The Fourth Book of Moses: Numbers

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- Chapter 13 -

(Deuteronomy 1:19–25)

Yahweh said to Moses,

“Send some men to Canaan to explore it. That is the land that I will give to you Israelites. Send men who are leaders in their tribes.”

So Moses did what Yahweh commanded him. He sent out twelve Israelite men who were all leaders of their tribes. He sent them from their camp at Paran in the desert.

These are the names of the men and the tribes they belonged to: Shammua son of Zaccur, from the tribe of Reuben;

Shaphat son of Hori, from the tribe of Simeon;

Caleb son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah;

Igal son of Joseph, from the tribe of Issachar;

Hoshea the son of Nun, from the tribe of Ephraim;

Palti son of Raphu, from the tribe of Benjamin;

Gaddiel son of Sodi, from the tribe of Zebulun;

Gaddi son of Susi, from the tribe of Joseph’s descendent Manasseh;

Ammiel the son of Gemalli, from the tribe of Dan;

Sethur son of Michael, from the tribe of Asher;

Nahbi son of Vophsi, from the tribe of Naphtali;

and Geuel son of Maki, from the tribe of Gad.

Those are the names of the men whom Moses sent out to explore Canaan. Before they left, Moses gave Hoshea a new name, Joshua, which means ‘Yahweh is the one who saves.’

Before Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said to them, “Go through the southern Judean wilderness, and then go north into the hill country.

See what the land is like. See if the people who live there are strong or weak. See if there are many people or only a few people.

Find out what kind of land they live in. Is it good or bad? Find out about the towns in which they live. Do they have walls around them or not?

Find out about the soil. Is it fertile or not? Find out if there are trees there. Try to bring back some of the fruit that grows in that land.” He said that because it was the beginning of the time to harvest grapes.

So those men went to Canaan. They went through the entire land, from the wilderness of Zin in the south all the way to the city of Rehob near Lebo Hamath in the north.

In the southern Judean wilderness, they went to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, huge men descended from Anak, lived. Hebron was a city that was built seven years before the city of Zoan was built in Egypt.

In one valley, they cut from a grapevine one cluster of grapes. Because it was very large, they needed two men to carry it on a pole. They also picked some pomegranates and some figs to carry back to their camp.

They called that place Eshcol which means ‘cluster’ because they had cut that huge cluster of grapes there.

The Reports of the Spies

After they explored the land for forty days, they returned to their camp.

They came to Aaron and Moses and the rest of the Israelite people in the wilderness at Paran. They reported to everyone what they had seen. They also showed them the fruit that they had brought back.

But this is what they reported to Moses: “We arrived in the land that you sent us to explore. It is truly a beautiful land. It is a very fertile land. Here is some of the fruit.

But the people who live there are very strong. Their cities are large and are surrounded by walls. We even saw some of the huge descendants of Anak there.

The descendants of Amalek live in the southern part of the land, and the descendants of Heth, Jebus, and Amor live in the hill country to the north. The descendants of Canaan live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan River.”

Caleb told the people who were standing near Moses to be quiet. Then he said, “We should go there and take the land, because we are certainly able to conquer it!”

But the men who had gone with him said, “No, we cannot attack and defeat those people. They are much stronger than we are!”

So those men gave to the Israelite people a bad report about the land that they had explored. They said, “The land that we explored destroys the life those who try to attack it. And all the people living there are very tall.

We also saw giants there. They are the descendants of Anak (who come from the Nephilim, those giant people). When we saw these giants we felt as small as grasshoppers and they thought that we looked like grasshoppers too.”

(Deuteronomy 1:19–25)

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“Send men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, every one a prince among them.”

Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of the LORD. All of them were men who were heads of the children of Israel.

These were their names: Of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.

Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.

Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.

Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun.

Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.

Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.

Of the tribe of Joseph, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.

Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.

Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.

Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.

Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

These are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the land. Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way by the South, and go up into the hill country.

See the land, what it is; and the people who dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many;

and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds;

and what the land is, whether it is fertile or poor, whether there is wood therein, or not. Be courageous, and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes.

So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath.

They went up by the South, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

They came to the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it on a staff between two. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs.

That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from there.

The Reports of the Spies

They returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.

They went and came to Moses, 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. They showed them the fruit of the land.

They told him, and said, “We came to the land where you sent us. Surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the children of Anak there.

Amalek dwells in the land of the South. The Hittite, the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwell in the hill country. The Canaanite dwells by the sea, and along the side of the Jordan.”

Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, “Let’s go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it!”

But the men who went up with him said, “We aren’t able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.”

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 who we saw in it are men of great stature.

There we saw the Nephilim,(a) the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim.(b) We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”

Footnotes

(a)13:33 or, giants

(b)13:33 or, giants