Numbers 13. 12 Spies

Spies Sent into Canaan

• 🎶 10 little spies went out to Canaan 10 were bad and 2 were good 🎶

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.”

• Numbers 13:1–2 says, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Send men to spy out the land of Canaan…’”, but Deuteronomy 1:22 reveals that the idea came from the people: “Then all of you came near me and said, ‘Let us send men before us…’

 ³ So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people 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, from 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 were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.

• “And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.”
  • הוֹשֵׁעַ Hoshea means “salvation,” and
  • יְהוֹשֻׁעַ Yehoshea (Joshua) means “God is salvation”
• Why was Ephraim not called tribe of Joseph but Manasseh was?

¹⁷ Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country, ¹⁸ and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, ¹⁹ and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, ²⁰ and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.

• The 12 spies were given a set of instructions (or “charges”) by Moses when he sent them to scout the land of Canaan. 
  • What the land is like (Is it good or bad?)
  • Whether the people are strong or weak
  • Whether the people are few or many
  • Whether the land they dwell in is good or bad
  • Whether the cities are camps or strongholds
  • Whether the land is rich or poor
  • Whether there are trees in it or not
  • To be courageous and bring back some of the fruit of the land (It was the season of the first ripe grapes)
• Why did they have to send the 12 spies? I know God commanded it, but why? Was it to test their faith?

²¹ So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. ²² They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ²³ And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs. ²⁴ That place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.

• Valley of Eshcol is נַחַל אֶשְׁכֹּל (Naḥal Eshkol) which means:
  • Nahal: wadi/stream
  • Eshkol: cluster (of grapes)
• This is a HUGE area!! See map below

Report of the Spies

• The word used in this chapter for “the spies” is הַתּוּרִים haturim or “the scouts” or “the explorers”

²⁵ At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 

• Another reference to 40!
  • Sadly, The forty days directly become the basis of the forty-year judgment (Numbers 14)

²⁶ And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. ²⁸ However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. ²⁹ The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

• The Anakim (עֲנָקִים, ʿAnaqim) will become prominant to the story moving forward.
  • They are known for their large stature.
  • Joshua will eventually cut them off from the country (Joshua 11,14,15)

³⁰ But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” ³¹ Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” ³² So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. ³³ And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

• The complaints of the 10 spies
  • The people in the land are too strong.
  • The cities are large and heavily fortified.
  • The land is inhabited by many hostile groups (Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Canaanites).
  • We are not strong enough to defeat them.
  • The land is dangerous and devours its inhabitants.
  • The people living there are giants.
  • We felt like grasshoppers compared to them.
• Only Caleb speaks up in this chapter
• The Nephilim return! See Genesis 6.
  • This also causes some confusion as people wonder how they came back after the flood (as they were the result of heavenly beings and earthly daughters). Did it happen again?
  • It could also mean that Nephilim is just a term used for unusually large people.