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The LORD spoke to Moses:
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“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send one man, every one a leader among them.”
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So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the LORD; all those men were heads among the people of Israel.
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And these are their names: From the tribe of Reuben: Shammua the son of Zaccur;
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from the tribe of Simeon: Shaphat the son of Hori;
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from the tribe of Judah: Caleb the son of Jephunneh;
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from the tribe of Issachar: Igal the son of Joseph;
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from the tribe of Ephraim: Hoshea the son of Nun;
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from the tribe of Benjamin: Palti the son of Raphu;
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from the tribe of Zebulun: Gaddiel the son of Sodi;
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from the tribe of Joseph, namely from the tribe of Manasseh: Gaddi the son of Susi;
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from the tribe of Dan: Ammiel the son of Gemalli;
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from the tribe of Asher: Sethur the son of Michael;
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from the tribe of Naphtali: Nahbi the son of Vophsi;
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from the tribe of Gad: Geuel the son of Machi.
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These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; and Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.
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Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, saying to them, “Go up here into the Negeb, and go up into the hill country,
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and see what the land is like, whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many;
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and what the land is like that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad, and what cities they dwell in, whether they dwell in camps or in strongholds,
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and what the land is like, whether it is rich or poor, whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage, and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.
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So they went up and spied out the land, from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, by the way to Hamath.
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They went up into the Negeb, and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
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And they came to the Valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs.
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That place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down there.
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At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land,
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and they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in Kadesh, in the wilderness of Paran. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.”
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They told him, “We came into the land to which you sent us, and indeed it flows with milk and honey; and this is its fruit.
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Only, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and we also saw the descendants of Anak there.
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The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the Jordan River.”
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Then Caleb tried to quiet the people before Moses, saying, “No! Let us go up at once and take possession of the land, for we are surely able to overcome it!”
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But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”
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And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored, saying, “The land through which we passed to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great stature.
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We also saw there the giants, the descendants of Anak from the giants, and we seemed like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
🔍🍇🛑 Summary of Numbers 13 – The Twelve Spies and the Report of the Land of Canaan
Numbers 13 is the account of the sending out of twelve spies to the land of Canaan. Although the land truly flowed with milk and honey, 10 of the 12 spies gave a negative report, causing fear and rebellion among the people of Israel.
📌 1. The Sending of the 12 Spies (verses 1–20)
- The Lord commanded Moses to send one man from each tribe to spy out the land of Canaan.
- The spies were asked to:
See the condition of the land (fertile or barren)
Examine the cities (walled or open)
Assess the strength of the people
Bring back produce from the land (fruit)
📌 They explored for 40 days, from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob.
📌 2. The Report from the Land of Canaan (verses 21–29)
- The spies returned with large clusters of grapes, pomegranates, and figs.
- They said:
“The land is indeed flowing with milk and honey.”
But…
“Its people are strong, its cities are fortified, and we saw the descendants of Anak (giants) there!”
- They named the feared groups: the Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, and Canaanites.
🎯 Their report was a mixture of fact and fear.
📌 3. Caleb Stood Up in Faith (verse 30)
“Let us go up at once and take possession of the land, for we are surely able to overcome it!”
Caleb spoke faith and courage, but the others did not follow.
📌 4. The Negative Report of the 10 Spies (verses 31–33)
- The 10 spies said:
“We are not able to attack them!”
“We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so we were in their eyes!”
📖 This was a response of fear, not based on God’s promise, but on human sight.
🎯 They forgot God’s works in Egypt and in the wilderness.
📖 Main Lessons
- Obedience is not only about going, but also about how we see God’s promise with eyes of faith.
- The faith of Caleb and Joshua stood out because they trusted God, not the size of the enemy.
- Fear can grow larger if we focus on the problem rather than on God’s presence.
- A negative report can spread and shake the faith of a community.
- Seeing oneself as a grasshopper reflects a spiritual identity crisis.
✨ Spiritual Meaning (New Testament)
- God promises us the Promised Land — both spiritually and in the promises in Christ. We are called to step forward in faith, not fear (2 Corinthians 5:7).
- Like Caleb and Joshua, we must be a voice of faith in the midst of unbelief, not merely following the flow of the majority.
- Through the Holy Spirit, we are given a spirit of courage, not fear (2 Timothy 1:7).
- “We are like grasshoppers” is a sign of losing our identity as God’s chosen people—we must know who we are in Christ.
