob of slaves, whose manhood had been eaten out by four centuries of sluggish comfort, and latterly crushed by oppression. So far as we know, Abraham’s midnight surprise of the Eastern kings was the solitary bit of fighting in the national history thus far; and it is not wonderful that, with such a past, they should have shrunk from the prospect of bloodshed, and caught at any excuse for delay at least, even if not for escape. ‘We have all of us one human heart,’ and these cowards were no monsters, but average men, who did very much what average men, professing to be Christians, do every day, and for doing get praised for prudence by other average professing Christians. How many of us, when brought right up to some task involving difficulty or danger, but unmistakably laid on us by God, shelter our distrustful fears under the fair pretext of ‘knowing a little more about it first,’ and shake wise heads over rashness which takes God at His word, and thinks that it knows enough when it knows what He wills?
II. We have the exploration {Num 13:21 - Num 13:25}. The account of it is arranged on a plan common in the Old Testament narratives, the observation of which would, in many places, remove difficulties which have led to extraordinary hypotheses. Num 13:21 gives a general summary of what is then taken up, and told in more detail. It indicates the completeness of the exploration by giving its extreme southern and northern points, the desert of Zin being probably the present depression called the Arabah, and ‘Rehob as men come to Hamath’ being probably near the northern Dan, on the way to Hamath, which lay in the valley between the Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon. The account then begins over again, and tells how the spies went up into ‘the South.’ The Revised Version has done wisely in printing this word with a capital, and thereby showing that it is not merely the name of a cardinal point, but of a district. It literally means ‘the dry,’ and is applied to the arid stretch of land between the more cultivated southern parts of Canaan and the northern portion of the desert which runs down to Sinai. It is a great chalky plateau, and might almost be called a steppe or prairie. Passing through this, the explorers next would come to Hebron, the first town of importance, beside which Abraham had lived, and where the graves of their ancestors were. But they were in no mood for remembering such old stories. Living Anaks were much more real to them than dead patriarchs. So the only thing mentioned, besides the antiquity of the city, is the presence in it of these giants. They were probably the relics of the aboriginal inhabitants, and some strain of their blood survived till late days. They seem to have expelled the Hittites, who held Mamre, or Hebron, in Abraham’s time. Their name is said to mean ‘long-necked,’ and the three names in our lesson are probably tribal, and not personal, names. The whole march northward and back again comes in between Num 13:22 - Num 13:23; for Eshcol was close to Hebron, and the spies would not encumber themselves with the bunch of grapes on their northward march. The details of the exploration are given more fully in the spies’ report, which shows that they had gone up north from Hebron, through the hills, and possibly came back by the valley of the Jordan. At any rate, they made good speed, and must have done some bold and hard marching, to cover the ground out and back in six weeks. So they returned with their pomegranates and figs, and a great bunch of the grapes for which the valley identified with Eshcol is still famous, swinging on a pole,-the easiest way of carrying it without injury.
