Numbers 13

and hereby she had. time given her to humble herself before God, and to beg his pardon for her sin. Brought in again. When one would have expected that such sacrifices should have been offered for her cleansing, as are required in Lev. xiv. But this was an extraordinary case; she being on a sudden miraculously struck with the highest degree of the plague of leprosy, and as suddenly cured by the same hand that struck her. [chap. xm. employ him in leading and conducting his people into the land of promise: wherein he was a type of the Saviour of the world, the Lord Jesus (whoso name is the same with this), who conducts those that bclievo on him to a heavenly inheritance.’ If I could find the like comfortable signification in the rest of the names of these men, I should think there might be some ground for their opinion, who fancy Moses chose Joshua because there was a good omen in his very name. For all nations took great care that no man should be employed in affairs of moment, whose name carried any unlucky signification in it. So Cicero observes, in his first book of Divination, that the generals of armies, and the censors, took care that none should so much as lead the sacrifices to the altar but who were bonis nominibus, of names that signified good: of which the consuls also were very observant, tit primus miles fiat bono nomine, that the first soldier whom they listed should be of a good name; such as Valerius, Salvius, Statorius, or the like. On the contrary, the name of Nasvius was deemed so bad, that in his oration -pro Quinct. Scxt. he saith, having named the man, methinks Iliave said enough. Vcr. 17. And Moses sent them to spy out the land, and said unto them.’] That is, when he sent them to spy out the land (as was said in the foregoing verse), he gave them the following directions. Get ye up this way southward.] This south part of Canaan fell afterward to be part of the lot of the tribe of Judah, (Josh. xv. 1 — 3.) and was very dry, and consequently barren, (Judg. i. 15.) and, therefore, fittestfor their entrance to spy out the land unobserved, being less inhabited than the better parts of the country. Besides, it was nearest to, the place where they now were encamped. And go up into the mountain.] “Where the Amorites dwelt, (Deut. i. 19.) together with some Amalekites, and other people, (chap. xiv. 43. 45.) From whence they were to go down into the valleys. asmuch asSixtius,i*z. six cubits high, asGoliathwas. And Talmai he derives from talam, furrow: as if he seemed in length to equal a furrow in the field. These were the people that made the Israelites tremble; for it is likely their whole family was of a very large stature, though not so big as these. And, indeed, they were so very terrible to all their neighbours, that it became a proverbial saying in those countries, Who can standbefore the children ofAnak? (Deut. ix.2.) Noiv Hebron tvas built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.’] The Egyptians blasted of the great antiquity of their nation and cities: but Moses shews that Hebron was built before the capital city of their country: for so Zoan was; and called in after-ages Tanis; lying not far from that mouth of the river Nile, which from thence was called by Plutarch ravntKov <rr6fia. R. Solomon will have it that Hebron was built by Cham, one of the three sons of Noah, and the father of Mizraim; from whom the Egyptians descended. But of this there is no certainty; andtheGemara upon Sota (cap. 7.) saith, It is not likely that a man would build a house for his younger son, before he had built one for his elder; for Canaan was the youngest of all the sons of Cham, (Gen. x. 6.) Yet those doctors are willing to suppose that Cham built both these cities; and therefore interpret the word banah, which is rightly translated built, as if it signified fruitful, (according to Gen. xvi. 2.) and make the sense to be, that Hebron was seven times more fruitful than Zoan: which is very foolish; as, upon other accounts, so on this, that Hebron was a stony place, and therefore not fertile. And possess it.] He speaks as if it were already their own (as indeed it was, by God’s gift), and they needed only enter arid take possession of it.. * For tve are able to overcome it.] There will be no such difficulty, as these men represent, in the conquest of it

Numbers 13:1

JjlND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. They being now come to the borders of Canaan, the Lord ordered Moses to exhort them to go up, and take possession of it, and not to fear nor be discouraged; as we read in Deut. i. 21. But the people (out of a distrust of God’s power, as Moses seems to intimate, Deut. ix. 23.) desired they might first send some to search out the land, beforo they attempted its conquest, (Deut. i. 22.) About which,. it is likely, Moses consulted the Divine Majesty, who gave them leave so to do.

