Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Moses sends twelve scouts into Canaan: they bring back a grape cluster on a pole; but by reporting the strength of the cities and inhabitants, they frighten the Hebrews from it, while Caleb resists in vain.
Vulgate Text: Numbers 13:1-34
1. And the people set out from Haseroth, having pitched their tents in the desert of Pharan, 2. and there the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 3. Send men to survey the land of Chanaan, which I will give to the children of Israel, one from each tribe, from the leaders. 4. Moses did as the Lord had commanded, sending leading men from the desert of Pharan, whose names are these: 5. Of the tribe of Ruben, Sammua the son of Zechur. 6. Of the tribe of Simeon, Saphat the son of Huri. 7. Of the tribe of Juda, Caleb the son of Jephone. 8. Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. 9. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Osee the son of Nun. 10. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Phalti the son of Raphu. 11. Of the tribe of Zabulon, Geddiel the son of Sodi. 12. Of the tribe of Joseph, of the scepter of Manasse, Gaddi the son of Susi. 13. Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli. 14. Of the tribe of Aser, Sthur the son of Michael. 15. Of the tribe of Nephtali, Nahabi the son of Vapsi. 16. Of the tribe of Gad, Guel the son of Machi. 17. These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to survey the land: and he called Osee the son of Nun, Josue. 18. Moses therefore sent them to survey the land of Chanaan, and said to them: Go up through the southern region. And when you come to the mountains, 19. survey the land, what it is like; and the people who inhabit it, whether they are strong or weak, few in number or many; 20. the land itself, whether good or bad; the cities, what sort, walled or without walls; 21. the soil, whether fertile or barren, wooded or without trees. Be of good courage, and bring us some of the fruits of the land. Now it was the season when the early grapes can be eaten. 22. And when they had gone up, they surveyed the land from the desert of Sin all the way to Rohob at the entrance of Emath. 23. And they went up toward the south, and came to Hebron, where were Achiman and Sisai and Tholmai, sons of Enac; for Hebron had been founded seven years before Tanis, a city of Egypt. 24. And going on as far as the Torrent of the cluster, they cut off a branch with its grape cluster, which two men carried on a pole. They also took some pomegranates and figs from that place, 25. which was called Nehelescol, that is, the Torrent of the cluster, because the children of Israel had carried a grape cluster from there. 26. And the scouts returned from exploring the land after forty days, having gone around the whole region, 27. and came to Moses and Aaron, and to the whole assembly of the children of Israel in the desert of Pharan, which is in Cades. And they spoke to them and to the whole multitude and showed them the fruits of the land; 28. and they reported, saying: We came to the land to which you sent us, which indeed flows with milk and honey, as can be known from these fruits; 29. but it has very strong inhabitants, and large, walled cities. We saw the stock of Enac there. 30. Amalech dwells in the south, the Hethite and Jebusite and Amorite in the mountains: and the Chanaanite dwells near the sea and around the streams of the Jordan. 31. Meanwhile Caleb, restraining the murmuring of the people that was arising against Moses, said: Let us go up and possess the land, for we shall be able to obtain it. 32. But the others, who had been with him, said: We are by no means able to go up against this people, because they are stronger than we. 33. And they disparaged the land which they had inspected before the children of Israel, saying: The land which we surveyed devours its inhabitants; the people whom we beheld are of towering stature. 34. There we saw certain monsters of the sons of Enac, of the race of giants: compared to whom, we seemed like locusts.
Verse 1: The people set out from Haseroth
1. AND THE PEOPLE SET OUT FROM HASEROTH (where was the fourteenth camp of the Hebrews), HAVING PITCHED THEIR TENTS IN THE DESERT OF PHARAN, -- that is, proceeding to pitch camp in that vast desert of Pharan: for in it the subsequent camps followed, all the way to the thirty-third; moreover this fifteenth camp, to which they came directly from Haseroth, was Rethma, as is clear from Numbers XXXIII, 48.