III. We have next the two reports. The explorers are received in a full assembly of the people, and begin their story with an object-lesson, producing the great grape cluster and the other spoils. But while honesty compelled the acknowledgment of the fertility of the land, cowardice slurred that over as lightly as might be, and went on to dilate on the terrors of the giants and the strength of the cities, and the crowded population that held every corner of the country. Truly, the eye sees what it brings with it. They really had gone to look for dangers, and of course they found them. Whatever Moses might lay down in his instructions, they had been sent by the people to bring back reasons for not attempting the conquest, and so they curtly and coldly admit the fertility of the soil, and fling down the fruit for inspection as undeniably grown there, but they tell their real mind with a great ‘nevertheless.’ Their report is, no doubt, quite accurate. The cities were, no doubt, some of them walled, and to eyes accustomed to the desert, very great; and there were, no doubt, Anaks at Hebron, at any rate, and the ‘spies’ had got the names of the various races and their territories correctly. As to these, we need only notice that the Hittites were an outlying branch of the great nation, which recent research has discovered, as we might say, the importance and extent of which we scarcely yet know; that the Jebusites held Jerusalem till David’s time; that the ‘Amorites,’ or ‘Highlanders,’ occupied the central block of mountainous country in conjunction with the two preceding tribes; and that the ‘Canaanites,’ or ‘Lowlanders,’ held the lowlands east and west of that hilly nucleus, namely, the deep gorge of the Jordan, and the strip of maritime plain. A very accurate report may be very one-sided. The spies were not the last people who, being sent out to bring home facts, managed to convey very decided opinions without expressing any. A grudging and short admission to begin with, the force of which is immediately broken by sombre and minute painting of difficulty and danger, is more powerful as a deterrent than any dissuasive. It sounds such an unbiassed appeal to common-sense, as if the reporter said, ‘There are the facts; we leave you to draw the conclusions.’ An ‘unvarnished account of the real state of the case,’ in which there is not a single misstatement nor exaggeration, may be utterly false by reason of wrong perspective and omission, and, however true, is sure to act as a shower-bath to courage, if it is unaccompanied with a word of cheer. To begin a perilous enterprise without fairly facing its risks and difficulties is folly. To look at them only is no less folly, and is the sure precursor of defeat. But when on the one side is God’s command, and on the other such doleful discouragements, they are more than folly, they are sin.
It is bracing to turn from the creeping prudence which leaves God out of the account, to the cheery ring of Caleb’s sturdy confidence. His was ‘a minority report,’ signed by only two of the ‘Commission.’ These two had seen all that the others had, but everything depends on the eyes which look. The others had measured themselves against the trained soldiers and giants, and were in despair. These two measured Amalekites and Anaks against God, and were jubilant. They do not dispute the facts, but they reverse the implied conclusion, because they add the governing fact of God’s help. How differently the same facts strike a man who lives by faith, and one who lives by calculation! Israel might be a row of ciphers, but with God at the head they meant something. Caleb’s confidence that ‘we are well able to overcome’ was religious trust, as is plain from God’s eulogium on him in the next chapter {Num 14:24}. The lessons from it are that faith is the parent of wise courage; that where duty, which is God’s voice, points, difficulties must not deter; that when we have God’s assurance of support, they are nothing. Caleb was wise to counsel going up to the assault ‘at once,’ for there is no better cure for fear than action. Old soldiers tell us that the trying time is when waiting to begin the fight. ‘The native hue of resolution’ gets ‘sicklied o’ er’ with the paleness that comes from hesitation. Am I sure that anything is God’s will? Then the sooner I go to work at doing it, the better for myself and for the vigour of my work.
This headstrong rashness, as they thought it, brings up the other ‘spies’ once more. Notice how the gloomy views are the only ones in their second statement. There is nothing about the fertility of the land, but, instead, we have that enigmatical expression about its ‘eating up its inhabitants.’ No very satisfactory explanation of this is forthcoming. It evidently means that in some way the land was destructive of its inhabitants, which seems to contradict their former reluctant admission of its fertility. Perhaps in their eagerness to paint it black enough, they did contradict themselves, and try to make out that it was a barren soil, not worth conquering. Fear is not very careful of consistency. Note, too, the exaggerations of terror. ‘All the people’ are sons of Anak now. The size as well as the number of the giants has grown; ‘we were in our own sight as grasshoppers.’ No doubt they were gigantic, but fear performed the miracle of adding a cubit to their stature. When the coward hears that ‘there is a lion without,’-that is, in the open country,-he immediately concludes, ‘I shall be slain in the streets,’ where it is not usual for lions to disport themselves.
Thus exaggerated and one-sided is distrust of God’s promises. Such a temper is fatal to all noble life or work, and brings about the disasters which it foresees. If these cravens had gone up to fight with men before whom they felt like grasshoppers, of course they would have been beaten; and it was much better that their fears should come out at Kadesh than when committed to the struggle. Therefore God lovingly permitted the mission of the spies, and so brought lurking unbelief to the surface, where it could be dealt with. Let us beware of the one-eyed ‘prudence’ which sees only the perils in the path of duty and enterprise for God, and is blind to the all-sufficient presence which makes us more than conquerors, when we lean all our weight on it. It is well to see the Anakim in their full formidableness, and to feel that we are ‘as grasshoppers in our own sight’ and in theirs, if the sight drives us to lift our eyes to Him who ‘sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof,’ however huge and strong, ‘are as grasshoppers.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v17Is it good or bad? What cities are there?…
Is it good or bad? What cities are there? Are they like camps, or are they fortified cities?