Numbers 13:2

Send thou men. For their greater satisfaction, God ordered them to have their desire. For there seems to have been a general fear upon them (every one of them coming to Moses with this request, Deut. i. 22.) which could not be removed, but by sending some to bring them intelligence what kind of country it was, and what people they had to deal withal, (ver. 18—20.) That they may search the land of Canaan.] To make a discovery, both of the country and 9f the inhabitants, and the best way to invade it, (Deut. i. 22.) WJiich I give unto the children of Israel.] To the possession of which God now intended to introduce them. For he had already brought them to the confines of it, and bidden them go up and possess it, (Deut. i. 20, 21.) but they would needs make this delay, for a discovery of the condition of the country; which was their own contrivance at the first, and not a Divino counsel. Of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man.] That there might be no suspicion or partiality in their report. Every, one a ruler among them.] Men of authority and prudence, who might be the more believed; yet not of the highest rank, (for such are called by the name of princes, chap, i, 36.) but rulers perhaps of thousands, who were very considerable in their tribes: for they are c’alled by the same name in the Hebrew, every one being said to be a nasi and a rosch, a leader and a head, in their tribes; which may incline one to think, that there were higher and lower persons of this sort, who had the same title in every tribe.

Numbers 13:3

And Moses, by the commandment of the’ Lord. Which was given him in the fifth month (called Ab, as St. Jerome notes from the Jews) of the second year after they came out of Egypt: it is not certain upon what day; but it is likely in the beginning of the month, which answers to the nineteenth of our July. Sent them from the wilderness ofParan.] From Kadeshbarnea, (chap, xxxii. 8. Deut. i. 19, 20.. ix. 23. Josh, xiv. 7.) All those men were heads of the children of Israel.] So the rulers of thousands and hundreds are called, (Exod. xviii. 25.) as well as the princes, (Numb. i. 16.) But these were a lower sort of heads, or great men, in the several tribes of Israel.

Numbers 13:4

And these were their names: Of the tribe of Reuben, Shajnmua the son ofZaccur. There is little to be observed concerning this verse, and those that follow to the sixteenth, but that it is evident these were not the same men, who, in the first chapter of this book, are called the heads and princes of the tribes; being inferior persons, who ruled over some part, not over a whole tribe. The three first tribes also that are here mentioned, sprang from the three eldest sons (for Levi did not make a tribe in Israel) of Jacob: but, in the enumeration of the rest, there is not any order observed, of which I can give an acciount. Perhaps they being to disperse themselves, when they entered the country they were to search, (see ver. 22.) and thinking it not prudent to go above two (at the most) in company, cast lots who should be associated: and the first lot fell to those of the tribes of Reuben and Simeon; the next to those of Judah and Issachar; and so to the rest.

Numbers 13:11

Of the tribe of Joseph. i. e. Of the other branch of Joseph’s family, viz. of the tribe ofManasseh, as it here follows.

Numbers 13:16

And afterward the people removed. Which shews that the cloud, which departed from the tabernacle, (ver. 10.) returned again to it, together with Miriam, that it might guide them in their removal to another station; for till it was taken up from the tabernacle, they stirred not from the place where they were, (chap. ix. 17, 18.) From Hazeroth.] After they had abode there seven days at the least. And pitched in the wilderness of Par an.] Where they were before, (see chap. x. 12.) but now were brought into another part of it, called Rithmah,(chap.xxxiii. 18.) which was called also by another name, Kadesh-barnea, (chap, xiii. 26. Deut. i. 19.) Or else we must suppose these two places to have been so very near together, that they might be said to have pitched either in the one or the other. This station was at the foot of the mountain on the south part of Canaan, (Deut. i. 20.) so that their next removal was to have been into the land promised to them, if they themselves had not hindered, by their renewed rebellion. This removal was in the fourth month of the second year after they came out of the land of Egypt (See chap. xi. 20. 3d.) These are the names of the men that Moses sent * to spy out the land.’] He would have their names remembered (which is the reason of this remark), for the sake of those two worthy men, Caleb and Joshua, whose virtue was very illustrious in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. And Moses called Oshea, the son of Nun.] So he is called, ver. 8. being named for the tribe of Ephraim. Jehoshua.] He was called by this name presently after they came out of Egypt, (Exod. xvii. 9.) when he went to fight with Amalek: whom he having overcome, Moses looked upon it as a token that he should save and deliver the people of Israel, and then called him by this name: which imports something more than Oshea; for that denotes only a prayer for salvation (as Menochius observes), but this carries in it a promise of it. And some think the addition of the first letter in the name of Jehoshua was from the name Jehovah; implying that the Lord would

