Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Numbers
Chapter 13: The Twelve Spies
Israel stands at the border of the Promised Land. Twelve men are sent to search it out, one from each tribe, and they return with the same facts but two very different reports. All of them saw a good land flowing with milk and honey, and all of them saw the giants and walled cities. Ten looked at the giants and saw themselves as grasshoppers; two looked at the same giants and saw a God well able to give them the land. It is one of the great turning points of Scripture, the parting of faith and unbelief.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Numbers chapter 13. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. The chapter sends the twelve spies into Canaan, records their report of a good but fortified land, and shows Caleb's faith set against the fearful report of the ten. It teaches that faith and unbelief can look at the very same facts and reach opposite conclusions, and that the people of God are called to walk by faith, not by sight. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
Search the Land
Twelve leaders, one per tribe, were sent to search out the land God had already promised to give them.
Milk and Honey
They brought back a single cluster of grapes so large it hung between two men, proof of a rich and good land.
Giants and Walls
Ten spies fixed on the strong cities and the giants, and their courage failed at the sight.
We Are Well Able
Caleb saw the same giants and said, "Let us go up at once, and possess it," for God was greater.
Search the Land (Numbers 13:1-25)
Twelve leaders were sent to search out the land God had already promised, and they returned after forty days bearing its rich fruit.
The Land Which I Give
"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. 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. And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori. Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu. Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi. Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi. Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli. Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael. Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua. And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes. So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land."
Hebrew Study
"search," tur (תּוּר). To explore, to spy out, to seek out a place. The word describes reconnaissance, going through the land to see what it holds. The spies were not sent to decide whether to take the land, for God had already said "which I give unto the children of Israel." They were to search out a land already promised, not to vote on a possibility.
Explanation
God tells Moses to "send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel," one leader from each of the twelve tribes. Notice the settled promise: the land was already given by God's word. The men were to see "what it is," whether "strong or weak, few or many," its cities and its soil, and to "bring of the fruit of the land." For forty days they explored, going up through the south and into the hills. At the brook of Eshcol they "cut down... a branch with one cluster of grapes" so heavy that "they bare it between two upon a staff," along with pomegranates and figs. The evidence was in their hands: this was a rich, fruitful land, exactly as God had said. They returned to Kadesh to give their report, carrying the very fruit of the inheritance.
Gospel Focus
The key to the whole chapter is in the phrase "which I give." God had already promised the land; the question was never whether He was able or willing, but whether Israel would believe Him. So it is with the promises of God to us. He has already given us "all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3) and made us heirs of an inheritance; our task is not to decide whether His promises are true but to enter them by faith. And notice the cluster of Eshcol, carried out of the land as proof of its goodness, a foretaste of the inheritance while they stood still outside it. God gives His people such tokens too. The gift of the Spirit is "the earnest of our inheritance" (Ephesians 1:14), a real down payment and foretaste of the fullness to come. We have tasted the good fruit of the land while we journey toward it. Let the foretaste strengthen your faith: the God who gave you the cluster will surely bring you into the land.
A Good Land, but Giants (Numbers 13:26-29)
The spies confirmed the land flowed with milk and honey, but a single word turned their report: "nevertheless" the people were strong and the cities walled.
Milk and Honey, Nevertheless
"And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan."
Hebrew Study
The spies' report turns on one fatal word: "surely it floweth with milk and honey... nevertheless the people be strong." Everything before the "nevertheless" was God's promise confirmed — the land was every bit as good as He said. But that little pivot-word let their eyes slide from the promise to the "giants," the sons of Anak, and from God's power to the walled cities. Unbelief rarely denies God's goodness outright; it simply adds a "nevertheless" and fixes on the obstacle instead of the Promiser.
Explanation
The report begins well. "Surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it." Everything God had promised about the land was true, and they held the proof in their hands. But then comes the fateful word: "Nevertheless." "Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there," the fearsome giants. In that one word the whole report pivots from the goodness of God's gift to the greatness of the obstacle. The land was good, "nevertheless" the difficulties loomed larger in their eyes than the promise. Their gaze had shifted from what God had said to what they saw standing in the way, and once the eye fixes on the giant, the promise begins to shrink.
Gospel Focus
How much damage can be done by a single "nevertheless." The ten did not deny that the land was good; they simply let the obstacle eclipse the promise. This is the anatomy of unbelief: it grants that God is good, "nevertheless" the problem is too big. We do the same when we say, "I know God is able, but this mountain is so high; I know His promises are true, nevertheless my situation is impossible." The moment "nevertheless" takes over, faith begins to die. The cure is to keep the promise larger than the problem, to reckon with the giants honestly but to reckon with God first. The ten measured the giants against themselves and despaired; they should have measured the giants against God. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). The obstacles were real, the giants were real, the walls were high, but none of them was bigger than the God who had said, "which I give." Do not let "nevertheless" have the last word; let the promise of God have it.
