Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 13:26
And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
Kadesh is usually identified with Ain-el-Weibeh, which lies in the Arabah, about 10 miles north of the place in which Mount Hor abuts on that valley, (or with Ain-Gadis in Jebel Magrah).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Kadesh; so called by way of abbreviation, which is frequent in Hebrew names, for Kadesh-barnea, Deu 1:19, which some rashly confound with Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, Num 20:1; 27:14; 33:36; into which they came not till the fortieth year after their coming out of Egypt, as appears from Num 33:37,38 whereas they were in this Kadesh in the second year, and before they received the sentence of their forty years abode in the wilderness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
26. they came . . . to Kadeshanimportant encampment of the Israelites. But its exact situation isnot definitely known, nor is it determined whether it is the same ora different place from Kadesh-barnea. It is supposed to be identicalwith Ain-el-Weibeh, a famous spring on the eastern side of the desert[ROBINSON], or also withPetra [STANLEY].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And they went, and came to Moses, and to Aaron,…. They proceeded on their journey from Eshcol, till they came to the camp of Israel; and as soon as they came there, went directly to Moses and to Aaron, before they went into their own tents, as Aben Ezra observes:
and to all the congregation of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran,
to Kadesh; that is, Kadeshbarnea, as appears from Jos 14:7; called for brevity’s sake Kadesh; but is by some thought to be different from the Kadesh in Nu 20:1; to which the Israelites came not until thirty eight years after this time: this Kadesh was in the wilderness of Paran, and the same with Rithmah, or was near it, where the Israelites were now encamped, and had remained all the time the spies were gone: the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan call this place Rekem, as they do in Ge 16:14;
and brought back word unto them, and to all the congregation: to Moses and Aaron, and the principal heads of the body of the people assembled together: to these they related an account of their tour through the land of Canaan, what they had met with, and what observations they had made, agreeably to the instructions that had been given them when they set out:
and showed them the fruit of the land; which they had brought with them, the bunch of grapes, pomegranates, and figs.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 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. 28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. 30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. 31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
It is a wonder how the people of Israel had patience to stay forty days for the return of their spies, when they were just ready to enter Canaan, under all the assurances of success they could have from the divine power, and a constant series of miracles that had hitherto attended them; but they distrusted God’s power and promise, and were willing to be held in suspense by their own counsels, rather than be brought to a certainty by God’s covenant. How much do we stand in our own light by our unbelief! Well, at length the messengers return, but they agree not in their report.
I. The major part discourage the people from going forward to Canaan; and justly are the Israelites left to this temptation, for putting so much confidence in the judgment of men, when they had the word of God to trust to. It is a righteous thing with God to give those up to strong delusions who will not receive his truth in the love of it.
1. Observe their report. (1.) They could not deny but that the land of Canaan was a very fruitful land; the bunch of grapes they brought with them was an ocular demonstration of it, v. 27. God had promised them a land flowing with milk and honey, and the evil spies themselves own that it is such a land. Thus even out of the mouth of adversaries will God be glorified and the truth of his promise attested. And yet afterwards they contradict themselves, when they say (v. 32), It is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; as if, though it had milk, and honey, and grapes, yet it wanted other necessary provision; some think that there was a great plague in the country at the time they surveyed it, which they ought to have imputed to the wisdom of the divine Providence, which thus lessened the numbers of their enemies, to facilitate their conquests; but they invidiously imputed it to the unwholesomeness of the air, and thence took occasion to disparage the country. For this unreasonable fear of a plague in Canaan, they were justly cut off immediately by a plague in the wilderness, ch. xiv. 37. But, (2.) They represented the conquest of it as altogether impracticable, and that it was to no purpose to attempt it. The people are strong (v. 28), men of a great stature (v. 32), stronger than we, v. 31. The cities are represented as impregnable fortresses: they are walled and very great, v. 28. But nothing served their ill purpose more than a description of the giants, on whom they lay a great stress: We saw the children of Anak there (v. 28), and again, we saw the giants, those men of a prodigious size, the sons of Anak, who come of the giants, v. 33. They spoke as if they were ready to tremble at the mention of them, as they had done at the sight of them. “O these tremendous giants! when we were near them, we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, not only little and weak, but trembling and daunted.” Compare Job xxxix. 20, Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? “Nay, and so we were in their sight; they looked upon us with as much scorn and disdain as we did upon them with fear and trembling.” So that upon the whole matter they gave it in as their judgment, We are not able to go up against them (v. 31), and therefore must think of taking some other course.