Numbers 13:18

And see the land what it is, and the people that dwell therein. These are the general directions which he gave them, to inform themselves both of the country and of its inhabitants. Whether they be strong or weak, few or many.] In particular, with respect to the latter, he directs them to inform themselves whether the inhabitants were strong-bodied or feeble; and whether their number was great or small. Vcr. 19. And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad.] And, with respect to the former, he would have them bring an account; first, what sort of country it was, whether healthful and delightful, or unwholesome and unpleasant. And tvhat cities they be, that they dwell m.] And then how large their cities were, and of what strength. Wliether in tents, or in strong holds.] -Whether they lived in tents, as the Arabians did (and the Israelites while they were in the wilderness), or in houses; and whether they were fortified. Or rather (as we would say in our language), whether in open villages or in walled cities: for so the word mahanaim signifies, not tents (as wo here translate it), but hosts or campsy (Gen. xxxii. 1.) and hero towns without walls, as the LXX. interpret it; and the Vulgar, also, only inverting the order of the words, whether in tvalled towns, or without walls.

Numbers 13:20

And what the land is, &c. And last of all, what is the soil of the country; whether rich and fertile, or poor and barren; and also, whether it be a woody country, or otherwise. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land.] In which discoveries, there being some hazard, he bids them be confident God would preserve them; so that they might venture to bring away with them some of the fruit which the country produced. Now the time teas the time of the first ripe grapes.] Towards the vintage.

Numbers 13:21

So they went up, and searched the land, from tlie wilderness of Zin. Which was on the south of the land of Canaan, (chap, xxxiv. 3. Josh. xv. 1. 3.) being different from i the wilderness of Sin, which lay near to Egypt, (Exod. xvi. 1.) Unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.] The city of Itehob lay in the north of the land of Canaan, and fell to the lot of the tribe of Asher, (Josh. xix. 28.) And it lay not far from Hamath (which, in aftertimes, was called Epiphania), a city which we very often read of afterward, as the bounds of Judea northward; which Moses saith was unto the entrance of Hamath, (chap, xxxiv. 8.) So that they took a survey of the whole country, from one end of it to the other, south and north; and also, as they passed along, observed those parts that lay east and west. For they gave an account of the Canaanites, as dwelling by the sea (which was westward), and by the coast ofJorda?i, which was on the east, (ver. 29.) Or, if by the sea we understand not the Western Ocean, but the Dead Sea (as some do); yet it appears by these very words, that they bent their course, as they passed from south to north, unto the western and eastern parts also. For Rehob and Hamath both lay at the foot of Libanus; one to the north-west (towards Sidon), and the other to the north-east.

