How does Caleb’s response differ from the other scouts’ response to the land they have viewed?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Caleb urges Israel to go up and possess the land, saying they can conquer it. The others say its people are stronger than they are and speak ill of the land, describing tall people and sons of Enac beside whom they seemed like locusts.

Chapter breakdown

Numbers 13 records the sending of twelve scouts and their report. Israel leaves Haseroth and camps in the desert of Pharan. The Lord tells Moses to send men to view Chanaan, which he will give Israel, one ruler from each tribe. Moses obeys and sends principal men from Pharan.

From Ruben goes Sammua son of Zechur; from Simeon, Saphat son of Huri; from Juda, Caleb son of Jephone; from Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; from Ephraim, Osee son of Nun; from Benjamin, Phalti son of Raphu; from Zabulon, Geddiel son of Sodi. From Joseph’s tribe, the branch of Manasses, goes Gaddi son of Susi. From Dan goes Ammiel son of Gemalli; from Aser, Sthur son of Michael; from Nephtali, Nahabi son of Vapsi; and from Gad, Guel son of Machi. These are the men Moses sends. He calls Osee son of Nun Josue.

Moses tells them to go up on the south side and, on reaching the mountains, view the land and its people. Are the people strong or weak, few or many? Is the land good or bad? Are the cities walled or unwalled? Is the ground fertile or barren, wooded or without trees? They must have courage and bring fruit from the land. The first ripe grapes are then ready to eat.

They view the land from the desert of Sin to Rohob at the entrance to Emath. Going up by the south, they reach Hebron, where Achiman, Sisai and Tholmai, sons of Enac, are. Hebron was built seven years before Egypt’s city Tanis. At the torrent of the cluster of grapes they cut a branch with its cluster, carried by two men on a lever. They also take pomegranates and figs. The place is called Nehelescol, meaning the torrent of the cluster of grapes, because Israel’s children carried a cluster from there. The scouts return after forty days, having gone around the whole country.

They return to Moses, Aaron and all Israel’s assembly in Pharan at Cades and show the fruits to them and the multitude. They report that the land truly flows with milk and honey, as the fruits show. But, they say, the inhabitants are very strong, the cities great and walled, and they saw Enac’s race there. They report Amalec in the south; the Hethite, Jebusite and Amorrhite in the mountains; and the Chanaanite by the sea and near Jordan’s streams.

Caleb, seeking to still the people’s murmuring against Moses, urges them to go up and possess the land because they can conquer it. The others who went with him say they cannot go up because the people are stronger than they are. They speak ill of the land before Israel, saying it devours its inhabitants and the people they saw are tall.

Challoner says these men discouraged Israel from attempting conquest by misrepresenting the promised land. He describes them as a figure of worldly people who misrepresent true devotion and discourage Christians from seeking and acquiring that good and securing a happy eternity. This application is the annotation’s explanation.

The scouts say they saw certain monsters among Enac’s sons, of the giant kind, beside whom they seemed like locusts. This is their reported comparison. The chapter ends here; it does not narrate the later response or judgement.

The story inside

The report moves from observations to opposing recommendations. Moses asks about people, land, cities, ground and trees, and requests fruit. The scouts bring fruit and report a land flowing with milk and honey, while also naming strong inhabitants and walled cities. Caleb urges possession and says conquest is possible. The others answer that they cannot go up because the people are stronger, then speak ill of the land. Keeping the speakers clear matters: the land-devouring and locust comparisons belong to their report, not an independent narrator’s assessment. This chapter records Caleb’s voice at that moment without naming a second dissenting scout or numbering the opposing speakers as ten.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The inspection has concrete questions. Strength, numbers, walls, soil and trees are separate matters, so a summary of the mission must keep more than the search for fruit.
2
The fruit and the warnings appear in the same report. The scouts describe both the land’s produce and its inhabitants; the account must not invent their tasting the fruit or treat their words as the narrator’s guarantee.
3
Caleb and the others reach different stated conclusions. He says they can conquer, while they cite the people’s greater strength. Their further evil report is recorded, but events from the next chapter cannot be supplied as its outcome here.