2. Now, even if they had been to judge only by human probabilities, they could not have been excused from the imputation of cowardice. Were not the hosts of Israel very numerous? 600,000 effective men, well marshalled and modelled, closely embodied, and entirely united in interest and affection, constituted as formidable an army as perhaps was ever brought into the field; many a less has done more than perhaps the conquering of Canaan was, witness Alexander’s army. Moses, their commander-in-chief, was wise and brave; and if the people had put on resolution, and behaved themselves valiantly, what could have stood before them? It is true the Canaanites were strong, but they were dispersed (v. 29): Some dwell in the south and others in the mountains; so that by reason of their distance they could not soon get together, and by reason of their divided interests they could not long keep together, to oppose Israel. The country being plentiful would subsist an army, and, though the cities were walled, if they could beat them in the field the strong-holds would fall of course into their hands. And, lastly, as for the giants, their overgrown stature would but make them the better mark, and the bulkiest men have not always the best mettle.
3. But, though they deserved to be posted for cowards, this was not the worst, the scripture brands them for unbelievers. It was not any human probabilities they were required to depend upon, but, (1.) They had the manifest and sensible tokens of God’s presence with them, and the engagement of his power for them. The Canaanites were stronger than Israel; suppose they were, but were they stronger than the God of Israel? We are not able to deal with them, but is not God Almighty able? Have we not him in the midst of us? Does not he go before us? And is any thing too hard for him? Were we as grasshoppers before the giants, and are not they less than grasshoppers before God? Their cities are walled against us, but can they be walled against heaven? Besides this, (2.) They had had very great experience of the length and strength of God’s arm, lifted up and made bare on their behalf. Were not the Egyptians as much stronger than they as the Canaanites were? And yet, without a sword drawn by Israel or a stroke struck, the chariots and horsemen of Egypt were quite routed and ruined; the Amalekites took them at great disadvantages, and yet they were discomfited. Miracles were at this time their daily bread; were there nothing else, an army so well victualled as theirs was, so constantly, so plentifully, and all on free cost, would have a might advantage against any other force. Nay, (3.) They had particular promises made them of victory and success in their wars against the Canaanites. God had given Abraham all possible assurances that he would put his seed into possession of that land, Gen 15:18; Gen 17:8. He had expressly promised them by Moses that he would drive out the Canaanites from before them (Exod. xxxiii. 2), and that he would do it by little and little, Exod. xxiii. 30. And, after all this, for them to say, We are not able to go up against them, was in effect to say, “God himself is not able to make his words good.” It was in effect to give him the lie, and to tell him he had undertaken more than he could perform. We have a short account of their sin, with which they infected the whole congregation, Ps. cvi. 24. They despised the land, they believed not his word. Though, upon search, they had found it as good as he had said, a land flowing with milk and honey, yet they would not believe it as sure as he had said, but despaired of having it, though eternal truth itself had engaged it to them. And now this is the representation of the evil spies.
