Deuteronomy 1:22

22 "Then all of you approached me, and [you] said, 'Let us send men {before us},^[a] and let them explore the land for us, and let them bring back {a report}^[b] to us [concerning] the way that {we should take}^[c] [and concerning] the cities that we shall come to.'

Deuteronomy 1:22 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 1:22

And ye came near unto me everyone of you
Not every individual of them, but the heads of their tribes, that represented them; this is not to be understood of the present generation personally, but of their fathers, who all died in the wilderness, save a very few of them; but they being the same people and nation, it is so expressed:

and said, we will send men before us;
that is, they thought it was proper and prudent so to do, and came to Moses to consult him about it; for we are not to suppose that they had determined upon it, whether he approved of it or not:

and they shall search us out the land:
that they might know what sort of land it was, whether good or bad, fruitful or not, and whether woody or not: see ( Numbers 13:19 Numbers 13:20 )

and bring us word again by what way we must go up;
or, "concerning the way ^F13 in which we must go"; which is the best way of entering it, most easy and accessible, where the passes are most open and least dangerous:

and into what cities we shall come;
which it would be the most proper to attack and subdue first.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F13 (Krdh ta) , "de via", Noldius, p. 117. No. 594. so the Arabic version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Deuteronomy 1:22 In-Context

20 I said to you, '{You have reached} the hill country of the Amorites that Yahweh our God [is] giving to us.

21 See, Yahweh your God has set before you the land; go up and possess [it] as Yahweh the God of your ancestors said to you; do not fear and do not be dismayed.'

22 "Then all of you approached me, and [you] said, 'Let us send men {before us}, and let them explore the land for us, and let them bring back {a report} to us [concerning] the way that {we should take} [and concerning] the cities that we shall come to.'

23 The plan was good {in my opinion}, and [so] I took from [among] you twelve men, {one from each tribe}.

24 And they {set out} and {went up into the hill country}, and they went up to the wadi of Eschol, and they spied out [the land].

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "before our faces" or "ahead of us"
• [b] Literally "a word"
• [c] Literally "we should go up by it"