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| 1 Then spake Yahweh unto Moses, saying: |
And the LORD – The request of the people that the land be spied and reported on before its conquest was begun was acceded to by Moses. R4045:3
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| 2 Send for thee men, and let them spy out the land of Canaan, which I, am giving unto the sons of Israel,–one man each, for the tribe of his fathers, shalt thou send, each one a prince among them. |
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| 3 So then Moses sent them out of the desert of Paran, at the bidding of Yahweh,–all of them, great men, heads of the sons of Israel, were they. |
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| 4 And, these, are their names,–Of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua, son of Zaccur; |
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| 5 Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat, son of Hori; |
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| 6 Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb, son of Jephunneh; |
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| 7 Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal, son of Joseph; |
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| 8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea, son of Nun; |
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| 9 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti, son of Raphu; |
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| 10 Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel, son of Sodi; |
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| 11 Of the tribe of Joseph–of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi, son of Susi; |
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| 12 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel, son of Gemalli; |
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| 13 Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur, son of Michael; |
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| 14 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi, son of Vophsi; |
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| 15 Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel, son of Machi. |
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| 16 These, are the names of the men, whom Moses sent, to spy out the land,–but Moses called Hoshea son of Nun, Joshua. |
Jehoshua – Je: Jehovah, Oshea: Salvation; hence, Jehovah's salvation, shortened to Joshua (Greek: Jesus). R5335:3, R4060:3
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| 17 So Moses sent them, to spy out the land of Canaan,–and said unto them–Go up, here, in the South, Yea ye shall go up the mountain; |
The land of Canaan – Typifying possession of the blessings promised by the Lord. R5314:1,4
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| 18 And shall see the land, what it is,–And the people that dwell thereupon. Whether they are, strong, or weak, Whether they are, few, or, many; |
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| 19 And what, the land, is, wherein they dwell, Whether it is, good, or, bad,–And the cities within which they dwell, Whether in camps, or in strongholds; |
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| 20 And what the land is, Whether, fat, or, lean, Whether there is timber therein, or is not. Then shall ye pluck up courage, and take of the fruit of the land. Now, the days, were the days of the firstfruits of grapes. |
The time – July, apparently one or two months were spent on the journey. R5313:3
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| 21 So they went up, and spied out the land,–from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, at the entering in of Hamath. |
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| 22 Yea they went up in the South, and entered as far as Hebron, and, there, were Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, descendants of the Anak. Now, Hebron, was built, seven years, before Zoan of Egypt. |
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| 23 And they entered as far as the ravine of Eschol, and cut down, from thence, a branch with one cluster of grapes, and bare it on a pole, between two,–also of the pomegranates and of the figs. |
Cluster of grapes – Many Christians give an unsatisfactory sample of the fruits of the spirit, hindering the outflow of the Lord's blessings. R4046:4
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| 24 That place, was called, The Ravine of Eschol [="Cluster-ravine"]–on account of the cluster, which was cut down from thence by the sons of Israel. |
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| 25 And they returned from spying out the land,–at the end of forty days. |
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| 26 So they took their journey, and came in unto Moses and unto Aaron, and unto all the assembly of the sons of Israel, into the wilderness of Paran, towards Kadesh,–and brought back word–unto them, and unto all the assembly, and showed them the fruit of the land. |
Kadesh – The place from which the spies were sent out. B48
A delightful place, well-watered, sharp contrast to Paran. R5313:3
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| 27 And they recounted unto him, and said, We entered into the land whither thou didst send us,–and surely it doth, flow with milk and honey, and, this, is the fruit thereof. |
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| 28 Nevertheless surely, mighty, are the people that dwell in the land,–and, the cities, walled in, exceeding great, moreover also, the descendants of the Anak, saw we there. |
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| 29 Amalek, dwelleth in the land of the South; And, the Hittite and the Jebusite and the Amorite, dwell in the mountain, And, the Canaanite, dwelleth by the sea, and by the side of the Jordan. |
The Amalekites – The enemies of the land represent the weaknesses of the flesh and the oppositions of the Christian's fallen nature. R5314:2
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| 30 And Caleb stilled the people unto Moses,–and said unto them–Let us go, straight up, and possess it, for we shall, surely prevail, against it. |
We are well able – Faith, though not minimizing the difficulties, counts on God. R4046:5
To the eye of faith all things are possible; to the eye of unbelief the conquest of the flesh is impossible. R5314:2
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| 31 But, the men who went up with him, said, We cannot go up against the people,–for, stronger, are they than we. |
But the men – The ten spies, representing the Great Company. R4046:4
We be not able – Through timidity and lack of faith they murmured against going up. R5388:1
Unbelief never goes beyond the difficulties, the cities, the walls, the giants. R4046:4*
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| 32 So they sent forth a rumour of the land which they had spied out, among the sons of Israel, saying,–As touching the land through which we passed, to spy it out, it is, land that eateth up them who dwell therein, And, all the people that we saw in the midst thereof, were men of great stature. |
Evil report – Presenting the matter from the standpoint of its difficulties and forgetting the divine providences. R5313:6
That eateth up – Perhaps by pestilence or local warfare. R3063:6
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| 33 And, there, saw we the giants, sons of Anak, [descended] of the giants,–And we were, in our own eyes, as grasshoppers, And, so, were we in their eyes. |
We saw the giants – Nephilim. "There were giants in the earth." (Gen. 6:4) This was a false report. E104; R777:4
Probably some of the same families afterward represented by Goliath. R5313:6
Giants of opposition and despair. R4046:6
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