II. Caleb encouraged them to go forward, though he was seconded by Joshua only (v. 30): Caleb stilled the people, whom he saw already put into a ferment even before Moses himself, whose shining face could not daunt them, when they began to grow unruly. Caleb signifies all heart, and he answered his name, was hearty himself, and would have made the people so if they would have hearkened to him. If Joshua had begun to stem the tide, he would have been suspected of partiality to Moses, whose minister he was; and therefore he prudently left it to Caleb’s management at first, who was of the tribe of Judah, the leading tribe, and therefore the fittest to be heard. Caleb had seen and observed the strength of the inhabitants as much as his fellows, and upon the whole matter, 1. He speaks very confidently of success: We are well able to overcome them, as strong as they are. 2. He animates the people to go on, and, his lot lying in the van, he speaks as one resolved to lead them on with bravery: “Let us go up at once, one bold step, one bold stroke more, will do our business; it is all our own if we have but courage to make it so: Let us go up and possess it.” He does not say, “Let us go up and conquer it;” he looks upon that to be as good as done already; but, “Let us go up and possess it; there is nothing to be done but to enter, and take the possession which God our great Lord is ready to give us.” Note, The righteous are bold as a lion. Difficulties that lie in the way of salvation dwindle and vanish before a lively active faith in the power and promise of God. All things are possible, if they be but promised, to him that believes.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 26-33:
The report of the spies, and the evidence they brought, fully confirmed the Divine promise God made to Israel, Ex 3:8. But they also brought with the good, an evil report. Although it was true that the Land was all God had said, the inhabitants were too strong, too entrenched in their well-fortified cities, for Israel to conquer. The fierce, war-like tribes of the Hittites, Amorites, Jebusites, and Amalekites lived in the mountainous region of the Land. The Canaanites lived by the seacoast.
The spies’ report produced immediate terror in Israel. Caleb tried to quiet their fears, but to no avail. Ten of the twelve spies played on the fears of the people. They emphasized the size of the gigantic warriors in the Land. Israel’s bravest and strongest were no match for them.
The Land was one “that eateth up the inhabitants thereof,” not through famine or lack of productivity, but through the constant warfare which raged between the various tribes. If Israel were to enter the Land, they would face immediate danger from these gigantic veteran warriors.
Israel’s response was similar to the response of many today who are on the threshold of great blessings from God, but who choose to look at the obstacles and not to the One who overcomes all obstacles, 1Co 15:58; Ga 6:9.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(26) To Kadesh.Robinson and others identify Kadeeh with Ain-el-Weibeh, which is in the Arabah, about ten miles north of the place in which Mount Hor abuts on that valley. On the other hand, Mr. Wilton, in The Negeb (pp. 79, 80), and Mr. Palmer in the Desert of the Exodus (Numbers 25), maintain the identity of Kadesh with el-Ain, which is about sixty miles west of Mount Hor, and about fifty miles west of Ain-el-Weibeh. The former of these views is maintained in a very elaborate note on this verse in The Bible Commentary.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. Paran See Num 10:12; Num 12:16, notes.
Kadesh Num 20:16; Num 33:36, notes.
Showed them the fruit In confirmation of their report of the excellence of the land.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3). The Scouts Report Back ( Num 13:26 to Num 14:1 ).
Once the scouts arrived back they immediately reported to Moses. What resulted can be summarised as follows:
a The scouts report back to Moses, Aaron and ‘all the congregation’ (Num 13:26)
b The scouts describe the land and the awesome sons of Anak (Num 13:27-29).
c Caleb stills the people (Num 13:30 a)
c Caleb says, ‘let us go forward’ (Num 13:30 b).
b The scouts report evil of the land and the awesome sons of Anak (Num 13:31-33).
a ‘All the congregation’ lift up their voice and cry and weep (Num 14:1).
Num 13:26
‘And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh, and brought back word to them, and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.’
The scouts returned to Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran to Moses and Aaron in order to report, but note the stress on the fact that they also reported to ‘all the congregation’. They brought word of what they had done and seen, and produced the fruit of the land for inspection. This brings out that the spying was not just military, otherwise the reports could have been restricted to Moses, Aaron and the officers. It was in order to face the whole people up with the decision whether to go forward or not.
As Moses’ representative Joshua would immediately have rejoined Moses, who would no doubt have been awaiting his special report. He probably felt that there was no need for him to accompany the other eleven, feeling it better that the people should hear the report from independent witnesses and not from one whom they would see as one of Moses’ cronies. He would be standing with Moses and Aaron to hear the report of the other eleven to the people.
