Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 13:27

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

Num 13:27

It floweth with milk and honey.

A land flowing with milk and honey

The idea suggested is, that the true disciples of the Lord Jesus are expected to show to the world some illustration of the nature of the heavenly country to which they are journeying. In a sense they have been there, and have come back. But in what sense?

1. The idea with many persons is, that the future condition of man is so completely different from this, that it is out of the question to attempt to form a conception of it. Now, it is true, St. Paul tells us, that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But it is also true, as the apostle goes on to say, that God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. Some people, then, are in a position to understand what the heavenly kingdom is like. They have true ideas about it–foretastes. In fact, heaven is really the expansion of a life begun here below. He that hath the Son hath life.

2. What, then, has the true disciple to show as specimens of the produce of this unseen and unknown country? Briefly, the character of Christ reproduced in him, by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is faintly, imperfectly reproduced; still it is reproduced (see 2Co 1:21, Hath Christed us). There is the strength which overcometh the world, the peace which passeth understanding, the blessedness of communion with God, the soul-thirst for God ever renewed and ever satisfied.

3. It is by the presentation of these fruits of the land that souls are won. No doubt there are some persons in the world to whom Christ and everything belonging to Christ, are only repulsive; and these will scrutinise the disciple with an unfriendly eye, and rejoice if ever they find, or fancy they find, any inconsistency in his conduct. But there are also many others of a different temper. They are halting between two opinions. They say, not of course in words, but by their feelings and manner, Be Christ to us; let us see in you and through you what the Divine Master is, and how He will treat us if we venture to apply to Him–or, to express it differently, Show us the fruits of the heavenly land, of which you think so much and speak so much. You are amongst us as a citizen of the heavenly city (Php 3:20). Enable us to gather from your conduct what are the characteristics of that noble land, of that bright and glorious companionship.

4. And lastly, what is the practical conclusion to be drawn from the whole subject thus discussed? Surely it is this–that we, who profess to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, should be careful to recognise the responsibility laid upon us to give a good report, like Caleb and Joshua, and not a bad report, like the ten other spies, of the unseen land. We shall give a bad report if our lives are not attractive, and are not consistent. We shall give a good report if our characters glow, even feebly, with the inner light of the life of Christ; and if, by deed as well as by word, we cry, The conflict may be a formidable one, but it is not too formidable; and if we trust as we should do, and may do, that we shall be more than conquerors through Him that loved us. (G. Calthrop, M. A.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 27. We came unto the land, &c.] It is astonishing that men so dastardly as these should have had courage enough to risk their persons in searching the land. But probably though destitute of valour they had a sufficiency of cunning, and this carried them through. The report they brought was exceedingly discouraging, and naturally tended to produce the effect mentioned in the next chapter. The conduct of Joshua and Caleb was alone magnanimous, and worthy of the cause in which they were embarked.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

They told him in the audience of the people, as appears from Num 13:30. They craftily begin their relation with commendations, that their following slanders might be more easily believed.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

27, 28. they told him, and said, Wecame unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it flowethwith milk and honeyThe report was given publicly in theaudience of the people, and it was artfully arranged to begin theirnarrative with commendations of the natural fertility of the countryin order that their subsequent slanders might the more readilyreceive credit.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And they told him,…. Moses, who was the chief ruler whom they addressed, and to whom they directed their speech:

and said, we came unto the land whither thou sentest us; the land of Canaan, which they were sent by Moses to spy; this was said by ten of them or by one of them as their mouth; for Caleb and Joshua did not join with them in the following account, as appears from Nu 13:30;

and surely it floweth with milk and honey; they own that the land answered to the description which the Lord had given of it when it was promised them by him, Ex 3:8;

and this [is] the fruit of it; pointing to the bunch of grapes, the pomegranates and figs; not that these were a proof of its flowing with milk and honey, at least in a literal sense, but of the goodness and fruitfulness of the land: though the luxury of Bacchus, the god of wine, is by the poet m described, not only by a fountain of wine, but by rivers of milk and flows of honey.

m “Vinique fontem”, &c. Horat. Carmin. l. 2. Ode 19.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

27. Milk and honey See Num 14:8, note. Thus far the report of the twelve is unanimous; they all commend the richness and fruitfulness of the soil. It is a common way with calumniators to begin by saying something good of the person or plan they wish to injure and to end by speaking evil of him or that they had first commended.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Num 13:27. Floweth with milk and honey See Exo 3:17.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Num 13:27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this [is] the fruit of it.

Ver. 27. And this is the fruit of it. ] Plutarch a tells of the Gauls, that after they had once a taste of the sweet wine of the grapes that grew in Italy, they inquired in what country such sweet wine was: and after they had understood where such grapes grew, they would never be at rest, till they had got that country. Sextus Rufus, writing of Cyprus, saith, Cyprus famosa divitiis, paupertatem populi Rom. ut occuparetur, solicitavit, Cyprus by her wealth tempted the Romans to seize it into their hands. The pearls usually cast out with the flood, and gathered with the ebb, drew Caesar’s affection for the conquest of Britain, as Suetonius b saith: God hath given us here a grape of the heavenly Canaan, to edge our desires.

a In Vita Camilli.

b In Vita Caesar.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)