Numbers 13 explained: Scouts Bring Back Mixed News

Twelve scouts chosen (vv. 1-16)

One leader from each tribe is sent so the whole people would trust the report, though Deuteronomy 1:22 says the idea first came from the people. Moses renames Hoshea, meaning "salvation," to Joshua, meaning "the LORD saves," and Christians later noticed that Jesus is the same name in Greek.

What to look for (vv. 17-20)

Moses asks practical questions about the soil, trees, towns and people, and tells the scouts to be brave and bring back fruit. It was midsummer, around August, when the first grapes ripen.

Forty days in the land (vv. 21-25)

The scouts cross the land from the far south to the far north, and at the ancient city of Hebron, near where Israel's ancestors were buried, they find the feared descendants of Anak. They carry one huge cluster of grapes on a pole between two men, probably to keep it whole as proof, and the valley is named Eshkol, meaning "cluster."

The report: rich but dangerous (vv. 26-29)

The scouts agree the land is as rich as promised, overflowing with milk and honey, a stock phrase for fertile farmland, and they show the fruit. Then comes the "but": large walled cities, strong peoples on every side, and the Anakites.

Caleb against the majority (vv. 30-33)

Caleb says they can take the land, but the others now say it swallows up the people who live there, which may point to disease, war or general danger, though scholars are unsure. Their talk of the Nephilim, giants mentioned in Genesis 6, and of feeling like grasshoppers reads as fear swelling into exaggeration.

Key verse: Numbers 13:30

Something to think about

When something in front of you looks too big, how do you tell the difference between honest caution and a fear that shrinks how you see yourself?