Moses asks these questions to explain the kind of information that the men were to report back to him. These can be expressed as a statement. AT: "See if the land is good or bad, what kind of cities are there, and whether those cities are only camps, or whether they have defensive walls around them." (See: Rhetorical Question)
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Are they like camps, or are they fortified cities
Fortified cities had strong walls around them to protect them from enemy armies. Camps did not have these walls.
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv17, 2013:17-20 The military purpose of the scouting mission is…
13:17-20 The military purpose of the scouting mission is evident; the spies were also to gather information about natural resources and food, which had been on the Israelites’ minds since they left Egypt (ch 11; Exod 16).
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 20 Which in number were twelve, according to the twelve…
Which in number were twelve, according to the twelve tribes.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv17–18 Num 13:17 And Moses sent them to spy out…
Num 13:17 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:
Ver. 17. Go up into the mountain.] This was the great mountain of Seir, which encloseth Palestine on that side.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv17–20 Southward, i.e. into the southern part of Canaan, which…
Southward, i.e. into the southern part of Canaan, which was the nearest part, and the worst too, being dry and desert, Jos 15:1,3; Jdg 1:15; Psa 126:4, and therefore fittest for them to enter and pass through with less observation.
Into the mountain, i.e. into the mountainous country, and thence into the valleys, and so take an exact survey of the whole land.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv17–20 And they came unto the brook of Eshcol,.... Or…
And they came unto the brook of Eshcol,.... Or "valley of Eshcol" (u), which is here so called by anticipation from the following circumstance; and perhaps had not this name given it, until the children of Israel were possessed of the land, and then they called it so, in memory of what was done here at this time; it was not far from Hebron, as may be concluded from thence; and so Jerom, relating the travels of Paula in those parts, says (w), she came from Betzur to Eshcol, where having seen the little cells of Sarah, the cradle of Isaac, and the traces of the oak of Abraham, under which he saw the day of Christ, and was glad, rising up from thence, she went up to Hebron; which shows this Eshcol to be near Hebron, and to lie low, and was a valley; see Deu 1:24,
and cut down from thence a branch, with one cluster of grapes; in this valley was a vineyard, or at least a vine tree, on which they observed one cluster, which perhaps was of an uncommon size, as it seems by what follows, and they cut down the branch, and that with it:
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and they bare it between two upon a staff; it was so big; and which was not done only for the ease of carrying it, but that it might not have any of its grapes squeezed, bruised, and broken off, but that they might carry it entire and whole for the Israelites to behold: these two men were probably Caleb and Joshua; though Jarchi says they carried nothing, which is more than he could say with certainty. Some historians report very surprising things of the size of vines, and the largeness of their clusters, which, when observed, this account will not at all seem incredible. Strabo says (x), it is reported, that in Hyrcania, a vine produced a firkin of wine, and, the trunk of a vine was so large, that it was as much as two men could grasp with both arms, and bore clusters of two cubits long (y); the same he says (z) of the size of vines in Mauritania, and of their clusters being a cubit long; and of others in Carmania being two cubits long, as before (a): it is reported of the Indian fig tree, that it sometimes has an hundred figs more or less on a branch, and all in a cluster like grapes; and some of the clusters are sometimes so large as to be carried by two men on a staff (b), as here; and some have thought, that it is the fruit here meant; but this is expressly called a cluster of grapes. About half a mile from Eshcol, as Adrichomius (c) says, was the brook or valley of Sorek, which was famous for vines; and it is affirmed by many writers and travellers, that to this day there are vines in that place, which produce clusters of twenty five pounds weight and more; and that in Lebanon, and other parts of Syria, the kernels of grapes are as big as a man's thumb (d). Leo Africanus speaks (e) of grapes in some parts of Africa somewhat red, which, from their size, are called hens' eggs: and the Talmudists (f) are extravagant, and beyond all belief, in the account they give of the vines in the land of Canaan, and of the clusters of them, and the quantity of wine they had from them; and of this cluster they suppose (g), that the "two" spoken of are not to be understood of men, but of bars or staves; and that this cluster was carried by eight, four at the four ends of the two staves, and that there were, besides, two staves or bars that went across, at the ends of which were four more men, who carried the cluster hanging in the middle; a figure of which Wagenseil (h) has given us: but Philo the Jew (i) has given a better account of it, and more agreeable to the Scripture, as that it was put upon a staff, and hung at the middle of it, the ends of which were laid on the shoulders of two young men, who carried it; though he adds, that such was the weight of it, that these were relieved by others in succession:
and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs; that is, others of them did; which seems to favour the notion that they were in a body, and that there were more than two together at this place; but even these two might be able to bring some of this sort of fruit along with them, as well as bear the cluster of grapes; besides, the text does not oblige us to understand it of the same persons in the same place.
