Numbers 13:30

30 And Amalec dwells in the land toward the south: and the Chettite and the Evite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwells in the hill country: and the Chananite dwells by the sea, and by the river Jordan.

Numbers 13:30 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 13:30

And Caleb stilled the people before Moses
In his presence, they standing before him; or "unto Moses" ^F14, as they were coming to him with open mouth against him; for upon the above report of the spies they began to murmur and mutiny, and to speak against Moses for bringing them out of Egypt into a wilderness, feeding them with vain hopes of a country which they were never likely to enjoy; and in their wrath they might be making up to him, threatening to pull him to pieces, but were restrained by Caleb, who signified he had something to say to them, to which they attended, he being one of the spies, and for their principal tribe, the tribe of Judah, that went foremost; the Targum of Jonathan is,

``Caleb silenced the people, and they attended to Moses;''

or hearkened to him, to what he said, which though not here related, is in ( Deuteronomy 1:29 Deuteronomy 1:30 ) ; which yet they did not give credit to, though they heard what he had to say:

and said, let us go up at once and possess it;
without any delay, there is nothing more to be done than to enter and take possession; this he said, trusting to the promise of God, who is faithful, and to his power who is able to perform:

for we are well able to overcome it;
especially having God on their side, who had promised to bring them into it, and put them in the possession of it; and indeed, humanly speaking, they seemed quite sufficient for such an undertaking, being upwards of six hundred thousand men fit for war, ( Numbers 1:46 ) , marshalled under their proper standards, with captains over each tribe, and having such brave, wise, and courageous commanders and generals, Moses and Joshua, who had given signal instances of their prudence and bravery already. What is it such an army, under proper directions, might not undertake? One would think, in all human probability, they were able to conquer a much greater country than the land of Canaan.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F14 (hvm la) "ad Moseh", Montanus; "venientem ad Mosem", Junius & Tremellius, Drusius.

Numbers 13:30 In-Context

28 and they reported to him, and said, We came into the land into which thou sentest us, a land flowing with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

29 Only the nation that dwells upon it is bold, and they have very great and strong walled towns, and we saw there the children of Enach.

30 And Amalec dwells in the land toward the south: and the Chettite and the Evite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwells in the hill country: and the Chananite dwells by the sea, and by the river Jordan.

31 And Chaleb stayed the people from speaking before Moses, and said to him, Nay, but we will go up by all means, and will inherit it, for we shall surely prevail against them.

32 But the men that went up together with him said, We will not go up, for we shall not by any means be able to go up against the nation, for it is much stronger than we.