Verses 2-3: Send men to survey the land
2 and 3. AND THERE THE LORD SPOKE TO MOSES, SAYING: SEND MEN TO SURVEY THE LAND OF CHANAAN. -- God said this after this people, distrusting God's promises, had asked that scouts be sent into Chanaan, who would report what the land was like, how fertile, and how fortified, as is clear from Deuteronomy 1, 22. For when the people requested this, Moses consulted the Lord, who assented to Moses, and commanded him to do the very thing the people were asking, as is clear from this passage. For "the best commander is the one who has the fullest knowledge of the enemy's affairs," says Chabrias; for in wars secrecy is of the greatest value. Hence Metellus, when asked by a centurion what he intended to do, replied: "If I knew that my tunic were privy to my counsel, I would immediately burn it," says Plutarch.
One from each tribe, from the leaders
3. ONE FROM EACH TRIBE, FROM THE LEADERS, -- not from the first and highest, that is, from those 12 men each of whom presided over his whole tribe; for those were called by other names, as is clear from chapter x, verse 14; but from other lesser leaders, who were subordinate to those first ones; and perhaps from those who had been appointed by the counsel of Jethro, Exodus XVIII, 25.
Verse 12: Of the tribe of Joseph, of the scepter of Manasse
12. OF THE TRIBE OF JOSEPH, OF THE SCEPTER OF MANASSE, -- in Hebrew, of the tribe of Joseph of the tribe of Manasse, or as regards the tribe of Manasse. For the tribe of Joseph was double, namely Ephraim and Manasse: so in order to designate a specific tribe, he determines the tribe of Joseph by the tribe of Manasse.
Verse 17: Osee renamed Josue
Verse 17. AND HE CALLED OSEE THE SON OF NUN, JOSUE. -- Note: For Nun, the Septuagint and commonly the ancient writers who follow them, read Nave, but corruptly; for the Hebrew, Chaldean, and Latin have Nun, and Nun could easily have been corrupted into Greek, so that instead of Nun (as the Septuagint seems to have translated) Navi crept in. Again, for Osee, or as it is in Hebrew, Hosee, the Septuagint translates Ausen, and so the ancients following the Septuagint often call Josue Ausem. The Septuagint therefore seems to have read the Hebrew name with different vowel points, as if descending from the passive imperative niphal of the verb iasca, that is, he saved; namely hosea, that is, to save, be saved: whence by contraction the name Ause was formed, which Moses changed into the active Jehoscua, that is, savior, or who will save: unless one suspects an ancient error with St. Jerome, at the beginning of the Commentary on Osee, so that instead of Ause one should read Ausem, with vav corrupted into mem, which is similar to it in form. For our Translator and the Chaldean and others generally translate Osee, not Ause.
Why Moses changed the name to Josue
But Moses changed the name Hosee to Jehoscua, adding and prefixing to the name Osee the letter yod, first, to promise more certainly to Josue himself, and through him to the people, salvation and victory over the Canaanites, which he was beginning with this exploration: for Hosee as a verb means save (whence hosanna is the same as save, I pray), while Jehoscua, to which Jehoscua alludes, means who will save; second, to indicate that God would bestow many good things on him, to whose name He had added the first letter of His tetragrammatic name, namely yod. St. Jerome seems to have had this in view in his commentary on Haggai chapter 1, and Eusebius, Demonstration IV, last chapter, saying: Jehoscua is the same as Jaho Jescua, that is, the salvation of God, or savior, that is, given by God for the salvation of the people: for he reads the tetragrammatic name with these vowel points, so that it sounds Jaho; third and finally, because by the prophetic spirit Moses foresaw that Josue would bear the express type of Jesus Christ, both in name and in reality, and in the most blessed leading of the chosen people into the promised land.
Josue as a type of Jesus Christ
Hence Eusebius, book IV of the Demonstration XXXVII, teaches that Aaron the high priest was called Christ by Moses, because he was a type of the priesthood of Christ: while Ausen (for Nausen is erroneously read in Eusebius) was called Josue by Moses, because he was to be a type of the kingship of Christ; so also Theodoret, Question XXV, and Tertullian Against the Jews, and Clement of Alexandria in book I of the Pedagogue VII, Justin Against Trypho, page 84, Lactantius, book IV On True Wisdom, chapter XVII, Prosper, part II, Predictions chapter IV, Origen, homily 1 on Josue, Ambrose on Psalm XLVII, Jerome to Paulinus, Augustine, book XVI Against Faustus, chapter XVIII. So Abram, who was to be the father of many peoples, was called Abraham by God. The forerunner of Christ, who was to be the first herald of the grace and Gospel of Christ, was called John, that is, gracious.