Numbers 13:22

And they ascended by the south. In their return from searching the country. And came unto Hebron.] That is, some of them. For the word in the Hebrew is not they came (as it is they ascended J, but he came; which demonstrates that they did not go all Of them together in a company (for that had been dangerous, and might have made them taken notice of), but dispersed themselves; some going to discover one place, some another^ And it is a probable conjecture of some of the Hebrew doctors, that Caleb w T as the man that went to take a view of Hebron; and was so little affrighted at the sight of the giants there, that he was the very person that afterward drove them out; and had this place given him for his portion: for it was in the south part of the lot of the tribe of Judah; being formerly called Kirjath-Arba, (Josh. xiv. 9. 12. 14.) Where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children ofAnak were.] These were the grandchildren of Arba (from whom Hebron had the name of Kirjath-Arba,’ t. e. the city of Arba), who was the father of Anak, whose family was more eminent than any other in Canaan; these three sons of his being men not only of great bulk, but prowess and valour. Bochartus thinks (lib. i. Canaan, cap. 1.) that Anak signifies as much as the Roman name Torquatus; being like to that Gaul whom Manlius vanquished. And Ahiman signifies as’much as, who is my brother? importing there w r as none to be compared with him. Sheshai he takes to be

Numbers 13:23

And they came unto the brook Eshcol. A place whichlay inavalleyat the footof the mountain, (Deut. i. 24.) And cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes.] This was done, no doubt, in some private place, upon the southern borders of Canaan; just as they were returning to the camp of Israel again. For it would have given the country too great an alarm, if they had marched in the highway with this bunch upon their shoulders. And they bare it betiueen tivo.^ A great many authors mention vines and grapes of an extraordinary bigness in those eastern and southern countries. I need only refer to Strabo, who says, the vines in Margiana, and other places, were so big, that two men could scarce compass them with their arms, and that they produced fiorpw liirriyyv, a bunch of grapes of two cubits, (lib. ii. Geograph. p. 73. and lib. xi. p. 51G.) Which is in part justified by Olearius, in his late travels into Persia, book iii. where he saith, not far from Astracan, he saw vines, whose trunks were so thick/that a man could do no more than grasp them about with both his arms. And Forsterus,in his Dictionarium Hebraicum, p. 862. saith, there was a preacher at Nuremberg called Achaicus, who lived as a monk eight years in the holy land (as they call it), who told him upon his sick-bed, that in his time there were clusters of grapes at Hebron of such bigness, that one single kernel was sufficient to quench his thirst a whole day, when he was sick there of a tympany. J. Conradns Dietcrius hath collected a great deal more to this purpose out of Leo Africanus and Nic. Radzivillius, and other authors, in his Antiq. Biblicse, p. 249. And since him the most learned Huetius, in his Quaestioncs Alnctanac, lib. ii. cap. 12. n. 24. where, among other things, I he observes, that Crete, Chios, and other islands in the I vol. i. Archipelago, afford bunches of grapes of ten pound weight, sometimes of thirty-six, yea, of forty. - And he mentions grapes of a prodigious bigness in the island of Madeira. Upon a staff.] See chap. iv. 10. And they brought of the pomegranates and figs’.] Which grew in the parts nearest to the place where the Israelites were encamped.

Numbers 13:24

The place was called the brook Eshcol, became of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. That is, when the Israelites got possession of the land, they called this brook (or valley) by the name of Eshcol, in memory of this bunch of grapes, for so Eshcol signifies.

Numbers 13:25

And they returned from searching of the land. Came back to the camp of Israel. After forty clays.] This shews that they did not take a cursory view of the country; but took time enough to make their observations. And the ripe fruit which they brought with them, after they had been forty days from the camp, demonstrates that their return was in the latter end of the sixth month, very near to the seventh; that is, in the end of the year, according to the old style of that nation. For on the fifteenth day of the seventh month God ordered the feast of tabernacles to be celebrated; a little before which they gathered both their harvest and their vintage, (Exod. xxiii. 16. Lev. xxiii. 39. Deut. xvi. 13.)