Test your recall

How do Caleb and the other scouts use their report to reach opposite conclusions about going up to possess the land?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 15559–15573
Numbers Chapter 13 The twelve spies are sent to view the land. The relation they make of it. 13:1. And the people marched from Haseroth, and pitched their tents in the desert of Pharan. 13:2. And there the Lord spoke to Moses, saying. 13:3. Send men to view the land of Chanaan, which I will give to the children of Israel, one of every tribe, of the rulers. 13:4. Moses did what the Lord had commanded, sending from the desert of Pharan, principal men, whose names are these:
Lines 15575–15601
13:5. Of the tribe of Ruben, Sammua the son of Zechur. 13:6. Of the tribe of Simeon, Saphat the son of Huri. 13:7. Of the tribe of Juda, Caleb the son of Jephone. 13:8. Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. 13:9. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Osee the son of Nun. 13:10. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Phalti the son of Raphu. 13:11. Of the tribe of Zabulon, Geddiel the son of Sodi. 13:12. Of the tribe of Joseph, of the sceptre of Manasses, Gaddi the son of Susi. 13:13. Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli. 13:14. Of the tribe of Aser, Sthur the son of Michael. 13:15. Of the tribe of Nephtali, Nahabi the son of Vapsi. 13:16. Of the tribe of Gad, Guel the son of Machi. 13:17. These are the names of the men, whom Moses sent to view the land: and he called Osee the son of Nun, Josue.
Lines 15603–15616
13:18. And Moses sent them to view the land of Chanaan, and said to them: Go you up by the south side. And when you shall come to the mountains, 13:19. View the land, of what sort it is, and the people that are the inhabitants thereof, whether they be strong or weak: few in number or many: 13:20. The land itself, whether it be good or bad: what manner of cities, walled or without walls: 13:21. The ground, fat or barren, woody or without trees. Be of good courage, and bring us of the fruits of the land. Now it was the time when the firstripe grapes are fit to be eaten.
Lines 15618–15635
13:22. And when they were gone up, they viewed the land from the desert of Sin, unto Rohob as you enter into Emath. 13:23. And they went up at the south side, and came to Hebron, where were Achiman and Sisai and Tholmai the sons of Enac. For Hebron was built seven years before Tanis the city of Egypt. 13:24. And going forward as far as the torrent of the cluster of grapes, they cut off a branch with its cluster of grapes, which two men carried upon a lever. They took also of the pomegranates and of the figs of that place: 13:25. Which was called Nehelescol, that is to say, the torrent of the cluster of grapes, because from thence the children of Israel had carried a cluster of grapes. 13:26. And they that went to spy out the land returned after forty days, having gone round all the country,
Lines 15637–15651
13:27. And came to Moses and Aaron and to all the assembly of the children of Israel to the desert of Pharan, which is in Cades. And speaking to them and to all the multitude, they shewed them the fruits of the land: 13:28. And they related and said: We came into the land to which thou sentest us, which in very deed floweth with milk and honey as may be known by these fruits: 13:29. But it hath very strong inhabitants, and the cities are great and walled. We saw there the race of Enac. 13:30. Amalec dwelleth in the south, the Hethite and the Jebusite and the Amorrhite in the mountains: but the Chanaanite abideth by the sea and near the streams of the Jordan.
Lines 15653–15663
13:31. In the mean time Caleb, to still the murmuring of the people that rose against Moses, said: Let us go up and possess the land, for we shall be able to conquer it. 13:32. But the others, that had been with him, said: No, we are not able to go up to this people, because they are stronger than we. 13:33. And they spoke ill of the land, which they had viewed, before the children of Israel, saying: The land which we have viewed, devoureth its inhabitants: the people, that we beheld are of a tall stature.
Lines 15665–15670
Spoke ill, etc.... These men, who by their misrepresentations of the land of promise, discouraged the Israelites from attempting the conquest of it, were a figure of worldlings, who, by decrying or misrepresenting true devotion, discourage Christians from seeking in earnest and acquiring so great a good, and thereby securing to themselves a happy eternity.
Lines 15672–15675
13:34. There we saw certain monsters of the sons of Enac, of the giant kind: in comparison of whom, we seemed like locusts.