Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 13:2
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.
2. a prince ] The word is very characteristic of P . The spies were not the same princes as those who represented the tribes at the census (Num 1:5-15). Of the following 24 names, beside Joshua, Nun, Caleb and Jephunneh, a few are found in early times, e.g. Palti (1Sa 25:44), Ammiel (2Sa 9:4), Shaphat (1Ki 19:16), Shammua (2Sa 5:14), Igal (2Sa 23:36); in the last two cases, however, the text is uncertain. Others appear to be late. It is probable that the list is artificial, and not based on historical tradition. See on Num 1:5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
A ruler – A comparison of the list with that of Num 13:1 :5 following shows that they were not the princes of the tribes, but heads of houses or families Num 12:4.
Of the names here given those of Joshua and Caleb alone are otherwise known to us.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. Send thou men, that they may search] It appears from De 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,” c., &c. 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 Nu 1:4-16), for these names are different from those but these now sent were men of consideration and importance in their respective tribes.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Do as the people press thee to do.
Of every tribe of their fathers, i.e. which comes from their several parents or patriarchs.
A ruler; a person of wisdom and authority, which might make his witness more considerable with the people.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Send thou men,…. Which is rather a permission than a command; so Jarchi interprets it,
“send men according to thy mind, I do not command thee, but if thou pleasest send;”
this he observed was agreeable to Moses, and to the Israelites, and therefore granted it, or allowed them to take their own way, and which issued badly, as it always does, when men are left to their own counsel:
that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel; called the land of Canaan, though it consisted of seven nations, from the principal of them; this God had given in promise to the children of Israel, and had now brought them to the borders of it; nay, had given them orders to go up and possess it; but they were for searching it first, to know what sort of a land it was, and which was the best way of entering into it, which is here permitted them, see De 1:21;
of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man; excepting the tribe of Levi; the reason of which was because they were to have no inheritance in the land, De 10:9; but then, to make up the number twelve, the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, are reckoned as two tribes:
everyone a ruler among them; a prince in his tribe; so were men of honour and credit, of power and authority, of prudence and probity, and who might be trusted with such an affair, and their report believed: they were not indeed princes of the highest rank, not the same that assisted in taking the numbers of the people, who were captains over their several tribes, as in Nu 1:4, &c. but were inferior princes and rulers, perhaps rulers of thousands.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
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 (49) 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.
(49) “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 Exo 17:9; and Num 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.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) Every one a ruler among them.Or, a prince among them, as in Num. 1:16. A comparison of the names which follow with those which are given in Num. 1:5-15 will show that the persons selected were not the tribal princes who are mentioned in connection with the census. The tribe of Levi, as in the former case, is not represented, as the Levites were to have no inheritance in the land, and the number of twelve, as in Numbers 1, is. made up by the division of the tribe of Joseph into the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Num 13:2. Send thou men, that, &c. It appears from Deu 1:22; Deu 9:23 that this motion to search the land of Canaan was made by the unbelieving multitude. Being come near to the borders of the land, God ordered them by Moses to go up, and take possession of it; but, forgetting the power and promises of God, the people were afraid to venture upon it, till some were sent to bring them intelligence what kind of country it was, and what sort of people they had to deal with; Moses, therefore, by divine direction, complies with the importunities of the people, and chooses a proper officer out of each tribe for that purpose: every one a ruler among them; for it was fit that men of authority and prudence should be sent, of ability to execute the trust, and of credit to be believed: their names shew plainly that they were not the persons, who, in the first chapter of this book, are called princes of the tribes: they must have been rulers only of some part, not of a whole tribe; perhaps some of those who were rulers of thousands, or rulers of hundreds; called heads of the people, Exo 18:25. They were sent, according to the opinion of the Jews and St. Jerome, in the month Ab, which was the fifth of the second year; at the beginning of the month, which falls upon the nineteenth day of our July; see Bishop Patrick. We should just observe, that in many versions of the Bible, this chapter begins with the last verse of the foregoing chapter.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Num 13:2 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.