(u) "vallem", Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius. (w) Epitaph. Paulae, fol. 59. G. H. (x) Geograph. l. 2. p. 50. (y) Ibid. (z) lbid. l. 17. p. 568. (a) Ibid. l. 15. p. 500. (b) Salmuth. in Pancirol. rer. memorab. par. 2. p. 55. (c) Theatrum Terrae Sacr. p. 24. (d) Huet. Alnetan. Quaest. l. 2. c. 12. sect. 22. (e) Descript. Africae, l. 2. p. 204. (f) T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 111. 2. (g) T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 34. 1. (h) Sotah, p. 707, 708. (i) De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 638.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv17–20 Southward - Into the southern part of Canaan, which…
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.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv18, 20 Verse 18. See the land, what it is] What…
Verse 18. 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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv17, 19 Num 13:17-18. Southward — Into the southern part of…
Num 13:17-18. 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.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv17, 19, 20 Southward - Rather, “by the Negeb,” or south-country; a…
Southward - Rather, “by the Negeb,” or south-country; a well-defined tract of territory forming the southernmost and least fertile portion of the land of Canaan and of the subsequent inheritance of Judah. It extended northward from Kadesh to within a few miles of Hebron, and from the Dead Sea westward to the Mediterranean (see especially Jos 15:21-32).
Into the mountain - The hill-country of southern and central Canaan, mostly within the borders of Judah and Ephraim. It commences a few miles south of Hebron, and extending northward to the plain of Jezreel, runs out eventually northwest-ward into the sea in the headland of Carmel.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv17–18 Josue. His former name Osee, or Hoseah, means "one…
Josue. His former name Osee, or Hoseah, means "one saved, or salvation:" but the addition of the i, taken from the name of the Lord, intimates, "he shall save, or the Saviour of God." Some think that Moses had given him this name after the defeat of the Amalecites; but the Book of Exodus, where the name is found, might have been written after he received this commission. (Calmet) --- The Septuagint have, "Ause, the son of Nave, Jesus," as he was a striking figure of our blessed Saviour, and their names are written with the same letters, Yehoshuah. This Moses foresaw, and also that he should be the happy instrument, in the hand of God, of saving the Israelites, by introducing them to the land of promise, and establishing them in peace therein. (Menochius) --- The changing of his name imported, likewise, that he should be the chief leader. (Theodoret, q. 25.) (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv17, 20 Get you up this way . . . ,…
Get you up this way . . . , and go up into the mountain--Mount Seir (Deu 1:2), which lay directly from Sinai across the wilderness of Paran, in a northeasterly direction into the southern parts of the promised land.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv17–20 17. Southward — Hebrew, Negeb, or South-Country. “As a…
17. Southward — Hebrew, Negeb, or South-Country. “As a geographical term the name has been entirely ignored in the English version, where the word is invariably translated ‘the south,’ (as a point of the compass;) and the misapprehension has given rise to several absurd contradictions in terms. Thus, when the spies went up from Kadesh we are told that Moses ‘said unto them, Get you up this way southward,’ [R.V., ‘by’ (marg. ‘into’) ‘the South;’] ‘and they went up by the South, and came unto Hebron.’ As Hebron certainly lay to the north of Kadesh, this express mention of the South is not only meaningless, but inaccurate. But if we render the word ‘South Country,’ applying it to the mountain plateau in the north-west corner of the Tih, all difficulty vanishes, and the words of the text are geographically exact.” — E.H. Palmer. The Negeb rises in a vast steppe, of about eighty miles from south to north, and gradually passes in successive terraces into the hill country of Beer-sheba. The most southerly of these, Jebel Magrah, is a great plain of fifty or sixty miles from east to west. Over all this region there still are found fertile spots, with grass and water, and signs of ancient populousness and prosperity appear in every direction. Here, at Kadesh-barnea, on the eastern slope of the hills, in a wady noted for its pastures and abundant springs, Moses chose his headquarters, in anticipation of presently passing on to Canaan. This was their rallying point and centre during more than thirty-eight years. Jos_10:41, note. The Negeb literally signifies dry, or parched. If we assume that Moses attached to the Negeb the simple idea of “the dry land,” there will be no need of supposing that the term is proleptically used.
The mountain — Western Palestine is an elevated ridge or mountain running from south to north between the Dead Sea and the Jordan valley on the east and the Shephelah, or sea-coast plain, on the west. Jos_9:1, note. The different portions of this mountainous region, or backbone of the country, were subsequently named the mountains of Judah, the mountains of Ephraim, and the mountains of Galilee. This ridge is intersected only by one valley — that of Jezreel.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On v17 17. get you up this way by the South]…
17. get you up this way by the South] go up now into the Negeb. The name Negeb, which denotes ‘dry,’ ‘parched,’ was applied to the waste country on the southern border of Palestine, between the cultivated land and the deserts. After the settlement in Canaan ‘the Negeb’ gained the secondary sense of ‘the south,’ just as ‘the Sea,’ acquired that of ‘the west’ (see on Num_3:23). The Negeb is described in G. A. Smith, Hist. Geogr. 278–286.
the mountains] A second description of the Negeb (cf. Num_14:40). In Deu_1:20 it is called ‘the hill-country of the Amorites.’
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv17–20 (17) Get you up this way southward.—Rather, by the…
(17) Get you up this way southward.—Rather, by the Negeb, or south country (comp. Num_13:22). The southern part of Palestine was known by the name of the Negeb. It formed the transition from the desert to the more highly cultivated land, and was more fitted for grazing than for agricultural purposes. (See Wilton’s The Negeb.)
Into the mountain.—The word which is here used commonly denotes the hill country, i.e., the mountainous part of Palestine, which was inhabited by the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites. It is called “the mount of the Amorites” in Deu_1:7, inasmuch as the Amorites were the strongest of the Canaanite tribes. The same word is rendered “the mountains” in Num_13:29. The reference here, however, may be to the particular mountain which was nearest to the encampment of the Israelites (see Num_14:40).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 20 Get you up this way southward. Rather, "get you…
Get you up this way southward. Rather, "get you up there (hz) in the Negeb." The Negeb, meaning literally "the dryness," was the south-western district of Canaan, which bordered upon the desert, and partook more or less of its character. Except where springs existed, and irrigation could be carried out, it was unfit for settled habitation. See Jos_15:19 Jud_1:15, where the same word is used. Go up into the mountain. From the Negeb they were to make their way into the mountain or hill country which formed the back-bone of Southern Palestine, from the Wady Murreh on the south to the plain of Esdraelon on the north. In after ages it formed the permanent center of the Jewish race and Jewish power. Cf. Jud_1:9 where the three natural divisions of Southern Palestine are mentioned together: rhj (h oreinh ), the mountain; bgGh (oo Notov ), the steppe; hlpeVh (h pedinh ), the maritime plain.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v17 Num 13:17 - Num 13:33.
Numbers
AFRAID OF GIANTS
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Num 13:17 - Num 13:33.
