# Numbers 13 📖: Twelve Spies Explore Canaan [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Numbers Overview]] | [[Numbers 12]] | [[Numbers 14]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### Spies Sent Out [[#Verse 01.]] The Lord spoke to Moses:  [[#Verse 02.]] “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.” [[#Verse 03.]] So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command of the Lord. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. [[#Verse 04.]] Now these were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur;  [[#Verse 05.]] from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;  [[#Verse 06.]] from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;  [[#Verse 07.]] from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;  [[#Verse 08.]] from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;  [[#Verse 09.]] from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu;  [[#Verse 10.]] from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi;  [[#Verse 11.]] from the tribe of Joseph, namely, the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi son of Susi;  [[#Verse 12.]] from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli;  [[#Verse 13.]] from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael;  [[#Verse 14.]] from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vopshi;  [[#Verse 15.]] from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.  [[#Verse 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 [[#Verse 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  [[#Verse 18.]] and see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, few or many,  [[#Verse 19.]] and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or fortified cities,  [[#Verse 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 [[#Verse 21.]] So they went up and investigated the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, at Lebo Hamath.  [[#Verse 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.)  [[#Verse 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.  [[#Verse 24.]] That place was called the Eshcol Valley, because of the cluster of grapes that the Israelites cut from there. [[#Verse 25.]] They returned from investigating the land after forty days. ### The Spies’ Reports [[#Verse 26.]] They came back to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land.  [[#Verse 27.]] They told Moses, “We went to the land where you sent us. It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.  [[#Verse 28.]] But the inhabitants are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. [[#Verse 29.]] The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.” [[#Verse 30.]] Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses, saying, “Let us go up and occupy it, for we are well able to conquer it.”  [[#Verse 31.]] But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we are!”  [[#Verse 32.]] Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging report of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through to investigate is a land that devours its inhabitants. All the people we saw there are of great stature.  [[#Verse 33.]] We even saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed like grasshoppers both to ourselves and to them.” ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ###### Verse 31. ###### Verse 32. ###### Verse 33. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. One leader from each of the twelve tribes went as a spy (13:2). 2. Hoshea means "salvation," and Joshua means "the Lord saves." In Greek, Joshua is *Iesous*, the same name as Jesus. 3. The spies explored from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob near Lebo-hamath in the far north (13:21). 4. Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt (13:22). 5. Eshcol means "cluster," named for the cluster of grapes they cut there (13:23-24). 6. The cluster of grapes was so large that two men carried it on a pole (13:23). 7. A picture of two men carrying grapes on a pole is used as the logo of Israel's Ministry of Tourism. 8. The spies were gone forty days (13:25), which became forty years of wandering (14:34). 9. The Anakim (13:28, 33) were known for their great height (Deuteronomy 2:10). 10. The spies returned to Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran (13:26). ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the true Joshua who leads His people into God's rest. Moses renamed Hoshea "Joshua" (13:16), the Hebrew form of the name Jesus, and Jesus brings us into the rest Joshua could not give (Hebrews 4:8-10). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. All twelve spies saw the same land, but they reached different conclusions (13:27-33). What made the difference? 2. The ten spies said, "We were like grasshoppers in our own sight" (13:33). How does the way we see ourselves affect our faith? 3. Caleb said, "We are well able to overcome it" (13:30). What gave him that confidence? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 16: Moses renames Hoshea son of Nun as Joshua. - 📖 verse 27: The land truly flows with milk and honey. - 📖 verse 30: Caleb calls the people to go up and take the land. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[Deuteronomy 01#Verse 22.|Deuteronomy 1:22-28]] - Moses recalls the spies' report. - 🔗 [[Joshua 14#Verse 06.|Joshua 14:6-12]] - Caleb remembers and claims Hebron. - 🔗 [[Hebrews 04#Verse 08.|Hebrews 4:8-10]] - Jesus gives the rest Joshua could not give. - 🔗 [[2 Corinthians 05#Verse 07.|2 Corinthians 5:7]] - We walk by faith, not by sight. - 🔗 [[Romans 08#Verse 31.|Romans 8:31]] - If God is for us, who can be against us? ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 📂 Internal Notes