NUMBERS
CHAPTER 13
Moses sends twelve spies to search land of Canaan—Ten of them bring an evil report, telling only of the strength of its inhabitants.
2 Send thou men, [ 12 spies to search out the land of Canaan to see if it is a rich land that they might posess. ] 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, [ One representative from each tribe. So they are not just chosen at random. ] every one a ruler among them.
[ This is symbolic as the rulers represent the people. They are not the ones that the Lord has called, or rulers by birthright but they are those who are elected by the people. ]
3 And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.
6 Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb [ Important that Calab is from the tribe of Judah. He is one of two spies that return from being a spy and he does not say there is no chance for us to win at war. For which we we later see that God will bless him and the tribe that he represents later on. ] the son of Jephunneh.
8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea [ Important that Oshea is from the tribe of Judah. He is one of two spies that return from being a spy and he does not say there is no chance for us to win at war. For which we we later see that God will bless him and the tribe that he represents later on. ] the son of Nun.
16 These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.
[ Jehoshua is from Joseph he will stand with Moses against the people in Num 14:6. ]
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 strong holds;
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 firstripe grapes.
21 ¶ So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.
22 And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
23 And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, [ So they cut down one branch of grapes. ] and they bare it between two upon a staff; [ It was so bing and heavy that it took two men to carry it. ] and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.
24 The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.
25 And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
[ So the spies have been gone for forty days. ]
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 shewed 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; [ So yes this is a place that is very inhabitable from the production of the ground.] and this is the fruit of it.
[ Here is an example of how productive it is. The example that was shown was the grape vine that took two men to carry verse 23. ]
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, [ Calab had confidence in the Lord tha he would provide a way for the people to win. ] 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.
[ All that is a pretty big percentage, everyone. So in essence these people are not like us they are large, very large. Remember they were sent there to see if they could go into the land of Canaan and take it over. So in essence they are saying that there is no way that is going to happen. ]
33 And there we saw the giants, [ So there is something really weird. These are a people of enormous stature. Goliath of Gall was one of these original Canaanites who was not killed in the great purge. Goliath was 10 feet tall, and King Og of Bashan was about 14 feet tall Deut 3:11. ] 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.
[ The point here is that these ruler spies who return after they know what they Lord has done in delivering them from Egypt, they come and tell Moses that it is impossible for them to take the land of Canaan, to win a war with them. ]