We stand here on the edge of the Promised Land. The discussion of the true site of Kadesh need not concern us now. Wherever it was, the wanderers had the end of their desert journey within sight; one bold push forward, and their feet would tread on their inheritance. But, as is so often the case, courage oozed out at the decisive moment, and cowardice, disguised as prudence, called for ‘further information,’-that cuckoo-cry of the faint-hearted. There are three steps in this narrative: the despatch of the explorers, their expedition, and the two reports brought back.
I. We have the despatch and instructions of the explorers. A comparison with Deu 1:22 shows that the project of sending the spies originated in the people’s terror at the near prospect of the fighting which they had known to be impending ever since they left Egypt. Faith finds that nearness diminishes dangers, but sense sees them grow as they approach. The people answered Moses’ brave words summoning them to the struggle with this feeble petition for an investigation. They did not honestly say that they were alarmed, but defined the scope of the exploring party’s mission as simply to ‘bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and the cities into which we shall come.’ Had they not the pillar blazing there above them to tell them that? The request was not fathomed in its true faithlessness by Moses, who thought it reasonable and yielded. So far Deuteronomy goes; but this narrative puts another colour on the mission, representing it as the consequence of God’s command. The most eager discoverer of discrepancies in the component parts of the Pentateuch need not press this one into his service, for both sides may be true: the one representing the human feebleness which originated the wish; the other, the divine compliance with the desire, in order to disclose the unbelief which unfitted the people for the impending struggle, and to educate them by letting them have their foolish way, and taste its bitter results. Putting the two accounts together, we get, not a contradiction, but a complete view, which teaches a large truth as to God’s dealings; namely, that He often lovingly lets us have our own way to show us by the issues that His is better, and that daring, which is obedience, is the true prudence.
The instructions given to the explorers turn on two points: the eligibility of the country for settlement, and the military strength of its inhabitants. They alternate in a very graphic way from the one of these to the other, beginning, in Num 13:18, with the land, and immediately going on to the numbers and power of the inhabitants; then harking back again, in Num 13:19, to the fertility of the land, and passing again to the capacity of the cities to resist attack; and finishing up, in Num 13:20, with the land once more, both arable and forest. The same double thought colours the parting exhortation to ‘be bold,’ and to ‘bring of the produce of the land.’ Now the people knew already both points which the spies were despatched to find out. Over and over again, in Egypt, in the march, and at Sinai, they had been told that the land was ‘flowing with milk and honey,’ and had been assured of its conquest. What more did they want? Nothing, if they had believed God. Nothing, if they had been all saints,-which they were not. Their fears were very natural. A great deal might be said in favour of their wish to have accurate information. But it is a bad sign when faith, or rather unbelief, sends out sense to be its scout, and when we think to verify God’s words by men’s confirmation. Not to believe Him unless a jury of twelve of ourselves says the same thing, is surely much the same as not believing Him at all; for it is not He, but they, whom we believe after all.
There is no need to be too hard on the people. They were a mob of slaves, whose manhood had been eaten out by four centuries of sluggish comfort, and latterly crushed by oppression. So far as we know, Abraham’s midnight surprise of the Eastern kings was the solitary bit of fighting in the national history thus far; and it is not wonderful that, with such a past, they should have shrunk from the prospect of bloodshed, and caught at any excuse for delay at least, even if not for escape. ‘We have all of us one human heart,’ and these cowards were no monsters, but average men, who did very much what average men, professing to be Christians, do every day, and for doing get praised for prudence by other average professing Christians. How many of us, when brought right up to some task involving difficulty or danger, but unmistakably laid on us by God, shelter our distrustful fears under the fair pretext of ‘knowing a little more about it first,’ and shake wise heads over rashness which takes God at His word, and thinks that it knows enough when it knows what He wills?
