The names of the men who were sent to search the land, 1-16. Their instructions, 17-20. Their acts, 21-25. Their relation, 26-33.
1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "Send men so that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, each a ruler among them." 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. 4 And these were their names: Of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; 5 Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; 6 Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; 7 Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; 8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun; 9 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; 10 Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; 11 Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manassah, Gaddi the son of Susi; 12 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; 13 Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; 14 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; 15 Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to explore the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun, Jehoshua.
17 And Moses sent them to explore the land of Canaan and said to them, "Go up this way southward and ascend the mountain, 18 And see the land, what it is, and the people who dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, few or many, 19 And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad, and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in tents or in strongholds, 20 And what the land is, whether it is fertile or barren, whether there are trees in it or not. And be of good courage, and bring some of the fruit of the land." Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.
21 So they went up and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, as men come to Hamath. 22 And they ascended by the south and came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
23 And they came to the brook of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it between two upon a staff, and they brought some of the pomegranates and some of the figs. 24 The place was called the Brook of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from there.
25 And they returned from exploring the land after forty days. 26 And they went and came to Moses, to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh, and brought back word to them, and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him and said, "We came to the land where you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey. And this is its fruit. 28 Nevertheless, the people are strong who dwell in the land, and the cities are walled and very great. And moreover, we saw the children of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south. And the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the side of the Jordan."
30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it." 31 But the men who went up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are." 32 And they brought an evil report of the land which they had searched to the children of Israel, saying, "The land through which we have passed to search it is a land that eats up its inhabitants. And all the people who we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim, and we were in our own sight as locusts, and we were likewise in their sight."
Matthew Henry Commentary - Numbers, Chapter 13[➚]
[v.16a] - Jehoshua is Joshua. Jehoshua is the English spelling of the Hebrew name, יְהוֹשׁ֫וּעַ, which is transliterated as, Yhowshua, or phonetically, yeh-ho-shoo'-ah. See also, Numbers 14:6, 27:18; Deuteronomy 31:3, 34:9; Joshua 1:1; 1st Chronicles 7:27; etc.
[v.16b] - Yhowshua, or Joshua, means, "Yahweh-saved." An interesting thing to note is that another name, Yeshua, which means, "he will save," is equivalent to Yhowshua.
[v.16c] - Jesus is the Greek form of Jehoshua, or Yhowshua.