x Either for the weight of it, conſidering the length of the way they were to carry 1t, or for the preſervation of it whole and entire.
In thoſe Eaſtern and Southern countries there are vines and grapes of an extraordinary bigneſs, as Strabo and Pliny affirnt.
24 And the place was called the * brook +Elſhcol,be- .*_ . cauſe of the ciuſter of grapes which the children of Iſ- b Or, Yi. rael cut down from thence. That 3s
25 And they returned from ſearching of the land af. - duftes of ter forty days. grapes.
26 And they went and came to Moſes, and to Aa- ron, and to all the congregation of the children of I. rac], unto the wilderneſs of Paran, to Kadeſh y, and brought back word unto them, and unto ail the con- gregation, and ſhewed them the fruit of the land.
» So called by way of abbreviation, which is frequent 1m Hebrew names, for Kadeſh-barnea, Deut: 1. 19. which ſome raſhly confound with Kaeſb in the wilierneſs of Sin, Numb: 20. 1, and 27. 14. and
33- 16. into which they came not rill the goth year after their coming out of Zgypr,, as appears fiom Numb: 33. 37, 38. whereas
cut: x.
4
32 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the ſon of Gemalli. x3 Ofths cribs of Aſher, Shether the ſon of Michael,
P_—_
[7
; 7 -p Av
they were in this Kadeh in the ſecond year, and before they recety- ed the ſentence of their forty years abode in the wildernets.
2A4 27 And
4: M —_
a, XIV. N U M 27 And: they told him z, and ſaid, We came unto the land whither thou ſenteſt us, and ſurely it floweth
FF Exod: with * milk and honey «, and this « the fruit of it. UNE 3: 3- '2 In the audience of the people, as appears from wer: 30: 4 | They craftily began their relation with commendations, that their Deut: 2. following flanders might be more eaſily believed. , Ulf o, 21. 28 Nevertheleſs, the * people be ſtrong 6b that dwell SP Deur: 7. in the land, and the cities are * walled, ond very great : |; | inks and moreover, we ſaw the children of Anak there. b Potent for the ſtrength of their body, and the valour of their minds.
A 4
*
2 And wherefore hath the LORD # bronght us unto this land, to fall by the ſword, that our wives, and our children ſhould be a prey e? were it nor better for us to return into Egypt?
4 From the inſtruments they riſe higher, and ſtrike at God the chief cauſe and author of their journey ; By which we ſee the pro-
digious growth and progreſs of fin when it is not reſiſted. e To the Canaanites whoſe land we were nude to believe we ſhould poſſeſs.
4 And they faid one to another, Let us make a cap- tain f, and let us return into Egypt g.
F Inſtead of Moſes, one who will be more faithful to cur intereſ! than he. g This was but a purpoſe ora defire, and yer it is imput-
$ 29The Amalekite dwelleth in theland of the ſouth c: and the Hittite, and the Jebuſite, and the Amorite dwel- | teth-in the mountains 4d: and the Canaanite dwelleth | by the ſea e, and by the coaſt of Jordans
c Where we are to enter the land, and they who were ſo eager
| land, and are about to {:ttle in their neighbourhood, the rather, ro revenge themſelves for thzir former loſs and ſhame received by us. Therefore they mention them, though they were no Canaz- Lires. d(:. e.) In the mountainous country in the South-eaſt part of the land, ſothat you cannot enter there without great difficulty, both becauſe ofthe noted ſtrength and valour of thoſe people, and becaulſe' of the advantage they have from the mountains. e Notrthe mid-land Sea, which is commonly underſtood by that expreſſion, but the ſalt or dead ſea, as appears, - :.Becauſe ir is that ſea which is next to Jordan, as here follows, 2. Becauſe the Canaanites dwelt principally in thoſe parts, and not near the mid-land ſea. Sotheſe
' euard the eatrance on the Eaſt-fide, as the others do on the South. 20 And Caleb f ftilled the people g before Moles 6, and faid, Let us go up at once, and polleſs it, for we
are well able to overcome it 2. . f Together with Joſbus, as is manifeſt from Numb: 14. 6. 7, 39. bur Caleb alone is here mentioned, poſſibly becauſe he ſpake firſt and moſt, which he might better do, becauſe he might be preſumed to be more impartial than Joſhua, who being Moſes his Minitter might be thought to ſpeak only what he knew his maſter would like. g Which implies either that they had begun to murmur, or that by their looks and carriages, they diſcovered that griefand anger which boiled in their breaſts, þ Or, towards Moſes, againſt whom they were incenſed, as the man who had brought them into ſuch ſad circumſtances. # Partly in moral probabi'iry, becauſe we /are one people united under one head, whereas they are divided into ſeveral nations, and governments of differing counſels and intereſts and inclinations ; And principally becauſe of the afliſt-
ance of the almighty God. : : 31 Bur the men that went up with him &, (aid, We
be not able to go up againſt the people, for they ere
ſtronger than we 4
k All of them, Joſhua excepted. 7 Both in ſtature of Body and numbers of people. Thus they wickedly queſtion the power and truth and goodneſs of God, of all which they had ſuch, ample teſti- monies.
32 And they brought up m an evil report of the land
»”, which they had ſearched, unto the children of Ifra- el, ſaying, The land through which we have gone to ſearch .it, & aland * that eateth up the inhabitants thereof 0: and all the people that we faw in it, are
* men of great ſtature-
-m Heb: brought forth, to wit, out of their mouths: They uttered a reproach or reproachful words. » (i. e.) Againſt, or, concern- ing the land. It is the genitive caſe of the obje&, as Marth: 10. 1. and 14.1. o Not ſo much by civil wars, as moſt think, for that was likely to make their conqueſt more eaſie ; nor by the barren- \ neſs of the ſoil, which conſumed the people with the exceſſive
pains it required to make it fruitful, as others think, for they con-
feſſed the excellency of the land, wv: 27. but rather by the unwhole- ſomeneſs of the air and place, which they gueſſed from the many funerals, which, as ſome Hebrew Writers, not without probability affirm, they obſerved in their travels through it : Though that came ro paſs from another cauſe, even from the fingular providence of
God, which, to facilitate the Jraelites conqueſt, cut off vaſt num-
bers of the Canaanites, either by a plague, or by the horner fent be- fore them, as is expreſled, Joſ:'24. 12, or ſome other way.