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Texts -- Numbers 13:1-25 (NET)

Context
Spies Sent Out
13:1 The Lord spoke to Moses : 13:2 “Send out men to investigate the land of Canaan , which I am giving to the Israelites . You are to send one man from each ancestral tribe , each one a leader among them.” 13:3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command of the Lord . All of them were leaders of the Israelites . 13:4 Now these were their names : from the tribe of Reuben , Shammua son of Zaccur ; 13:5 from the tribe of Simeon , Shaphat son of Hori ; 13:6 from the tribe of Judah , Caleb son of Jephunneh ; 13:7 from the tribe of Issachar , Igal son of Joseph ; 13:8 from the tribe of Ephraim , Hoshea son of Nun ; 13:9 from the tribe of Benjamin , Palti son of Raphu ; 13:10 from the tribe of Zebulun , Gaddiel son of Sodi ; 13:11 from the tribe of Joseph , namely, the tribe of Manasseh , Gaddi son of Susi ; 13:12 from the tribe of Dan , Ammiel son of Gemalli ; 13:13 from the tribe of Asher , Sethur son of Michael ; 13:14 from the tribe of Naphtali , Nahbi son of Vopshi ; 13:15 from the tribe of Gad , Geuel son of Maki . 13:16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to investigate the land . And Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua .
The Spies’ Instructions
13:17 When Moses sent them to investigate the land of Canaan , he told them, “Go up through the Negev , and then go up into the hill country 13:18 and see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak , few or many , 13:19 and whether the land they live in is good or bad , and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or fortified cities, 13:20 and whether the land is rich or poor , and whether or not there are forests in it. And be brave , and bring back some of the fruit of the land .” Now it was the time of year for the first ripe grapes .
The Spies’ Activities
13:21 So they went up and investigated the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob , at the entrance of Hamath . 13:22 When they went up through the Negev , they came to Hebron where Ahiman , Sheshai , and Talmai , descendants of Anak , were living. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt .) 13:23 When they came to the valley of Eshcol , they cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes , and they carried it on a staff between two men, as well as some of the pomegranates and the figs . 13:24 That place was called the Eshcol Valley , because of the cluster of grapes that the Israelites cut from there . 13:25 They returned from investigating the land after forty days .

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • The second crisis Abram faced arose because of a famine in Canaan. Abram chose to sojourn in the Nile Valley until it was past. In this incident Abram tried to pass Sarai off as his sister because he feared for his life. By d...
  • Moses, who lived from about 1525 to 1405 B.C., wrote Exodus. He could have written it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit any time after the events recorded (after about 1444 B.C.). He may have written it during the year...
  • To formulate a statement that summarizes the teaching of this book it will be helpful to identify some of the major revelations in Numbers. These constitute the unique values of the book.The first major value of Numbers is th...
  • I. Experiences of the older generation in the wilderness chs. 1-25A. Preparations for entering the Promised Land from the south chs. 1-101. The first census and the organization of the people chs. 1-42. Commands and rituals t...
  • The end of chapter 10 is the high point of the Book of Numbers spiritually. The beginning of chapter 11 records the beginning of the spiritual decline of Israel that resulted in God's judging the nation. He postponed the fulf...
  • The events recorded in chapters 13 and 14 took place while Israel was at Kadesh.
  • 13:1-2 When the people arrived at Kadesh the Lord told them to go up and take possession of the land He had promised them (Deut. 1:19-21). Kadesh stood in the Desert of Zin, which was a section of the great Paran wilderness. ...
  • Having received their sentence from the Lord, the people then presumptuously proceeded to go up on their own to take the land (vv. 40-42)."They are like children who had broken a valuable vase and decided to make it better' b...
  • "Chapter 15 is another collection of texts designed to prepare the people for their life in the land. Hence this chapter is one of promise. Though a great deal has happened, and the results are overwhelming for the adult popu...
  • "As the laws increase and the constraints grow, the people seem less willing or less capable of following them. At this point in the narrative we see that the whole order of the priesthood is thrown open to direct confrontati...
  • Here begins the fourth and last leg of the Israelites' journey from Egypt to the Promised Land.1. From Egypt to Sinai (Exod. 12-19)2. From Sinai to Kadesh (Num. 11-12)3. From Kadesh back to Kadesh--38 years of wilderness wand...
  • This chapter contains one of the great failures of Israel that followed one of its great blessings.238As God was preparing to bless His people they were preparing to disobey Him."So now we come to the ultimate rebellion of Is...
  • The Book of Numbers is a lesson in the importance of trust and obedience. The Israelites frequently failed to trust and obey God in the hours of their trials, and consequently God postponed His blessing. Most of them never en...
  • Aharoni, Yohanan. The Land of the Bible. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1979.Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwell...
  • Moses began his recital of Israel's history at Horeb because this is where Yahweh adopted the nation by making the Mosaic Covenant with her. The trip from Egypt to Sinai was only preparation for the giving of the covenant. Th...
  • After receiving the reminder of his death and as one of his final official acts as Israel's leader, Moses pronounced a prophetic blessing on the tribes of Israel (cf. Gen. 49)."In the ancient Near East, a dying father's final...
  • In one sense verses 1-9 are a preamble to the whole book. They contain the basic principles that were to guide Joshua and Israel so they could obtain all that God had promised their forefathers.1:1 The first word of the book ...
  • At Jericho, Israel learned God's strength. At Ai, she learned her own weakness. She could only conquer her enemies as she remained faithful to God's covenant."We are never in greater danger than right after we have won a grea...
  • This chapter begins with another reference to the fact that there was no king in Israel then (cf. 17:6). The writer reminded us again that the Israelites were living unrestrained lives. Abundant evidence of this follows in ch...
  • The Book of Samuel covers the period of Israel's history bracketed by Samuel's conception and the end of David's reign. David turned the kingdom over to Solomon in 971 B.C.3David reigned for 40 and one-half years (2 Sam. 2:11...
  • This verse introduces the whole book. The word of Yahweh came to Hosea, the son (possibly descendant) of Beeri, during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah (cf. Isa. 1:1). It also came to him durin...
  • In this section Amos reminded the Israelites of Yahweh's past blessings on them. This made the heinousness of their sins even clearer. Israel's treatment of the poor had been destructive, but Yahweh's treatment of the poor Is...
  • Jesus' genealogy and virgin birth prove His legal human qualification as Israel's King. His baptism was the occasion of His divine approval. His temptation demonstrated His moral fitness to reign. The natural question a thoug...
  • 23:29-30 By building monuments to the prophets and other righteous people that their forefathers had martyred, the Pharisees were saying that they would not have killed them if they had been alive then. These construction pro...
  • Paul continued dealing with the subject of going to idol temples to participate in pagan feasts in this section. In it he gave a warning to the believer who considered himself strong, the one who knew there were really no god...
  • "The detailed attention just given to the Christ-hymn must not obscure the fact that vv 12-18 are part of a larger parenetic section--1:27-2:18. Exhortation is resumed again through the frequent use of the imperative mood, or...
  • The scene continues to be on earth.7:1 The phrase "after this"(Gr. meta touto) indicates that what follows is a new vision (cf. 4:1). The general chronological progression of the visions suggests that the events John saw now ...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

  • And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain : 18. And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be stron...
  • A comparison with Deuteronomy shows that the project of sending the spies originated in the people's terror at the near prospect of the fighting which they had known to be impending ever since they left Egypt. Faith finds th...
  • The account of it is arranged on a plan common in the Old Testament narratives, the observation of which would, in many places, remove difficulties which have led to extraordinary hypotheses. Verse 21 gives a general summary ...
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