Numbers 13:21

21 They went up and reconnoitered the land from the Tzin Desert to Rechov near the entrance to Hamat.

Numbers 13:21 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 13:21

So they went up and searched the land
Went up the mountains as they were directed, and passed through the whole land; diligently inquired into everything material belonging to it, according to their instructions, and made their observations on it, and on the inhabitants, and their habitations:

from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath;
this wilderness, from whence they went, seems to be the same with the wilderness of Paran, called Zin; perhaps from the multitude of thorns in it; but different from the wilderness of Sin, ( Exodus 16:1 ) , which was nearer Egypt; but this was on the south quarter of the land of Canaan, along by the coast of Edom, ( Numbers 34:3 ) ( Joshua 15:1 ) ; Rehob, they are said to come to first from thence, was in the tribe of Asher in later times, ( Joshua 19:28 ) ; and lay to the north or northwest of the land of Canaan. Jerom says F18, that in his times there was a village called Rooba, four miles from Scythopolis. Hamath was the northern boundary of the land of Israel, and was in the tribe of Naphtali, when it came into the hands of the Israelites, and lay to the northeast, as the former place to the northwest, ( Numbers 34:7 Numbers 34:8 ) ( Joshua 19:35 ) ; so that their direction, as they went, was south and north, and west and east: their journey is described by Jarchi thus; they went on the borders of it, length and breadth, in the form of the capital of the letter (g) , "gamma"; they went on the south border from the east corner to the west corner, as Moses commanded them: "get you up this [way] southward", ( Numbers 13:17 ) ; the way of the southeast border unto the sea, which is the western border; and from thence they returned, and went on all the western border by the sea shore, until they came to Hamath, which is by Mount Hor, at the northwest corner; but Hamath was on the northeast; nor did they go thither, it was too far off for them, but they went as far as Rehob, which was "as men go to Hamath", as it should be rendered, that is, it lay in the way to Hamath.


FOOTNOTES:

F18 De loc. Heb. fol. 94. A.

Numbers 13:21 In-Context

19 and what kind of country they live in, whether it is good or bad; and what kind of cities they live in, open or fortified.
20 See whether the land is fertile or unproductive and whether there is wood in it or not. Finally, be bold enough to bring back some of the fruit of the land." When they left it was the season for the first grapes to ripen.
21 They went up and reconnoitered the land from the Tzin Desert to Rechov near the entrance to Hamat.
22 They went up into the Negev and arrived at Hevron; Achiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the 'Anakim, lived there. (Hevron was built seven years before Tzo'an in Egypt.)
23 They came to the Eshkol Valley; and there they cut off a branch bearing one cluster of grapes, which they carried on a pole between two of them; they also took pomegranates and figs.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.