Ver. 2. Every one a ruler amongst them. ] That might be, as Uriah and Zachariah, Isa 8:2 faithful witnesses; for lying lips become not a prince. Pro 17:7
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Send thou. This was spoken in consequence of People’s request. Compare Deu 1:19-22, and “we will” of Num 13:22. This was walking by “sight. “
search, for Jehovah had told them about it. See Deu 8:7-9. Compare 1Sa 8:6, 1Sa 8:22, and Hos 13:11. Jehovah already espied it. Eze 20:6.
Canaan. Compare Deu 7:1. The land of the seven mighty nations. See App-23and App-25.
children = sons.
ruler = prince.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Send thou: Num 32:8, Deu 1:22-25, Jos 2:1-24
of every: Num 1:4, Num 34:18
a ruler: Num 11:16, Exo 18:25, Deu 1:15
Reciprocal: Gen 42:9 – Ye are spies Jos 4:2 – twelve men Jos 18:4 – three
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE DIVINE AND HUMAN PARTNERSHIP
Search the land which I give.
Num 13:2
I. The divine and human partnership.The Israelites had now reached the very border of the Promised Land. But, before actually entering in, Moses, like a prudent leader, sent out twelve menone man from each tribeto see what manner of land it was, and to report as to the strength and military prowess of the peoples they would have to dispossess. Moses did this, the account says, at the direct bidding of God. Notice here the Divine demand for human co-operation. God might, no doubt, have brought the children of Israel into Canaan without putting them to any trouble. But that is never Gods method. He has bestowed upon men certain faculties, and these faculties he expects men to use. And so here He bids the Israelites use their own eyes and wits in order to discover how and when they might best invade Canaan. And this is typical of Gods unvarying method. What man can do, he must do. God never works instead of us; He works by means of us, and through us. We can do nothing without God; but it is no irreverence to say also that God cannot accomplish His purposes without us. Gods strong arm, as the hymn says, hath need of thine. We must be labourers together with God.
II. The good lands difficulties.The spies were absent forty days. But when at last they returned they reported that the fruitfulness of the land had in no way been exaggerated. It was a good landflowing with milk and honey. And for proof of their statement they showed the people the bunches of luscious grapes they had cut in the valley of Eschol. But there were obstacles, they went on to say, in the way of their taking possession of Canaan. The people were strong, and the cities were fenced and very great, and, moreover, the children of Anaka race of mighty giantswere there. It was a good landbut the way to it was beset with difficulties. And here again we have a parable of life. There are still difficulties to bar the way into every good land. All good things are hard to gain. The richer and more fruitful the Promised Land we set before ourselves, the more arduous the difficulties to be surmounted before we reach it. That is the central significance of the old Greek legends about the golden fleece and the golden apples, which were guarded by a sleepless, myriad-eyed dragonprecious things are hard to gain. In all the world there is nothing better worth having than a holy character. But because it is the best thing it is also the hardest thing. Not without labour and sweat and sacrifice can any man ever hope to grow into the likeness of Jesus. Listen to our Lords stern and relentless demandWhosoever would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his Cross daily and follow Me.
Illustration
(1) Let us see what the Christian idea is. It never teaches conquest by force; it never commands extermination; it commands us to teach all nations, convert them, train them. They are menchildren of a common Father; they can rise out of barbarism to a moral and intelligent life. The Jews did not proselytise; they kept aparta separate people. The Jew detested the heathen around him, and they detested him in return. This is not the spirit of Christianity.
(2) The land of Gods salvation may have its giants and walled cities; but it is a land which flows with milk and honey. There is none like it.
The Christian life is not all plain and easy sailing. There are alarms and battles. There is a cross in every lot, and an earnest need for prayer. I am not allowed meantime to sit down and rest and sing the long day through. How would my faith, and my courage, and my sympathy with others, and my likeness to Christ be educated, if there was never a call to struggle and supplication? I should decline and decay instead of waxing stronger and stronger.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
13:2 {b} Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.
(b) After the people had required it of Moses, as it is in De 1:22 then the Lord told Moses to do it.