Num 13:27
‘And they told him, and said, “We came to the land to which you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.” ’
First came the positive news. They had inspected the land and it really was a land flowing with milk and honey, and to prove it they produced its fruit. The promise of a land flowing with milk and honey was central to Israel’s expectations. The very words should have awakened faith. This was what Yahweh had promised them! And it was there for the taking. See Exo 3:8; Exo 3:17; Exo 13:5; Exo 33:3; Lev 20:24.
Num 13:28
“ However the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, and very great, and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.”
But then came the downside. The people in the land were strong, and their cities were well fortified, and very large. But what was even worse, the sons of Anak were there, the dreaded Anakim. It was probably the last that made the most impact. Superstitious dread accompanied talk about the Anakim. This was the language of unbelief.
Num 13:29
“ Amalek dwells in the land of the South, and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill-country, and the Canaanite dwell by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan.’
They then described the spread of the different enemies in more depth. Amalek dwelt in the Negeb; the Hittites (around Hebron), the Jebusites (around Jerusalem) and Amorites (spread across the hills) dwelt in the hill country; and the Canaanites dwelt by the sea in the Coastal Plain and along by the side of the Jordan. That should have been some encouragement. At least the enemy were divided up and therefore more vulnerable. They would not have to fight them all at once. But the hearers simply saw them as indicating an unexpectedly difficult problem. It was a good deal more than they had expected. They were being faced up with what lay before them.
Num 13:30
‘And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once, and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it.” ’
But Caleb saw the situation clearly. He firstly sought to quieten their fears. Then he urged that they immediately mobilise and enter the land in order to conquer it, for he was confident that they could take possession of it and overcome those who would oppose them. His eyes were on Yahweh and the fruitfulness of the land. He had no doubt that with Yahweh with them they would have no difficulty in possessing it.
Joshua, standing with Moses, said nothing. He had not only gone as a tribal chieftain, but as Moses’ representative. On returning he would have taken his place with Moses, and all knew that he would do whatever Moses said. Thus he wisely kept out of the discussions. The arguing was therefore left to Caleb, who would later turn out to be such a powerful chieftain by defeating the selfsame Anakim (Jos 15:13-14). The people would recognise that he was unbiased. This mention of only Caleb actually authenticates the narrative.
Num 13:31
‘But the men who went up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”
However, the men who had gone with him took the opposite view. They claimed that they could not possibly go up against these people, because they were stronger than the Israelites. Their eyes were fixed firmly on the Anakim.
Num 13:32-33
‘And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out to the children of Israel, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eats up its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” ’
The result was that their report was totally discouraging. Indeed it was falsified. They gave an ‘evil report’ about the land. They said that it was a land which ‘ate up its inhabitants’. That signified that living conditions were difficult, and a living hard to come by (see Lev 26:38; Eze 36:13). They were arguing that it was not a good land to live in. They were deliberately putting the people off. This contradicted their previous comment about its fruitfulness. Different spies would, of course, have seen different terrain, but whether they saw fruit or whether they saw barrenness would depend on what they looked at.
The truth was that they were put off because they were awed as a result of the height of some of the inhabitants. Those, they said, were men of great stature, and they included the dreaded Anakim, who it was rumoured were some of the Nephilim. The latter name referred to the superstitions of the time. The Nephilim were thought of as god-like men who had lived in the time of the ancients, as referred to in Gen 6:4. Anyone of unusual size could expect to be linked with the Nephilim. This was enough to frighten everyone. So while on the one hand Caleb looked at Yahweh, the Almighty, the other scouts, and the people looked at the Nephilim. Whom we look at very often determines what we are and what we do.
Note the deliberate exaggeration which could only produce fear. ‘Compared with them we saw ourselves as grasshoppers, tiny and insignificant, and they looked on us as the same, to be dismissed or trodden on at will.’ What hope could there be against such people? In fact as Deuteronomy points out such people had been defeated by both the Moabites (Deu 2:10) and the Ammonites (Deu 2:20-21), and could be by the Israelites. The gross exaggeration both as regards the goodness of the land and as regards its inhabitants came from craven fear. If the leaders were not able to have trust in Yahweh, what hope was there for their people?
Num 14:1
‘And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried, and the people wept that night.’