II. We have the exploration {Num 13:21 - Num 13:25}. The account of it is arranged on a plan common in the Old Testament narratives, the observation of which would, in many places, remove difficulties which have led to extraordinary hypotheses. Num 13:21 gives a general summary of what is then taken up, and told in more detail. It indicates the completeness of the exploration by giving its extreme southern and northern points, the desert of Zin being probably the present depression called the Arabah, and ‘Rehob as men come to Hamath’ being probably near the northern Dan, on the way to Hamath, which lay in the valley between the Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon. The account then begins over again, and tells how the spies went up into ‘the South.’ The Revised Version has done wisely in printing this word with a capital, and thereby showing that it is not merely the name of a cardinal point, but of a district. It literally means ‘the dry,’ and is applied to the arid stretch of land between the more cultivated southern parts of Canaan and the northern portion of the desert which runs down to Sinai. It is a great chalky plateau, and might almost be called a steppe or prairie. Passing through this, the explorers next would come to Hebron, the first town of importance, beside which Abraham had lived, and where the graves of their ancestors were. But they were in no mood for remembering such old stories. Living Anaks were much more real to them than dead patriarchs. So the only thing mentioned, besides the antiquity of the city, is the presence in it of these giants. They were probably the relics of the aboriginal inhabitants, and some strain of their blood survived till late days. They seem to have expelled the Hittites, who held Mamre, or Hebron, in Abraham’s time. Their name is said to mean ‘long-necked,’ and the three names in our lesson are probably tribal, and not personal, names. The whole march northward and back again comes in between Num 13:22 - Num 13:23; for Eshcol was close to Hebron, and the spies would not encumber themselves with the bunch of grapes on their northward march. The details of the exploration are given more fully in the spies’ report, which shows that they had gone up north from Hebron, through the hills, and possibly came back by the valley of the Jordan. At any rate, they made good speed, and must have done some bold and hard marching, to cover the ground out and back in six weeks. So they returned with their pomegranates and figs, and a great bunch of the grapes for which the valley identified with Eshcol is still famous, swinging on a pole,-the easiest way of carrying it without injury.
III. We have next the two reports. The explorers are received in a full assembly of the people, and begin their story with an object-lesson, producing the great grape cluster and the other spoils. But while honesty compelled the acknowledgment of the fertility of the land, cowardice slurred that over as lightly as might be, and went on to dilate on the terrors of the giants and the strength of the cities, and the crowded population that held every corner of the country. Truly, the eye sees what it brings with it. They really had gone to look for dangers, and of course they found them. Whatever Moses might lay down in his instructions, they had been sent by the people to bring back reasons for not attempting the conquest, and so they curtly and coldly admit the fertility of the soil, and fling down the fruit for inspection as undeniably grown there, but they tell their real mind with a great ‘nevertheless.’ Their report is, no doubt, quite accurate. The cities were, no doubt, some of them walled, and to eyes accustomed to the desert, very great; and there were, no doubt, Anaks at Hebron, at any rate, and the ‘spies’ had got the names of the various races and their territories correctly. As to these, we need only notice that the Hittites were an outlying branch of the great nation, which recent research has discovered, as we might say, the importance and extent of which we scarcely yet know; that the Jebusites held Jerusalem till David’s time; that the ‘Amorites,’ or ‘Highlanders,’ occupied the central block of mountainous country in conjunction with the two preceding tribes; and that the ‘Canaanites,’ or ‘Lowlanders,’ held the lowlands east and west of that hilly nucleus, namely, the deep gorge of the Jordan, and the strip of maritime plain. A very accurate report may be very one-sided. The spies were not the last people who, being sent out to bring home facts, managed to convey very decided opinions without expressing any. A grudging and short admission to begin with, the force of which is immediately broken by sombre and minute painting of difficulty and danger, is more powerful as a deterrent than any dissuasive. It sounds such an unbiassed appeal to common-sense, as if the reporter said, ‘There are the facts; we leave you to draw the conclusions.’ An ‘unvarnished account of the real state of the case,’ in which there is not a single misstatement nor exaggeration, may be utterly false by reason of wrong perspective and omission, and, however true, is sure to act as a shower-bath to courage, if it is unaccompanied with a word of cheer. To begin a perilous enterprise without fairly facing its risks and difficulties is folly. To look at them only is no less folly, and is the sure precursor of defeat. But when on the one side is God’s command, and on the other such doleful discouragements, they are more than folly, they are sin.
