Numbers 13:17

_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:_ Get you up this way southward, х_ BA-NEGEB_ (H5045), into the Negeb], and go up into the mountain-into the highland country, the southern extremity of the promised land....

1-20 A memorable and melancholy history is related in this and the following chapter, of the turning back of Israel from the borders of Canaan, and the sentencing them to wander and perish in the wilderness, for their unbelief and murmuring. It appears, Deuteronomy 1:22, that the motion to search out the land came from the people. They had a better opinion of their own policy than of God's wisdom. Thus we ruin ourselves by believing the reports and representations of sense rather than Divine revelation. We walk by sight not by faith. Moses gave the spies this charge, Be of good courage. It was not only a great undertaking they were put upon, which required good management and resolution; but a great trust was reposed in them, which required that they should be faithful. Courage in such circumstances can only spring from strong faith, which Caleb and Joshua alone possessed....

SOUTHWARD - Rather, “by the Negeb,” or south-country; a well-defined tract of territory forming the southernmost and least fertile portion of the land of Canaan and of the subsequent inheritance of Judah. It extended northward from Kadesh to within a few miles of Hebron, and from the Dead Sea westward to the Mediterranean (see especially Joshua 15:21). INTO THE MOUNTAIN - The hill-country of southern and central Canaan, mostly within the borders of Judah and Ephraim. It commences a few miles south of Hebron, and extending northward to the plain of Jezreel, runs out eventually northwest-ward into the sea in the headland of Carmel....

EXPOSITION THE REBELLION AT KADESH (Numbers 13:1, Numbers 14:1). NUMBERS 13:2 SEND THOU MEN, THAT THEY MAY SEARCH THE LAND. If this account of the mission of the spies be compared with that given in Deuteronomy 1:20-5, it may be seen in a striking instance how entirely different a colour may be put upon the same circumstances by two inspired narratives. No one indeed will affirm that the two records are contradictory, or even inconsistent, and yet they leave an entirely different impression upon the min

AND MOSES SENT THEM TO SPY OUT THE LAND OF CANAAN,.... He sent them from Kadeshbarnea, as Caleb affirms, Joshua 14:7; AND SAID UNTO THEM, GO YE UP THIS [WAY] SOUTHWARD; pointing as it were with his finger which way they should go, even up such a hill southward; and which, as Aben Ezra observes, was not the south of the camp, but the south of the land of Canaan; and who further observes, that it is well known that Egypt, from whence the Israelites now came, was to the south of the land of Israel, of which this is a demonstration; the latitude of Egypt is less than thirty degrees, and the latitude of Jerusalem is thirty three, and the wilderness of Paran was in the south of the land of Egypt: it should be rendered by "the south", as in Numbers 13:22; or from the "south" p, since the Israelite

4. AT KADESH-BARNEA AND ISRAEL'S UNBELIEF CHAPTER 13 _ 1. The command to search out the land (Numbers 13:1)_ 2. The names of the spies (Numbers 13:4) 3. Directions given (Numbers 13:17) 4. Their explorations (Numbers 13:21) 5. The report they brought (Numbers 13:26) The crisis is reached with this chapter. The events of the preceding Chapter s are the prelude to the complete failure and disaster. To understand the situation we must consult...

THE ESPIAL OF CANAAN. This narrative is marked by numerous discrepancies, due to its being a fusion of two accounts drawn from JE and P. In the one (JE) the spies start probably from Kadesh (Numbers 13:26; Numbers 32:8, _cf._ Deuteronomy 1:19 f., Joshua 14:7), the survey is limited to the S. of Palestine (Numbers 13:22 f.), and the report of the land is favourable, but of the inhabitants alarming (Numbers 13:27), Caleb alone dissenting from the latter represe

SOUTHWARD. For first nine miles, on account of the roads, then by the mountain passes eastward....

GO UP INTO THE MOUNTAIN:— See chap. Numbers 12:16....

B. THEIR INSTRUCTIONS vv. 17-20 TEXT Numbers 13:17. 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 strong or weak, few or many; 19. And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strongholds. 20. And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes. PARAPHRASE Numbers 13:17. As Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said unto them, Go up this way by the South; then