The people were devastated. They felt as though their dream had collapsed, as indeed it had. They lifted up their voice and cried, and they wept all night. This was exactly what they had done when there was a shortage of delicacies (Num 11:10). It was a sign of how pent up they were, and how much they were a slave to their emotional state. They were clearly in no state to engage in a large scale invasion. It would have done them no favours to allow them to enter the land in that condition. The only hope all along had been that their trust in Yahweh would have enabled them to overcome their servile fears, but because their faith was lacking it had not happened. And now they were caught short. In the end all resulted from a lack of faith. Had they trusted God their weakness would have been made strong.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Num 13:26. To Kadesh Or Kadesh Barnea: thus the place is marked out from whence they were sent; see the note on chap. Num 12:16 and Num 20:1. “A late ingenious author,” says Dr. Shaw, “has situated Kadesh Barnea at eight hours, or twenty miles, distance only from Mount Sinai; which, I presume, cannot be admitted, for various reasons: because several texts in Scripture insinuate, that Kadesh lay at a much greater distance: thus, in Deu 1:19 it is said, they departed from Horeb through that great and terrible wilderness, (which supposes by far a greater extent of time and place,) and came to Kadesh Barnea; and in Deu 9:23. When the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea to possess the land, which (Num 20:16.) is described to be a city in the utmost part of the border of Edom; the border of the land of Edom and that of the land of promise being contiguous, and, in fact, the very same; and farther Deu 1:2 it is expressly said, that there are eleven days journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir to Kadeash Barnea, which, from the context, cannot be otherwise understood, than of marching along the direct road; for Moses here intimates how soon the Israelites might have entered upon the borders of the land of promise, if they had not been a stubborn and rebellious people; whereas a number of their stations betwixt Sinai and Kadesh, as they are particularly enumerated, Numbers 33. (each of which must have been at least one day’s journey) appear to be twice as many, or twenty-one, in which they are said with great truth and propriety, Psa 107:4 to have wandered in the wilderness out of the way, and in Deu 2:1 to have encompassed mount Seir, rather than to have travelled directly through it. If then we allow ten miles for each of these eleven days journey, (and fewer, I presume, cannot well be insisted upon) the distance of Kadesh from mount Sinai will be about an hundred and ten miles. That ten miles a day (I mean in a direct line, without considering the deviations which are every where more or less) were equivalent to one day’s journey, may be further proved from the history of these spies, who searched the land from Kadesh to Rehob, as men come to Haramath, and return in forty days. Rehob then, the farthest point of this expedition to the northward, may well be conceived to have been twenty days journey from Kadesh; and, therefore, to know the true position of Rehob will be a material point in this disquisition. Now, from Jos 19:29-30 and Jdg 1:31 it appears, that Rehob was one of the maritime cities of the tribe of Asher, and lay, in travelling, as we may suppose, by the common or nearest way, along the sea coast ( ), not, as we render it, as men come to Hamath, but as men go towards Hamath; in going to Hamath, or in the way or road to Hamath; for, to have searched the land as far as Hamath, and to have returned to Kadesh in forty days, would have been altogether impossible. Moreover, as the tribe of Asher did not reach beyond Sidon (for that was its northern boundary), Jos 19:28. Rehob must have been situated to the southward of Sidon, upon or (being a derivative, perhaps, from rachab, latum esse) below in the plain, under a long chain of mountains, which runs east and west through the midst of that tribe; and as these mountains, called by some the mountains of Saron, are all along, except in the narrow which I have mentioned near the sea, very rugged and difficult to pass over; the spies, who could not well take another way, might imagine they should run too great a risk of being discovered, in attempting to pass through it; in these eastern countries a watchful eye was always, as it is still, kept upon strangers, as we may collect from the history of the two angels at Sodom, Gen 19:5 and of the spies at Jericho, Jos 2:2 and from other instances. If, then, we fix Rehob upon the skirts of the plains