Numbers 13:2

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹And the LORD said to Moses, ²"Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each of their fathers' tribes send one man who is a leader among them."³So at the command of the LORD, Moses sent them out from the Wilderness of Paran. All the men were leaders of the Israelites, ⁴and these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur; ⁵from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; ⁶from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; ⁷from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; ⁸from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; ⁹from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; ¹⁰from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi;

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Send thou: Numbers 32:8, Deuteronomy 1:22-25, Joshua 2:1-24

of every: Numbers 1:4, Numbers 34:18

a ruler: Numbers 11:16, Exodus 18:25, Deuteronomy 1:15

Reciprocal: Genesis 42:9 - Ye are spies Joshua 4:2 - twelve men Joshua 18:4 - three

Cross-References

Genesis 13:1
So Abram went up out of Egypt into the Negev-he and his wife and all his possessions-and Lot was with him.

Genesis 13:3
From the Negev he journeyed from place to place toward Bethel, until he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been pitched,

Genesis 13:9
Is not the whole land before you? Now separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left."

Genesis 13:10
And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

Genesis 13:12
Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

Genesis 13:13
But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.

Genesis 24:35
"The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels and donkeys.

Deuteronomy 8:18
But remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

1 Samuel 2:7
The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.

Job 1:3
and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man of all the people of the East.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Send thou men,.... Which is rather a permission than a command; so Jarchi interprets it,

"send men according to thy mind, I do not command thee, but if thou pleasest send;''

this he observed was agreeable to Moses, and to the Israelites, and therefore granted it, or allowed them to take their own way, and which issued badly, as it always does, when men are left to their own counsel:

that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel; called the land of Canaan, though it consisted of seven nations, from the principal of them; this God had given in promise to the children of Israel, and had now brought them to the borders of it; nay, had given them orders to go up and possess it; but they were for searching it first, to know what sort of a land it was, and which was the best way of entering into it, which is here permitted them, see Deuteronomy 1:21;

of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man; excepting the tribe of Levi; the reason of which was because they were to have no inheritance in the land, Deuteronomy 10:9; but then, to make up the number twelve, the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, are reckoned as two tribes:

everyone a ruler among them; a prince in his tribe; so were men of honour and credit, of power and authority, of prudence and probity, and who might be trusted with such an affair, and their report believed: they were not indeed princes of the highest rank, not the same that assisted in taking the numbers of the people, who were captains over their several tribes, as in Numbers 1:4, &c. but were inferior princes and rulers, perhaps rulers of thousands.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A ruler - A comparison of the list with that of Numbers 13:1 :5 following shows that they were not the princes of the tribes, but heads of houses or families Numbers 12:4.

Of the names here given those of Joshua and Caleb alone are otherwise known to us.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 13:2. Send thou men, that they may search — It appears from Deuteronomy 1:19-24 that this was done in consequence of the request of the people, after the following address of Moses: "And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness - and we came unto Kadesh-Barnea; and I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us. Behold the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said: WE WILL SEND MEN BEFORE US, AND THEY SHALL SEARCH US OUT THE LAND and bring us word again, by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. And the saying pleased me well, and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe," c., &c. Nearly the whole of these verses is added here by the Samaritan.

Every one a ruler — Not any of the princes of the people, (see Numbers 1:4-16), for these names are different from those but these now sent were men of consideration and importance in their respective tribes.