Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 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:
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.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
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.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. Get you up this way . . . , andgo up into the mountainMount Seir (De1:2), which lay directly from Sinai across the wilderness ofParan, in a northeasterly direction into the southern parts of thepromised land.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan,…. He sent them from Kadeshbarnea, as Caleb affirms, Jos 14:7;
and said unto them, go ye up this [way] southward; pointing as it were with his finger which way they should go, even up such a hill southward; and which, as Aben Ezra observes, was not the south of the camp, but the south of the land of Canaan; and who further observes, that it is well known that Egypt, from whence the Israelites now came, was to the south of the land of Israel, of which this is a demonstration; the latitude of Egypt is less than thirty degrees, and the latitude of Jerusalem is thirty three, and the wilderness of Paran was in the south of the land of Egypt: it should be rendered by “the south”, as in Nu 13:22; or from the “south” p, since the Israelites must go northward, as a learned man q observes, to enter into the land of Canaan: now this south part of Canaan afterwards belonged to the tribe of Judah, and lying southward, and mountainous, was dry and barren, Jos 15:1; and was, as Jarchi says, the dregs of the land of Israel; and here, as he observes, the same method was taken as merchants do, who, when they show their goods, show the worst first, and then the best:
and go up into the mountain; which was inhabited by the Amorites, De 1:44; and was afterwards called the mountainous or hill country of Judea, Lu 1:39.
p “per meridianam plagam”, V. L. “hac meridiana plaga”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. q Bishop Clayton’s Chronology of the Hebrew Bible, p. 392.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Verses 17-20:
Moses gave specific, detailed instructions to the twelve spies, to guide them in their mission. They left the encampment at “the time of the first ripe grapes,” or about the last of July. They were to go up from “southward,” or the Nebeb, to the mountainous region which formed the backbone of Palestine. Their mission was to take them from the Wadi Murreh on the south, to the Plain of Esdraelon on the north.
The spies were to take special note of:
(1) The topography of the Land;
(2) The inhabitants of the Land: their military strengths and weaknesses.
(3) The cities: whether or not they were fortified.
(4) The productivity of the Land. As evidence, they were to bring back samples of the crops
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
B. THEIR INSTRUCTIONS vv. 1720
TEXT
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: 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 strongholds. 20. And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.
PARAPHRASE
Num. 13:17. As Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said unto them, Go up this way by the South; then go up into the high land. 18. Look over the country as it is, and the people who dwell in it, whether they are strong or weak, few or many. 19. And examine the land in which they dwell, whether in tents or in fortified cities; 20. and learn how the land is, whether it is fertile or poor, whether there are trees there or not. Be courageous and bring back some of the fruit of the land. Now it was the time of the first ripe grapes.
COMMENTARY
The spies did not leave Kadesh to travel in a southerly direction, although the King James and other translations seem to say this. More accurately, the text sends them into the Negev, which is the southern portion of the land later to be given Judah. The territory is poor and barren. By contrast the remainder of Canaan would seem ideal for occupation. The Negev, excepting in the few areas where springs water narrow rivulets and fields, is virtually uninhabitable. Beyond the Negev, traveling northward, the spies would come into the southern hill country, the hills of Judea, which are suitable for both cultivation and grazing. This hill country extends from the Negev to the northernmost parts of Canaan, and continues far beyond as the Lebanon Mountains. It is the very backbone of the country.
Not only are the men to examine the land itself; they are instructed to appraise the residents. Are they strong or weak? Have they fortified cities? Is the land settled heavily or sparsely? Do the people appear to be timid or bold? Do they till the land well? Is the soil productive? Is it well provided with useful trees? All these and many more important observations might be made without any overt actions, in a walk-through kind of trip. Grapes first ripen in Palestine in late July or early August; they are usually harvested a month later.
QUESTIONS AND RESEARCH ITEMS
235.
Look up a reliable article on the Negev. Learn about the terrain, when and by whom it has been inhabited, and how it figured in later Israelite history.
236.
What major types of information were the spies to seek? Which of the items are most important, among those things they are to observe?
237.
Why did the Israelites not simply march into the land, trusting in the Lord to deliver it into their hands?
238.
Besides the first ripened grapes, what other fruits might the spies have expected to find at this season?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(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 Wiltons 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).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
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.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2). The Venture Into Canaan ( Num 13:17-25 ).
The scouts then went out in accordance with Moses’ command, investigated the land and returned. This can be outlined as follows:
a The scouts sent out to spy the land (Num 13:17).
b The land to be thoroughly investigated for its goodness (Num 13:18-20 a).
c It was the time of firstripe grapes (Num 13:20 b).
d They search the land up to Rehob and Labo of Hamath (Num 13:21).
d They ascend by the South and come to Hebron (Num 13:22).
c At Eshcol they cut down grapes, pomegranates and figs (Num 13:23).
b The goodness of the land revealed in its being called Eshcol because of the wonderful grapes (Num 13:24).
a They returned from spying after forty days (Num 13:25).
We can now look at this in more detail.
The Scouts Sent Out To Spy Out The Land To Test Out Its Goodness ( Num 13:17-18 ).
Num 13:17-18
‘And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Get you up this way by the South, and go up into the hill-country, and see the land, what it is, and the people who dwell in it, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many.” ’
Moses gave detailed instructions to the scouts. They were to go up by the South, by the Negeb which was on the southern borders of Canaan, and into the hill country, that long range of mountains which was on the east of Canaan, just to the west of the Jordan, mountains that were the backbone of the land, stretching on northward until they turned westwards into the Galilean hills. He wanted to know its substance, and who dwelt there, whether they were strong or weak, and whether they were few or many. This would clearly determine what their next action should be.
