Moses sends scouts to explore the Promised Land
1 Yahweh then spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Send men to explore the land of Canaan that I am giving to the Israelites; send one man from each of the ancestral tribes, all of them leaders.”
3 So Moses sent these men from the wil der ness of Paran as Yahweh commanded. All were leaders among the Is ra elites
4 and these were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur;
5 from the tribe of Simeon, Sha phat the son of Hori;
6 from the tribe of Ju dah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh;
7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal;
8 from the sons of Joseph and 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 sons of Joseph and 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, Se thur 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 Mahci.
16 These are the names of the men sent by Moses to explore the country. But Hoshea, the son of Nun, Moses called Joshua.
17 So Moses sent them to explore the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up by the south and then into the hill country
18 and see what the land is like, whether the people there are strong or weak, many or few.
19 See also whether the land they live in is good or barren. See what their cities are like, if they are open camps or fortresses.
20 See if the soil is fertile or poor, if the land is wooded or not. Be courageous and take some of the fruit of the land.” It was the season for early grapes.
21 They went up and surveyed the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob near the entrance of Hamath.
22 They went up by the south and reached Hebron, an old city which had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt; the Anakites, Ahi man, Sheshai and Talmai were living there.
23 And they came to the valley of Eshcol where they cut down a branch with a cluster of grapes. Two of them carried this by means of a pole. They also brought pomegranates and figs.
24 Because of the cluster that the Israelites had cut, they called that place the Valley of Eshcol.
25 After forty days of exploration, they returned.
26 They went and met Moses, Aaron and the whole community of Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They gave an account to them and the whole community and showed them the fruit of this land.
27 And they said,
“We entered the land where you sent us, truly a land flowing with milk and honey and here is the fruit.
28 But how strong are the people who inhabit the land! The cities are fortified with walls and bars, and we even saw there descendants of the Ana kites.
29 Amalekites live in the region of the Negeb; Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; the Canaanites are by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”
30 Caleb then quieted the people who rose up against Moses and said, “We should go up and take over the land, for we shall surely overcome it.”
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We cannot advance against these people for they are stronger than we are.”
32 And they spread an unfavorable report about the land that they had explored, saying to the Israe l ites,“The land we went through to explore is a land that devours its inhabitants and all the people we saw there are men of great size.
33 We even saw giants (these giants were the Anakites). We felt like grass hoppers before them, and to them we must have seemed the same.”
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Comments Numbers, Chapter 13
• 13.16 In those days, the land promised to the Hebrews was called Canaan. Later, it would be called Israel since the Israelites became its owners. Its name would also be Palestine. In their dreams they looked upon this land as a paradise. They cut a branch with a cluster of grapes. Two of them carried this by means of a pole. This fabulous detail shows a beautiful land “of milk and honey.” This image is used by today’s Israelites as the symbol of their country.
Here, the Bible describes one of the great sins of Israel, as in Exodus 32. It would not have been difficult for Israel to believe in Yahweh if he had not required that they conquer the land, a challenge which frightened them. In the same way today, many Christians filled with spiritual fervor get scared when the church asks them to commit themselves to the task of justice and reconciliation in every area of the world.