Numbers 13:4

4 These were their names: Of the tribe of Re'uven, Shammua the son of Zakkur.

Numbers 13:4 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 13:4

And these [were] their names, of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua
the son of Zaccur.
] From ( Numbers 13:4-15 ) , there is nothing but the names of the said persons, whose sons they were, and of what tribe; and the several tribes are mentioned, not according to the order of the birth of the patriarchs, nor according to the dignity of their mothers that bore them, but, very likely, according to the order in which they were sent, two by two, to search the land; for had they gone all twelve in a body, they would have been liable to suspicion: the signification of their names is of no importance to know, and will give us no light into their characters or the reason of their choice, nor are their parents elsewhere taken notice of, nor any of them but Joshua and Caleb, of whom we shall hear more hereafter.

Numbers 13:4 In-Context

2 Send you men, that they may spy out the land of Kana`an, which I give to the children of Yisra'el: of every tribe of their fathers shall you send a man, everyone a prince among them.
3 Moshe sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the mitzvah of the LORD: all of them men who were heads of the children of Yisra'el.
4 These were their names: Of the tribe of Re'uven, Shammua the son of Zakkur.
5 Of the tribe of Shim`on, Shafat the son of Hori.
6 Of the tribe of Yehudah, Kalev the son of Yefunneh.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.