Numbers 13:30

30 Then Caleb told the people near Moses to be quiet, and he said, "We should certainly go up and take the land for ourselves. We can certainly do it."

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Numbers 13:30 In-Context

28 But the people who live there are strong. Their cities are walled and very large. We even saw some Anakites there.

29 The Amalekites live in the southern area; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the mountains; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan River."

30 Then Caleb told the people near Moses to be quiet, and he said, "We should certainly go up and take the land for ourselves. We can certainly do it."

31 But the men who had gone with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are."

32 And those men gave the Israelites a bad report about the land they explored, saying, "The land that we explored is too large to conquer. All the people we saw are very tall.