of Acre, a little to the south of this narrow road, (the Schala Tyriorum, as it was afterwards named,) somewhere near Egdippa, the distance betwixt Kadesh and Rehob will be about two hundred and ten miles; whereas by placing Kadesh twenty miles only from Sinai or Horeb, the distance will be three hundred and thirty; and, instead of ten miles a day, according to the former computation, the spies must have travelled near seventeen, which for forty days successively seems to have been too difficult an expedition in this hot and consequently fatiguing climate, especially as they were on foot, or footpads, as meragelim, their appellation in the original, may probably import. These geographical circumstances, therefore, thus corresponding with what is actually known of those countries at this time, should induce us to situate Kadesh, as I have already done, one hundred and ten miles to the northward of mount Sinai, and forty-two miles to the westward of Eloth, near Callah Nahar, i.e. the castle of the river or fountain, (probably the Ain Mishpat) a noted station of the Mahometans in their pilgrimage to Mecca;” see Travels, p. 318.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Here we have the report of the spies; and a very sinful one it was. They could not but own the fruitfulness of the land, for the grapes, and pomegranates, and figs, manifested what it was. But when they magnified the power of the enemy, whom Israel, when upheld by the arm of Omnipotence, had so often subdued, and whom GOD had promised to drive out from before them, what a wretched proof do they afford of unbelief, of impatience, disobedience, and distrust! But stop Reader, in the perusal of this rebellious spirit of Israel, search thine own heart. See, if you cannot find similar instances, in your own experience. Hath not GOD promised his people now a better country than even Canaan? Is not our JESUS gone before, to take possession of it in our name? And doth he not send to us, in the sweet influences of his blessed SPIRIT, every now and then most evident tokens both of its reality, and of our assurance of one day obtaining it by his blood and righteousness! And yet do you not find, amidst all this, that you sometimes question the whole, as if it were a delusion? LORD! I would say for myself and Reader, LORD, increase our faith!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Kadesh = Kadesh-barnea. Deu 1:19.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
unto the wilderness: Num 13:3
Kadesh: Num 20:1, Num 20:16, Num 32:8, Num 33:36, Deu 1:19, Jos 14:6
Reciprocal: Gen 16:14 – Kadesh Gen 20:1 – Kadesh Gen 21:21 – in the Num 10:12 – the wilderness Num 12:16 – the wilderness Num 20:22 – Kadesh Num 34:4 – Kadeshbarnea Deu 1:2 – unto Deu 2:14 – Kadeshbarnea Jos 10:41 – Kadeshbarnea Jos 14:7 – I brought Jdg 11:16 – came 1Sa 25:1 – the wilderness 2Ki 18:32 – like your own Psa 29:8 – Kadesh
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
13:26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of {h} Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.
(h) Called also Kadesh-barnea.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The report of the spies 13:26-33
The spies reported that the land was indeed as fruitful as they had heard (Num 13:27), "nevertheless . . ." (Num 13:28). Everything the spies said from this word on was uncalled for. [Note: See J. A. Beck, "Geography and the Narrative Shape of Numbers 13," Bibliotheca Sacra 157:627 (July-September 2000):271-80.] Their commission had been to view the land and to report back on what they saw. It was not their job to determine if the Israelites could overcome the Canaanites. God had promised that He would give the land to His people.
It was the people and cities in Canaan that discouraged the spies (Num 13:28). These Hittites (Num 13:29) were probably one of the native tribes in Canaan, not the great Anatolian Hittites (cf. Jos 1:4; Jdg 1:26; 2Sa 11:3). As they had despised God’s provisions and plans (chs. 11-12), the 10 spies now disbelieved God’s promises that He would give the land and its people into their hands. They reckoned only on their own natural ability and failed to rely on God’s supernatural ability (Num 13:31).
They described the tall Anakites as Nephilim (Num 13:33).
The Nephilim were, "the demi-gods who lived on the earth before the flood (Gen 6:4)." [Note: G. Wenham, p. 120.]
The word "Nephilim" means strong ones or tyrants, not people of gigantic stature, though it came to imply superhuman giants. The spies concluded that the Anakites were relatives of the Nephilim.
"The use of the term Nephilim seems to be deliberately provocative of fear, a term not unlike the concept of bogeymen and hobgoblins." [Note: Allen, p. 812.]