Numbers 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.

22. unto Hebron--situated in the heart of the mountains of Judah, in

the southern extremity of Palestine. The town or "cities of Hebron," as

it is expressed in the Hebrew, consists of a number of sheikdoms

distinct from each other, standing at the foot of one of those hills

that form a bowl round and enclose it. "The children of Anak" mentioned

in this verse seem to have been also chiefs of townships; and this

coincidence of polity, existing in ages so distant from each other, is

remarkable [VERE

MONRO].

Hebron (Kirjath Arba,

Ge 23:2)

was one of the oldest cities in the world.

Zoan--(the Tanis of the Greeks) was situated on one of the eastern

branches of the Nile, near the lake Menzala, and was the early royal

residence of the Pharaohs. It boasted a higher antiquity than any other

city in Egypt. Its name, which signifies flat and level, is

descriptive of its situation in the low grounds of the Delta.

23. they came unto the brook of Eshcol--that is, "the torrent of the

cluster." Its location was a little to the southwest of Hebron. The

valley and its sloping hills are still covered with vineyards, the

character of whose fruit corresponds to its ancient celebrity.

and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of

grapes--The grapes reared in this locality are still as magnificent

as formerly--they are said by one to be equal in size to prunes, and

compared by another to a man's thumb. One cluster sometimes weighs ten

or twelve pounds. The mode of carrying the cluster cut down by the

spies, though not necessary from its weight, was evidently adopted to

preserve it entire as a specimen of the productions of the promised

land; and the impression made by the sight of it would be all the

greater because the Israelites were familiar only with the scanty vines

and small grapes of Egypt.

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.