Chapters 13, 14

The investigation of the land by the spies: their report, and its sequel

The narrative presents many serious difficulties which cannot be removed except by the recognition that it contains a fusion of the early traditions of J E with the later account of P. The two chapters should be studied as follows:

J E Numbers 13:17 b (from and said)—Num 13:21a (so they went up), Num 13:22–24, 26b ([and they went] to Kadesh &c.)—Num 13:31, 33. Numbers 14:1 (partly), Num 14:3, 4, 8, 9, 11–25, 31, Num 14:39b – Num 14:45.

P Numbers 13:1-17 a, Num 13:21b, 25, 26a, Num 13:32Numbers 14:1 (partly), Num 14:2, 5–7, 10, 26–30, 32–39a.

This separation of the traditions depends partly on the presence of characteristic words and expressions, but partly also on irreconcileable differences in the facts which each relate. In J E , the spies start from Kadesh; they search the southern border of Palestine round Hebron; they report that the land is fertile but invincible; Caleb alone encourages the people, and is allowed to enter Canaan. In P , the spies start from the Wilderness of Paran; they search the whole of Palestine; they report that the land is not fertile; both Joshua and Caleb encourage the people, and are allowed to enter Canaan.

1. the congregation] A word peculiarly characteristic of P .

lifted up their voice] lifted up and uttered their voice. The multiplication of verbs and of subjects in Numbers 14:1-2 seems to be due to the fusion of J , E and P .

Numbers 14:1-10. The people mutinied in spite of the protest of Joshua and Caleb.

2. would that we had died] ‘God’ does not form part of the Heb. expression. The R.V. is not consistent; see Numbers 20:4, Exodus 16:3.

3. wherefore is Jehovah about to bring us] The rebellious spirit is more flagrantly expressed in Deuteronomy 1:27.

9. they are our bread] i.e. we shall swallow them up, annihilate them; cf. Psalm 14:4 = Psalm 53:4, Numbers 24:8.

their defence] Lit. ‘shadow’ (as R.V. marg. states); a common metaphor of great significance in a hot country; see Jdg 9:15, Isaiah 25:4; Isaiah 32:2, and the name Bezalel (Exodus 31:2) which denotes ‘in the shadow of El (God).’ The passage means that the gods in whom the Canaanites trust will be powerless against Jehovah the God of Israel. Cf. Deuteronomy 32:31 ‘their rock is not as our Rock.’

10. bade stone them] i.e. Joshua and Caleb, and perhaps also Moses and Aaron. For the same form of mutiny cf. 1 Samuel 30:6, 1 Kings 12:18.

the glory of Jehovah] The visible manifestation of His presence, which, as described by the priestly writers, took the form of fire. It appeared on Mt Sinai (Exodus 24:16), it filled the Tabernacle when it was erected (Exodus 40:34), and appeared from time to time during the wanderings (Exodus 16:10 [reading Dwelling for wilderness], Leviticus 9:23, Numbers 16:19; Numbers 16:42; Numbers 20:6). In later Jewish writings the ‘Glory’ came to be considered almost as a personal representation of God, and was known as the Shekînah—‘that which dwells [sc. among men].’ This thought was taken up and given its fullest depth of meaning in the N.T., e.g. S. John 1:14.

11–24. Jehovah threatened to destroy Israel; Moses by his intercession obtained their pardon, but the present generation, with the exception of Caleb, were not allowed to enter Canaan.

12. make of thee a nation] Moses would be a second Abraham, the whole nation being descended from him.

13–16. The thought of Jehovah destroying His own people raised a great problem. Jehovah must maintain justice, and yet He must also maintain His own honour among the surrounding nations. The same problem was felt by Ezekiel in regard to the punishment of the exile, but he solved it by the certainty of a glorious return of a purified people in the future (Ezekiel 36:18-28; Ezekiel 39:21-29).

14. and they will tell it] and they will say. What they will say is not related till Numbers 14:16, which is introduced by the last words of Numbers 14:15 : ‘will speak, saying.’ Numbers 14:13-14 appear to be composed of a series of glosses; and Numbers 14:14 seems to be corrupt; the LXX. , Syr. and Vulg. each presupposes a different reading. It is probable that Moses’ words originally began at Numbers 14:15.

this land] i.e. Canaan, which the people have just refused to enter.

and thy cloud standeth over them] A conception of the cloud different from that in the following clauses; ‘standeth over them’ implies that the cloud stood over the Tabernacle which was in their midst. The words are probably a priestly gloss, based upon Numbers 10:34.

and thou goest before them &c.] This is the conception of the cloud found in J . See note on Numbers 9:15-23.

17. let the power of my Lord be great] The title Adonai is employed, not (as in Numbers 14:16; Numbers 14:18) the personal name Jehovah.

according as thou hast spoken] i.e. in Exodus 34:6-7, which is here slightly abbreviated. Moses means that the divine power can shew itself in Jehovah’s ability to pardon and punish according to His supreme will.

21. and as all the earth &c.] A second oath to strengthen the following statement. Psalm 72:19 perhaps contains a direct reference to the words.

22. because] must be omitted. The Heb. kî is merely a particle which introduces a fact sworn to.

ten times] There may have been a tradition that the temptings or testings of God in the wilderness were ten in number. But more probably the expression denotes simply a large number of times, like the English ‘dozen’ or ‘score’; cf. Genesis 31:7; Genesis 31:41, Nehemiah 4:12, Job 19:3.

24. into the land whereinto he went] Caleb was to receive the country in which Hebron stood (Numbers 13:22), whither he had gone as a spy; cf. Numbers 32:12, Deuteronomy 1:36. In Joshua 14:6-14 it is related that Caleb, at the age of 85, claimed the fulfilment of this promise, and received Hebron and the neighbouring hill country.