Numbers 13:26

And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, &c. They went up the mountain from Eshcol; and came down on the other side of it, to Moses and Aaron, and all the congregation, (Deut. i. 24, 25.) Unto the wilderness of Varan, to Kadesh.] Unto the place from whence they were sent; which was Kadesh-barnea, (see ver. 3. and Deut. ix. 23.) which is here in short called Kadesh; but is quite different from that Kadesh we read of afterward, (chap. xxi. 1.) For that was in the wilderness of Sin; and they did not come to it till the fortieth year after they came out of Egypt, (chap, xxxiii.37, 38.) whereas they were at this Kadesh in the second year; before they were doomed to wander forty years in the wilderness. And brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation.] Gave a public account before Moses and Aaron of what they had discovered. And shelved them the fruit of the land.] And at the same time presented to them the cluster of grapes, the pomegranates, and figs, which they had brought with them.

Numbers 13:27

And they told him, and said. They address their relation to Moses; because he sent them, (ver. 2.) We came unto the land whither thou sentest us.] I suppose they chose some of their number to speak in the name of the rest: and, first, they give an account of the land, as he required, (ver. 19, 20.) And surely it floweth with milk and honey.] Their report of the condition of the land was as honest as could be desired; for they testify it to be such as God promised to bestow upon them, (JExod. xxxiii. 3.) And this is the fruit of it.] They prove what they say by a sample of the product of it: which was so large, that some of the Jews fancy there were eight men employed to carry this one cluster, as they say in the Gcmara Sotae, cap. 7. Of which the spies made this wicked use, as from thence to tell their brethren, " You sec this goodly fruit, how vast it is: but believe us, the inhabitants of the country exceed 4A Microsoft® 54G [chap. XIII. us, and all other men in stature, as much as this fruit exceeds all other of the same kind, throughout the world.” So Wagenseil explains the sense of their discourse in that place, sect. 4. Ver. 2S. Nevertheless the people b& strong that dwell in the land; and the cities are walled, andvery great.] This is an account of the other part of the inquiry Moses commanded them to make, concerning the inhabitants and their cities, (vcr. 18.) And moreover xvesaw the children of the Anakims there.’] See ver. 22. All this was true; but spoken in such a manner, as to represent the conquest of the country exceeding difficult, if not impossible. So they explain their meaning in downright words, (ver. 31.) and so the people understood them, Deut. i. 28. where these frightful people are called the sons of the Anakims: for they saw, not only those three. mentioned before, (ver. 22.) but others also that were descended from them; who, as I there noted, were gigantic persons. So the LXX. translate these words viol yryavrwv, and so the Chaldee; and so the Jews use the word. Anakim, to signify giants; particularly Benjamin Tudelensis, p. 3. of his Itinerary: where L’Empereur thinks it probable they were called Anakims, <€ k torque quo colla superbe cingebant," from a collar or chain, which they proudly wore about their necks: for the word Anak properly signifies collum torque cingere, (pJ 136.) to wreath a chain about the neck. But it is evident they had their name from their progenitor, Anak, the son of Arba: whence he was so called we do not know.

Numbers 13:29

The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south. They do not represent the Amalekites as inhabitants of the land of Canaan; but they observe that they lay on the south border of it: where, if they went about to enter, in till probability, that nation (which were their early enemies when they came out of Egypt) would help to oppose them in their attempt, as much as the people of Canaan. For that is their intention, in tho* following report, to shew what a stout people they must encounter, which way soever they endeavoured to enter into Canaan. And the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites.] An account of all these see Gen. xv. 20, 21. Dwell in the mountains.] Which were in the entrance of the land of Canaan, on the south-east part of it. Particularly the Amorites, it is evident, were planted there, upon the mountains of the borders of Canaan, (Deut. i. 27. 44.) And many of them had made an expedition into the country beyond Jordan, where they had possessed themselves of Bashan and Heshbon, and all the land between the rivers Jabbok and Arnon. For they were a very warlike people, and of great stature, (Amos ii. 9.) which made these searchers of their land afraid of them; and bid their brethren consider whether they thought they should be able to dispute their passage with them: which they plainly suggest, in their opinion, they could not. For the Jebusites were another mighty people, whom, after the conquest of Canaan, they could not of a long time dispossess of Mount Sion. I need not say how terrible the Hittites were; for it is probable from thence came the word hittha, which signifies a fright and sudden consternation; as Bochartus hath observed in his Phaleg. lib. iv. cap. 3G. And the Canaanites.] Those who were particularly called by this name: see Gen. xv. 21. Dwell by the sea.] It is certain that the Canaanites dwelt by the ocean, called the Midland Sea; for they seem to have had their names from merchandizing; for which that situation was most proper; and for that reason others of them were seated near Jordan. This, I think, is plain from Deut. i. 7. And, besides, the word sea alone commonly signifies that great ocean.* But, it being plain that they were also seated, as it here follows, upon the river Jordan, it is possible that by sea may be meant, in this place, the Dead Sea, or the Lake of Genesareth, or both of them; because they were near Jordan, which ran into them. And by the coast of Jordan.] Where the Canaanites were also seated, as is evident from Deut. xi. 30. For there were both western and eastern Canaanites, as appears from Josh. xi. 3. and they are frequently joined with the Perizzites, (particularly Judg. i. 4.) who were a fierce sort of rough people, that dwelt in the woody part of the mountains. So that the intention of the men, who made this report, Was, to represent to the people, that whether they invaded the land by the southern parts, or the eastern, they would find both strougly guarded by a mighty people, much superior to them in force: which account, the following verse shews, put the people into a tumult.