He had good reason for the direction he chose. That was where Abraham had spent many years. It was very much ‘the land of their fathers’. Knowledgeable about his people’s history his eyes were especially fixed on that portion of the land. Possibly also he recognised that it would be easier to capture the hill country, where there would be no chariots and fewer cities, dealing with the chariots later.
The Scouts Were To Bring Back News of the Strength and Goodness Of the Land ( Num 13:19-20 ).
Num 13:19-20
“ 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, and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood in it, or not. And be of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes.’
He also wanted to know what the country was like. Was it good or bad, what cities there were, whether the people dwelt in encampments or strongholds, whether the land was fat or lean, and whether there was wood in it or not. This would then determine which part they should invade. And they were to be brave in their efforts and bring back examples of the fruit of the land.
It Was The Time of First-ripe Grapes ( Num 13:20 b).
It is then added that this was the time of the first ripe grapes. Thus they would be expected to bring back at least some grapes. The time of the first ripe grapes would be around July. Thus the ‘eleven day’ journey from Sinai (Deu 1:2) had taken about two months. But Deuteronomy had in mind a normal caravan, travelling constantly. This was a whole people on the move, and with many delays.
They Searched Out The Whole Land To The Farthest North ( Num 13:21 ).
Num 13:21
‘So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to Labo of Hamath.’
So the scouts went and searched out the land from the extreme south, the wilderness of Zin, up to Rehob and Labo of Hamath in the extreme north. Jdg 18:28 confirms that Rehob was on the furthest northern borders of Canaan. Thus the examination of the land was complete and lengthy. They were determined to do a good job and so exceeded their instructions. The scouts almost certainly split up so as to cover more ground, and later rendezvoused.
Labo of Hamath is testified to in inscriptions, but the alternative ‘the entering in of Hamath’ (its borders) must always be seen as an alternative possible rendering of the Hebrew.
They Also Searched Out The Hill Country To The East Around Hebron ( Num 13:22 ).
Num 13:22
‘And they went up by the South (the Negeb), and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt).
It is stressed that in obedience to what Moses had said they also went up by the South, the Negeb, and ascended the hill country to Hebron (Num 13:17). The Negeb was the extreme south of Canaan, a land which could only be cultivated by the careful use of groundwater utilising irrigation techniques, evidence for which has been discovered. Hebron was a well established city in the hill country, in a more fertile area. There they discovered that three well known ‘sons of Anak’ dwelt in the area. The sons of Anak were infamous as being very large and fearsome warriors. Compare Jos 15:14; Jdg 1:10.
A note is given so as to emphasise Hebron’s great prestige. It was an ancient city even older than Zoan. ‘Seven years’ indicates a divinely perfect length of time. God’s hand was on its founding. This mention demonstrates that the readers were expected to know of Zoan, which was probably Tanis in the Nile delta near the land of Goshen, a clear indication of the authenticity of the account. Had it been written for a later generation a different, more relevant example could have been found.
They Cut Down A Bunch of First-ripe Grapes Along With Pomegranates and Figs ( Num 13:23 ).
Num 13:23
‘And 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 (or ‘litter’) between two. They brought also of the pomegranates, and of the figs.’
The area around Hebron was famous for its grapes. The valley of Eshcol was presumably nearby. Eshcol was the name of one of Abraham’s confederates, living in that very area some hundreds of years before (Gen 14:13; Gen 14:24). It is not therefore too surprising to find there a valley called by that name. There they found luscious grapes, together with pomegranates and figs which they bore back on a litter or pole, in order to demonstrate the fruitfulness of the land.
The Land Proved To Be Good Even From the Names of Its Valleys ( Num 13:24 )
Num 13:24
‘That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from there.’
“Eshcol” means ‘cluster’. The description here is a play on words and does not necessarily mean that they were giving the place a new name, only that they were giving a significance to the name. It was called by that name because it produced such luscious grapes, of which came the grapes that they had brought back. Thus even the names of the valleys demonstrated the land’s fruitfulness.
The Scouts Return, Having Been Successful ( Num 13:25 ).
Num 13:25
‘And they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.’
The whole procedure had taken forty days. This was not only a reasonable amount of time for their endeavours (they would not hang about) but also indicated a period of testing as ‘forty’ so often does (Gen 7:4; Gen 7:12; Exo 24:18). The land was being tested out for its possibilities and its dangers, and the people were being tested as they waited. It was now time to see the result of the test.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Num 13:17. Go up into the mountain: See chap. Num 12:16.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Are not all these enquiries, in a spiritual sense, suited to the awakened soul? questions concerning that upper and brighter world, of which the promised land was a type? And when, by faith in lively exercise, we are enabled to believe what GOD hath said of the joys which he hath prepared for them that love him; are not these things similar to the spies going up to search the land?-Reader! may it be your happiness and mine, to live by faith, in the full assurance of those everlasting realities, and to have the same spirit, as those worthies we read of, Heb 11:13-16 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
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.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Numbers
AFRAID OF GIANTS
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.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
southward. For first nine miles, on account of the roads, then by the mountain passes eastward.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
southward: Num 13:21, Num 13:22, Gen 12:9, Gen 13:1, Jos 15:3, Jdg 1:15
the mountain: Num 14:40, Gen 14:10, Deu 1:44, Jdg 1:9, Jdg 1:19
Reciprocal: Jos 2:1 – to spy secretly Jdg 18:2 – to spy
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Negev (lit. south) was the arid area of land to the south of Canaan that formed a transition between the desert to the south and the cultivated fields of Canaan to the north. Rainfall averages 8-12 inches per year in the Negev making it semi-arid. The hill country (Num 13:17) refers to the more mountainous sections of Canaan generally here. Later Moses used the term more specifically of part of the territory God gave the tribes of Ephraim and Judah. The time of first-ripe grapes (Num 13:20) would have been late July or early August.