Caleb's Faith and the Evil Report (Numbers 13:30-33)
Caleb saw the same giants and called Israel to go up at once, but the ten spread an evil report, for they had measured themselves and not their God.
We Are Well Able
"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. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."
Hebrew Study
"evil report," dibbah (דִּבָּה). A slander, a defaming or whispering report. The ten "brought up an evil report of the land," a dibbah. Their words were not merely fearful but slanderous: they maligned the good land God had given, calling it "a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof." Unbelief does not stay quiet; it spreads, and it slanders the goodness of God's promises.
Explanation
Caleb saw everything the others saw, the giants, the walls, the sons of Anak, yet his conclusion was the very opposite. He "stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." Same land, same giants, same facts, opposite verdict. But the ten answered, "We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we," and they "brought up an evil report," slandering the land and magnifying the danger. Their crushing self-assessment reveals everything: "we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." They measured the giants against themselves and felt like insects. Caleb measured the giants against God and knew Israel was "well able." The difference between the two reports was not the facts; it was whether God was in the picture.
Gospel Focus
This is the great lesson of Numbers 13: faith and unbelief can look at the identical facts and draw opposite conclusions. The ten and the two saw the same giants; the difference was where they fixed their eyes. The ten walked by sight and saw themselves as grasshoppers; Caleb walked by faith and saw a God well able to give the land, for "we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). Notice the deadly logic of the grasshopper mentality: "we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." How we see ourselves shapes how we face the obstacle, and how we see ourselves depends on whether we have reckoned God into the account. Leaving God out, the giant is enormous and we are insects; putting God in, the giant is small before Him. Of Caleb God later said he "had another spirit... and hath followed me fully" (Numbers 14:24). That is the spirit God honors. The tragedy of the next chapter, an entire generation shut out of the promise, will come "because of unbelief" (Hebrews 3:19). Do not slander the good gifts of God by fear. Look at the giant, then look at your God, and go up.
Chapter 13 in Review
Numbers 13 sends the twelve spies into the land God had already promised, "which I give unto the children of Israel." They searched it forty days and returned with its rich fruit, a cluster so large it hung between two men. Their report began well, "surely it floweth with milk and honey," but turned on a single word: "nevertheless" the people were strong, the cities walled, and the giants were there. Ten spies spread an evil report, seeing themselves "as grasshoppers." Only Caleb, and Joshua with him, saw the same giants and said, "Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able."
For the Apostolic reader, this chapter is a mirror of faith and unbelief. God's promise was settled, "which I give," as His promises to us are settled in Christ; the question was only whether Israel would believe. The cluster of Eshcol is our foretaste of the inheritance, like the Spirit, "the earnest of our inheritance." And the two reports teach the deepest lesson: faith and unbelief look at the same facts and reach opposite ends, for one walks by sight and measures itself against the giant, while the other walks by faith and measures the giant against God. Do not let "nevertheless" swallow the promise. Reckon God into every impossible thing, refuse the grasshopper mind, and go up to possess what God has given.
- The land was already promised, "which I give"; the question was belief, not God's ability (13:2; 2 Peter 1:3).
- The cluster of Eshcol was a foretaste of the inheritance, as the Spirit is "the earnest of our inheritance" (13:23; Ephesians 1:14).
- Unbelief pivots on "nevertheless," letting the obstacle eclipse the promise (13:27-28; Romans 8:31).
- Faith and unbelief see the same facts and reach opposite verdicts: "we walk by faith, not by sight" (13:30-31; 2 Corinthians 5:7).
- The grasshopper mind measures self against the giant; faith measures the giant against God, and Caleb "followed me fully" (13:33; Numbers 14:24; Hebrews 3:19).
Questions for Reflection
- When you face a giant, do you measure it against yourself, or against your God?
- Where has a "nevertheless" been allowed to swallow up a promise of God in your life?
- Are you walking by faith or by sight, and will you, like Caleb, believe God enough to "go up at once"?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). The Hebrew terms are standard and can be checked in any Hebrew lexicon. Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- The land already promised, and the foretaste of the inheritance: Numbers 13:1-25; 2 Peter 1:3; Ephesians 1:14.
- The good land and the "nevertheless" of unbelief: Numbers 13:26-29; Romans 8:31.
- Caleb's faith, the evil report, and walking by faith not sight: Numbers 13:30-33; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Numbers 14:24; Hebrews 3:19.