Numbers 13:30

And Caleb stilled the people. It is plain by this, that the people understood, by their way of speaking, countenances, and gestures, that the meaning of these men who made this report (which was not false in itself) was, that, though the country indeed was very rich and desirable, yet -it was impossible for them to drive the inhabitants out of it: which put them into a mutinous disposition, as Caleb perceived by their looks and their muttering; and therefore stepped forth, before it brake out, to quiet their spirits with his account of the country and inhabitants, in which Joshua, no question, joined with him. It is not indeed here mentioned, because Caleb, perhaps, stood next to those who began to make a commotion, and therefore spake first: but he was seconded by Joshua, we may be sure; because we find him mentioned in the next chapter; and, in the first place, together with Caleb, as endeavouring to appease the tumult. And he is not only exempted from the punishment inflicted upon the people for their rebellion, (chap. xiv. 30. 38.) but is expressly said to have followed the Lord fully, as well as Caleb, (chap, xxxii. 12.) Before Moses.] The Hebrew phrase el moscheh may signify that he stilled them, as they were coming towards Moses in a seditious manner; or quieted them so far as to make them hearken to Moses; or, as we render it, in his presence, when they were ready to fly in his face. One of the doctors in the Gemara beforementioncd, (cap.- 9.) saith, that Joshua being about to speak, they bitterly reproached him, and would not suffer him to proceed: and therefore Caleb thought good to give them a great many blandishing words, and to call Moses this son of Anxram, which looked like contempt of him; whereby he stilled them, and disposed them to listen to him. And then he said, " Is not he the person that brought us out of Egypt; that divided the Red Sea for us to pass through it; that gave us manna from heaven? What if he should bid us make ladders and climb up into the skies, should we not obey him V 9 And said, Let us go up at once.] Or, go up immediately, without a stop.

Numbers 13:31

But the men that went up ivith him. The rest of the company that went to search the land; who if.they had not persisted in their unbelief, the people perhaps might have been perfectly appeased by Caleb and Joshua. Said, We be not able.] Now they open their minds more plainly, in their reply to Caleb, whom they oppose directly; and declare their opinion downright, that they were not an equal match for their enemies. To go up against the people.] To beat them out of the mountains which they inhabited. For they are stronger than we.] These men had no confidence in the promise and power of God, on which Caleb and Joshua “relied; but measured all things by human strength.

