Numbers 13:21

21 And what the land is, whether rich or poor; whether there are trees in it or no: and ye shall persevere and take of the fruits of the land: and the days the days of spring, the forerunners of the grape.

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 ye shall see the land, what it is, and the people that dwells on it, whether it is strong or weak, or they are few or many.
20 And what the land is on which they dwell, it is good or bad; and what the cities are wherein these dwell, whether they dwell in walled or unwalled.
21 And what the land is, whether rich or poor; whether there are trees in it or no: and ye shall persevere and take of the fruits of the land: and the days the days of spring, the forerunners of the grape.
22 And they went up and surveyed the land from the wilderness of Sin to Rhoob, as men go in to Aemath.
23 And they went up by the wilderness, and departed as far as Chebron; and there Achiman, and Sessi, and Thelami, the progeny of Enach. Now Chebron was built seven years before Tanin of Egypt.

Footnotes 1

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.