Matthew Henry on Numbers 13:1-20
Here we have, I. Orders given to send spies to search out the land of Canaan. It is here said, God directed Moses to send them (Num 13:1, Num 13:2), but it appears by the repetition of the story afterwards (Deu 1:22) that the motion came originally from the people; they came to Moses, and said, We will send men before us; and it was the fruit of their unbelief. They would not take God's word that it was a good land, and that he would, without fail, put them in possession of it. They could not trust the pillar of cloud and fire to show them the way to it, but had a better opinion of their own politics than of God's wisdom. How absurd was it for them to send to spy out a land which God himself…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Numbers 13:3
those men were heads of the children of Israel--Not the princes who are named (Num 10:14-16, Num 10:18-20, Num 10:22-27), but chiefs, leading men though not of the first rank.
John Gill on Numbers 13:4
And these were their names, of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. From Numbers 13:4, there is nothing but the names of the said persons, whose sons they were, and of what tribe; and the several tribes are mentioned, not according to the order of the birth of the patriarchs, nor according to the dignity of their mothers that bore them, but, very likely, according to the order in which they were sent, two by two, to search the land; for had they gone all twelve in a body, they would have been liable to suspicion: the signification of their names is of no importance to know, and will give us no light into their characters or the reason of their choice, nor are their parents elsewhe…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Calvin on Numbers 13:1–end
Numbers 13:1-33
1. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
1. Et loquutus est Jehova ad Mosen, dicendo:
2. Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.
2. Mitte tibi viros qui explorent terram Chanaan, quam ego daturus sum filiis Israel, singulos viros de singulis tribubus patrum suorum mittetis, unumquenque principem inter eos.
3 And Moses, by the commandment of the Lord, sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.
3. Misit ergo illos Moses e deserto Paran, juxta sermonem Jehovae: et universi ipsi viri p…