It is bracing to turn from the creeping prudence which leaves God out of the account, to the cheery ring of Caleb’s sturdy confidence. His was ‘a minority report,’ signed by only two of the ‘Commission.’ These two had seen all that the others had, but everything depends on the eyes which look. The others had measured themselves against the trained soldiers and giants, and were in despair. These two measured Amalekites and Anaks against God, and were jubilant. They do not dispute the facts, but they reverse the implied conclusion, because they add the governing fact of God’s help. How differently the same facts strike a man who lives by faith, and one who lives by calculation! Israel might be a row of ciphers, but with God at the head they meant something. Caleb’s confidence that ‘we are well able to overcome’ was religious trust, as is plain from God’s eulogium on him in the next chapter {Num 14:24}. The lessons from it are that faith is the parent of wise courage; that where duty, which is God’s voice, points, difficulties must not deter; that when we have God’s assurance of support, they are nothing. Caleb was wise to counsel going up to the assault ‘at once,’ for there is no better cure for fear than action. Old soldiers tell us that the trying time is when waiting to begin the fight. ‘The native hue of resolution’ gets ‘sicklied o’ er’ with the paleness that comes from hesitation. Am I sure that anything is God’s will? Then the sooner I go to work at doing it, the better for myself and for the vigour of my work.
This headstrong rashness, as they thought it, brings up the other ‘spies’ once more. Notice how the gloomy views are the only ones in their second statement. There is nothing about the fertility of the land, but, instead, we have that enigmatical expression about its ‘eating up its inhabitants.’ No very satisfactory explanation of this is forthcoming. It evidently means that in some way the land was destructive of its inhabitants, which seems to contradict their former reluctant admission of its fertility. Perhaps in their eagerness to paint it black enough, they did contradict themselves, and try to make out that it was a barren soil, not worth conquering. Fear is not very careful of consistency. Note, too, the exaggerations of terror. ‘All the people’ are sons of Anak now. The size as well as the number of the giants has grown; ‘we were in our own sight as grasshoppers.’ No doubt they were gigantic, but fear performed the miracle of adding a cubit to their stature. When the coward hears that ‘there is a lion without,’-that is, in the open country,-he immediately concludes, ‘I shall be slain in the streets,’ where it is not usual for lions to disport themselves.
Thus exaggerated and one-sided is distrust of God’s promises. Such a temper is fatal to all noble life or work, and brings about the disasters which it foresees. If these cravens had gone up to fight with men before whom they felt like grasshoppers, of course they would have been beaten; and it was much better that their fears should come out at Kadesh than when committed to the struggle. Therefore God lovingly permitted the mission of the spies, and so brought lurking unbelief to the surface, where it could be dealt with. Let us beware of the one-eyed ‘prudence’ which sees only the perils in the path of duty and enterprise for God, and is blind to the all-sufficient presence which makes us more than conquerors, when we lean all our weight on it. It is well to see the Anakim in their full formidableness, and to feel that we are ‘as grasshoppers in our own sight’ and in theirs, if the sight drives us to lift our eyes to Him who ‘sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof,’ however huge and strong, ‘are as grasshoppers.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v17 Is it good or bad? What cities are there?…
Is it good or bad? What cities are there? Are they like camps, or are they fortified cities?
Moses asks these questions to explain the kind of information that the men were to report back to him. These can be expressed as a statement. AT: "See if the land is good or bad, what kind of cities are there, and whether those cities are only camps, or whether they have defensive walls around them." (See: Rhetorical Question)
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Are they like camps, or are they fortified cities
Fortified cities had strong walls around them to protect them from enemy armies. Camps did not have these walls.
translationWords
Canaan
Negev
people group
life
good
stronghold
grape
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv17, 20 13:17-20 The military purpose of the scouting mission is…
13:17-20 The military purpose of the scouting mission is evident; the spies were also to gather information about natural resources and food, which had been on the Israelites’ minds since they left Egypt (ch 11; Exod 16).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.