The spies go into Canaan
13
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 📚“Send men for yourselves to search the land of Canaan, which I will give to the children of Israel. You shall send one man, each one a leader among them, from each tribe of their fathers”.13:1-2 Judging from Deut 1:19-23 the original suggestion to spy out the land came from the people. God gave orders to do what was in the people’s hearts to do. His original instruction to them was to go up and possess the land (Deut 1:8, 21). This they were very reluctant to try to do.⚜
3 📚And by the command of the LORD Moses sent them from the desert of Paran. All those men were heads of the children of Israel.
4 And these were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; 5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; 6 📚from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; 7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; 8 📚from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun; 9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; 10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; 11 from the tribe of Joseph, that is, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; 12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; 13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; 14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; 15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.
16 📚These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.
17 📚And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up there to the south region, then go up into the hill country, 18 📚and see what the land is like, and the people who live in it, whether they are strong or weak, few or many, 19 and see whether the land that they live in is good or bad, and what cities they are living in, whether they are like camps or fortified places, 20 📚and what the ground is like, whether it is fertile or poor, whether there are trees or not. And make a strong effort to bring some of the fruit of the land”. Now the time was the season of first ripe grapes.
13:17-20 The sending of spies into the land could have had a good effect if the people had not been so unbelieving and rebellious. They might have been better prepared knowing what faced them in Canaan. The Lord Jesus and the apostles often warned believers of things that faced them in the future so they would be prepared for them (Matt 24:9; John 16:1-4, 33; Acts 14:22; Eph 6:10-20; 1 Pet 4:1). But with an unbelieving people, as then on the borders of Canaan, a fuller knowledge of the power of the enemy contributed to their fear, despair and rebellion.⚜
21 📚So they went up and explored the land from the desert of Zin to Rehob, toward Hamath.
13:21 Zin was in the extreme south of Canaan, Rehob at Hamath was in the extreme north.⚜
22 📚And they went up from the south and arrived at Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
13:22 The Anaks were a race of giants.⚜
23 📚And they came to the valley of Eshcol, and there cut off a branch with a single cluster of grapes and carried it on a pole between two men. And they brought some pomegranates and some figs. 24 The place was called Eshcol 📖 Valley, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut off there. 25 📚And after forty days they came back from exploring the land.
The spies’ bad report
26 📚And they proceeded on and came to Moses and to Aaron and to the whole congregation of the children of Israel at Kadesh in the desert of Paran, and reported to them and to the whole congregation, and showed them the fruit from the land. 27 📚So they gave him this account and said, “We went to the land where you sent us, and it certainly does flow with milk and honey; and this is some of its fruit.
13:27 Ex 3:8, 17; 13:5; Deut 1:24-25. The spies admitted that the land was just what God said it was.⚜
28 📚However, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities have walls and are very large. Also we saw the children of Anak there. 29 📚The Amalekites live in the southern region, and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites live in the mountains, and the Canaanites live along the sea and by the banks of the Jordan”.
13:28-29 This also was true, but what was that to God who had promised them victory?⚜
30 📚And Caleb silenced the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to conquer it”.
13:30 One voice spoke with faith (joined later by Joshua’s) – God had promised them the land so it was certain that God would enable them to overcome enemies stronger than themselves. He had struck down the Egyptians and could do the same to the Canaanites (Deut 1:30-31). But how difficult it is to get people to really trust God! Observe that the majority is not always right and that men of God sometimes must stand alone for God.⚜
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”.
13:31 Their voice spoke of unbelief in God’s promises, faithfulness, power, and love.⚜
32 📚And they brought a bad report to the children of Israel about the land which they had explored, saying, “The land which we went through exploring it is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are of great size.
13:32 They said at first it was a good land (v 27). But fear and unbelief made them doubt if they could take it.⚜
33 📚And we saw the giants there, the sons of Anak, who are descended from the giants; and in our own sight we were like grasshoppers, as we were in their sight also”.
13:33 If God fights for “grasshoppers” they can conquer giants.⚜