Numbers 13:21

_SO THEY WENT UP, AND SEARCHED THE LAND FROM THE WILDERNESS OF ZIN UNTO REHOB, AS MEN COME TO HAMATH._ So they ... searched the land - they advanced from south to north, reconnoitring the whole land. THE WILDERNESS OF ZIN - a long level plain, or deep valley of sand, the monotony of which is relieved by a few tamarisk and rethem trees, and which, under the names of el-Ghor and el-Arabah, forms the continuation of the Jordan valley, extending from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akabah. REHOB - or Beth-rehob, was a city and district situated, according to some, eastward of Sidon, and, according to others, is the same as el-Hule, an extensive and fertile champaign country, at the foot of Antilibanus, a few leagues below Peneas. AS MEN COME TO HAMATH - or, "the entering in of Hamath" (2 Kings 14:25), now the valley of Baalbek, a mountai

21-25 The searchers of the land brought a bunch of grapes with them, and other fruits, as proofs of the goodness of the country; which was to Israel both the earnest and the specimen of all the fruits of Canaan. Such are the present comforts we have in communion with God, foretastes of the fulness of joy we expect in the heavenly Canaan. We may see by them what heaven is....

Verse Numbers 13:21. _FROM THE WILDERNESS OF ZIN_] The place called; צן _Tsin_, here, is different from that called סין _Sin_ or _Seen_. Exodus 16:1; the latter was nigh to _Egypt_, but the former was near _Kadesh Barnea_, not far from the borders of the promised land. "The spies having left Kadesh Barnea, which was in the desert of _Paran_, see Numbers 13:26, they proceeded to the desert of _Tsin_, all along the land of Canaan, nearly following the course of the river Jordan, till they came to Rehob, a city situated near Mount Libanus, at the northern extremity of the Holy Land, towards the road that leads to _Hamath_. Thence they returned through the midst of

The wilderness of Zin was the northeastern portion of the wilderness of Paran. Rehob (“mod.” Khurbeh) was probably the Beth-rehob of Judges 18:28, near Dan-Laish; and apparently to the north of it, since it gave its name to a Syrian kingdom 2 Samuel 8:3. The southern approach to Hamath from the plain of Coele-Syria, lay between those two ranges of Lebanon called Libanus and Antilibanus. A low screen of hills connects the northernmost points of these two ranges; and through this screen the Orontes bursts from the upper Coele-Syrian hollow into the open plain of Hamath....

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

SO THEY WENT UP AND SEARCHED THE LAND,.... Went up the mountains as they were directed, and passed through the whole land; diligently inquired into everything material belonging to it, according to their instructions, and made their observations on it, and on the inhabitants, and their habitations: FROM THE WILDERNESS OF ZIN UNTO REHOB, AS MEN COME TO HAMATH; this wilderness, from whence they went, seems to be the same with the wilderness of Paran, called Zin; perhaps from the multitude of thorns in it; but different from the wilderness of Sin, Exodus 16:1, which was nearer Egypt; but this was on the south quarter of the land of Canaan, along by the coast of Edom, Numbers 34:3; Rehob, they are said to come to first from thence, was in the tribe of Asher in later times,...

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

WENT UP. In the month Ab (our July)....

FROM THE WILDERNESS OF ZIN, &C.— Not that which is called the Wilderness of _Sin,_ Exodus 16:1 for that lay near to Egypt, south-west of Canaan; but this was a wilderness on the south-east of Canaan, not far from Kadesh Barnea, chap. Numbers 34:3.Joshua 1:3. Rehob was a city in the north of Canaan near the sea coast, not far from Zidon, which fell to the lot of the tribe of Asher, Joshua 19:28. _Hamath,_ afterwards called Epiphania, was not far from Rehob, and bounded Judea on the north; (see chap. Numbers 34:8.) so that the spies took a survey of the whol