It is very probable, however, that the history of Caleb is the history not of an individual but of a clan. The name denotes the ‘dogclan,’ and perhaps dates from an early time when the clan reverenced a dog as their ‘totem’ or sacred animal. Nabal was ‘of the house of Caleb’ (1 Samuel 25:3); and the ‘Negeb of Caleb’ (1 Samuel 30:14) was a distinct district in the south of Canaan. In Numbers 32:12, Joshua 14:6; Joshua 14:14 Caleb is called the ‘Kenizzite,’ and in Joshua 15:17, Jdg 1:13; Jdg 3:9; Jdg 3:11 the ‘son of Kenaz’; that is the Calebites were a branch of the Kenizzite tribe, which was itself a division of the Edomites (Genesis 36:9; Genesis 36:11; Genesis 36:42). The Calebites, or more accurately the Kalibbites, appear to have entered Canaan from the south after leaving the Edomite country, and moved northwards through the Negeb as far as Hebron, as represented in the narrative of the spies. When the tribe of Judah afterwards settled in the same locality, the two tribes entered into friendly relations with each other and also with the Jerahmeelites, another foreign tribe settled in the district. In course of time they so completely coalesced that, after the exile, their descendants were reckoned as genealogically connected with Judah (1 Chronicles 2:4 f., 1Ch 2:9, 18 f., 1Ch 2:24–26, 42 f.).

25. Now the Amalekite … were dwelling in the valley] This is a parenthesis inserted by the narrator or compiler. It is omitted in Deuteronomy 1:40 which corresponds to the remainder of the present verse. It cannot be from the same pen as Numbers 13:29, where the Canaanites are described as living in the lowlands by the Mediterranean and along the Jordan, while the Amalekites live in the Negeb. On the other hand ‘the valley’ is not necessarily at variance with ‘mountain’ (or rather ‘hill country’) in Numbers 14:45, since it denotes not a broad valley or plain but ‘a deep place’ (צֵמֶק), a defile or declivity among the mountains.

turn ye] They were to retrace their steps, moving S.E. towards the eastern arm of the Red Sea.

26. And Jehovah spake] This is P’s immediate sequel to the appearance of Jehovah’s glory in the Tent (Numbers 14:10).

26–39. All the people above twenty years old, except Joshua and Caleb, were condemned to wander for forty years and die in the desert. The spies who brought an evil report died by a plague. The greater part of this section has been assigned to P , but elements from early tradition have been incorporated in it. The ‘forty years’ is alluded to as early as Amos (Numbers 2:10, Numbers 5:25), and the wandering in the wilderness in Hosea 2:14.

27. How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur &c.] The words shall I bear represent no part of the Heb. text. Something has perhaps dropped out, but the R.V. gives the general sense.

28. as ye have spoken] i.e. in Numbers 14:2.

29. all that were numbered] in the census (ch. 1). The Levites, however, were not included in that census (Numbers 1:47), and the priestly writer probably assumed that the sentence of death in the wilderness did not apply to them. Aaron’s son Eleazar succeeded his father as high priest on the borders of Canaan, and he must certainly have been over 20 years of age at this time, since he acted in a responsible position as priest before the departure from Sinai (see Numbers 3:3 f., 32, Numbers 4:16).

33. your children shall be shepherds] as R.V. marg. They were to continue to rove about with their flocks, instead of settling down to agricultural life in Canaan. The rendering ‘wanderers’ is due to the Vulg. vagi.

and shall bear your whoredoms] Your children, though they will not die in the wilderness, must suffer for your unfaithfulness to God. The metaphor of whoredom, the action of a woman who deserts her husband for another, is frequently applied to Israel. By defiant unbelief (as here), or by the worship of foreign gods (as Hosea 2:7; Hosea 9:1), or by foreign alliances (as Ezekiel 16:26; Ezekiel 23:1-35), she proved, time after time, unfaithful to Jehovah.

34. my alienation] my opposition. Ye shall experience what it means to be opposed and hindered by me. The subst. occurs in Job 33:10 only. For the verb cf. Numbers 30:6 (R.V. ‘disallow’), Numbers 32:7 (R.V. ‘discourage’).

37. died by a plague] This is the meaning of the Heb. idiom, although the definite article is used. The Heb. maggçphâh denotes lit. ‘a smiting,’ as also do πληγή and plaga. It is used of any sudden catastrophe inflicted by Jehovah.

39. Moses told these words] i.e. those contained in Numbers 14:27-35.

39b–45. Having heard their sentence (in Numbers 14:21-25), the people made an attempt to gain Jehovah’s favour by marching up to the hills in the Negeb, disregarding Moses’ warning that Jehovah would not help them. They received a severe defeat from the Amalekites and Canaanites.

40. the top of the mountain] Perhaps a particular hill in the south of the Negeb, close to Kadesh: but it may denote more generally ‘the high ground of the hill country.’

44. the ark of the covenant of Jehovah] The words ‘of the covenant’ are probably a gloss by a Dt. writer. There is no evidence in J or E that the tablets of the Covenant laws were placed in the ark. See on Numbers 10:33 b.

and Moses] Moses was the guardian of the ark.

out of the midst of the camp] In E the sacred tent, in which the ark was presumably housed, stood outside the camp (cf. Numbers 12:4, Exodus 33:7-11). The position, here implied by J , afterwards formed an important factor in P’s description of the Tabernacle (Numbers 1:50; Numbers 1:53).

45. which dwelt in that hill country] See on Numbers 14:25.

Hormah] lit. ‘the Hormah’; but it occurs here only with the article. A town or district in the south of Palestine whose site is unknown. In Numbers 21:3 an explanation of the name is given: see notes there.