For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol
That is, when they went up the hill, for they were bid to go up
into the mountain, and proceeded on into the country, until they
came to the valley or brook, of Eshcol, so called from the
cluster of grapes they there cut down, and brought along with
them, ( Numbers
13:17 Numbers
13:23 Numbers
13:24 )
and saw the land;
searching it for the space of forty days:
they discouraged the heart of the children of
Israel;
by telling them that there were giants in the land, and that the
people in common were strong, and their cities walled, and that
they were not able to go up against them and overcome them; and
by this means they disheartened the people:
that they should not go, into the land which the Lord had
given them;
and this Moses feared, and suggests would be the consequence of
the request the two tribes now made.