Numbers 13:32

And they brought itp an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel. In the heat of their opposition, they now disparage the country which they had before praised, (ver. 27.) and also stretch theiVreport of the inhabitants beyond the. truth. Saying, The land, through which we have gone to search, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof] Unless we suppose that there was a great plague at this time in the country, as the Hebrews do (who love to excuse their forefathers’ sins), this was a gross lie. But take it as they suppose, yet this was a very malignant report. For if they saw the people of the country every where, as they passed along, carrying their neighbours to their graves (as the Jews tell the tale), this, which they should have ascribed to the providence of God, who sent this mortality, that they might have fewer enemies to oppose them, and that these spies might pass more freely, and less observed, they most wickedly ascribe to the badness of the air: which being very unhcalthful to the natives, might well be thought would be much more so to strangers. Thus bad minds (as the aforesaid Gemara glosses well enough upon this stoTy) turn that which God intends for their benefit into their hurt. And if we had any better authority for this story, the word achal (which we translate eat up) would well enough agree with it. For, as Maimonides observes, in the’ first part of his More Nevoch. (cap. 30.) it is used in the Holy Scriptures concerning any kind of consumption, destruction, or desolation: as here in this book, chap, xi. 1. Lev. xxvi. 38. 2 Sam. ii. 26, &e. And all the people that we saw in it were men of great stature.] The Hebrew phrase is, men of measures, avdpzg vTrcp/n’/Kcic, as the LXX. translate it, men of larger size than the rest of mankind. Which we have no reason to think was true; but having seen the sons of Anak in one part of the country, they imagined all the rest of the people to be near unto their stature. For this is the description of that giant of Gath, mentioned 1 Chron. xx. 6. where he is called a man of measure; and 2 Sam. xxi. 20. where he is called in the plural number (as they are here), a man of measures, avfjo wtiQix?yl%r\Q, a man above the common bigness* And thus very great houses are called houses of measure, (Jerem. xxii. 24.)

Numbers 13:33

And there we saw giants. Men of greater bulk and strength than the biggest of those very great men, (see Gen. vi. 4.) which they spake of in the foregoing words. The sons of Anak. ] They had mentioned this once before, (ver. 28.) and now repeat it again; because they were struck with such a terror at the sight of them,.that they were always at their tongue’s end. Just as Homer mentions, T/owac Tt Kat “Eicropa, as Bochartus makes the comparison, (lib. i. Canaan, cap. 1.),. Which came of the giants.] Who were descended from a gigantic race of men; particularly from Arba, who was their grandfather, as Joshua tells us, chap. xiv. 15. xv*. 13, 14, &e. where he shews how Caleb drove these Anakims out of their cities, and made them fly to the Philistines; where there weresome remainders of them till the days of David. And others of them, perhaps, fled into Greece; for there was a race of men among the Greeks called “AvaKfc; who Vossius thinks it probable might descend from these children of Anak, (lib. i. de Orig. et Progressu Idolol. cap. 13.) And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers.] Their fear magnified them above measure; though, no doubt, they were men of such an extraordinary height, that they might look upon themselves to be as small and contemptible, as grasshoppers are compared with us. And such very tall men there are still in some parts of the world, as Job Ludolphus observes, in his Commentary upon his Histor. Ethiopiea, lib. i. cap. 2. n. 22. And so tve were in their sight.] One of the Jewish doctors makes bold to call these men liars: for, though their fear might make them appear as grasshoppers, yet how could they tell, saith he, that they were so in the sight of the children of Anak? Here the Gemarists (in the place I men* tioned above, cap. 10.) endeavour to help them out, by continuing the tale of the great mortality which was then in those countries. Where a funeral-feast (as the manner was) being one day made under certain cedar-trees, which are very shady; the spies got up to the top of them, to hide themselves among the thick boughs: but the people below happening to look up, the spies heard them say, There are men got up into the trees, who look like grasshoppers. But there needs no such inventions to defend them, when an hyperbole will do it: their plain meaning being this, that the Anakims looked down upon them with the utmost contempt. i By all which it appears, that they had not only a sight of the Anakims, but the Anakims also saw them, and looked upon them, it is likely, as they did upon other trar yellers; who were wont to como thither, either for their pleasure, or to traffic in their country; or in their way to other places: whom it was not. their custom to. examine strictly, whence they came, and what their business was; but let pass to and fro among them freely. r>