Hence again Lactantius, book IV, chapter XVII, Origen, homily 11 on Exodus, and other Greek and Latin Fathers, whom Serarius cites in his preface to Josue, note that Moses changed his name, and called him Josue instead of Hosee, at the time when he was appointed commander of the army against the Amalekites, and defeated them. For Josue means Savior, who as leader of the people saved his people: just as Jesus saved men by fighting and conquering demons, Colossians II, 15. An indication of this is that the name Josue is first read in Exodus XVII, 9, where Josue is appointed by Moses as commander of the war against Amalec.
Others, however, think that the name Osee was changed to Josue at this time, when he was designated as an explorer of the holy land. For at that point, undertaking the perilous and uncertain task of exploring hostile territory, voluntarily exposing himself to the evident danger of an ignominious and bitter death (lest, that is, he be tortured and torn apart by the Canaanites as a spy and traitor), he offered himself for the people. Then therefore he appeared bold, magnanimous and fearless, and thus worthy to be honored with this new and august name. So think Justin Against Trypho, St. Augustine, book XVI Against Faustus, chapter XIX, Anastasius of Nicaea, Question LV, Abulensis and Oleaster.
St. Augustine adds that Josue then bore the type of Jesus Christ, who, about to depart to heaven, said to His disciples: "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and take you to Myself," John XIV, 3.
Thus Antiochus, the first of this name, king of Syria, on account of the victory won over the Galatians, was called Soter, that is, savior: and in battle he bore on his standard the figure of a pentagram, with the word hygiaia, that is, health, as can be seen on coins; and he used as his military watchword the word sozantho, which means to be saved; and he said he had been commanded by Alexander the Great in a dream to adopt it: as Lucian testifies, Apology on the Slip in Greeting, and Pierius, Hieroglyphics 47.
The name Jesus: etymology and meaning
From all of which it is clear that Jehoscua, or by contraction Josue, is precisely the same name as Jescua, that is, Jesus, and not a different one, as Galatinus, Pagninus, and Jansenius, chapter VII of the Concordance, would have it. And this is demonstrated by the fact that commonly the Septuagint, Josephus, and Philo, in the book On Charity, translate the Hebrew Jescua, or Josue, as Iesous, that is, Jesus: for Iesous is trisyllabic in Greek, because iota among them is a vowel, which in Hebrew and Latin is a consonant; then they turn the tsere vowel point under yod in Jescua into eta: for eta formerly sounded like e; and third, they change the guttural ayin into sigma, for ease of pronunciation, just as for Maschiach they translate Messias.
Then the same thing is clear from Haggai, chapter 1, verses 1, 12, 14, and chapter II, verses 3, 5, and from Zechariah, chapter III, verses 1, 3, 8; for these two call Jesus the high priest, the son of Josedec (who was also a type of Christ, inasmuch as He is the supreme Pontiff of the New Testament, as is clear from Zechariah III, in the verses cited) Jesus, who nevertheless by Esdras, book I, chapter III, 2, 8, 9, and chapter IV, verse 3, in the Hebrew and our version, is called Jesue. Finally, the letters of both names in Hebrew are the same, and the root is the same, namely iasca, that is, he saved; whence Josue or Jesus is the same as Savior.
Hence it is clear first, that those err who derive the name Jesus from the Greek verb iao, that is, I heal: or from the Syriac asa, that is, I heal, as if Iesous were the same as iatros, that is, physician; so Epiphanius, heresy 29: "Jesus," he says, "in the Hebrew language means healer, or physician and savior." So also Basil in his Ascetical works, and Cyril, Catechesis 10, near the end, derive the name Iesous from the Greek iao. Where nevertheless note that, although this is not the true etymological reason, it is nonetheless a fitting adaptation and accommodation of the name.
How to write Jesus in Hebrew
It is clear second, that in Hebrew one must write Jescua, so that the last letter is ayin, and not Iesu, as the Jews write, either out of contempt, or by Syriac abbreviation; nor should one write Jescuah, with he at the end: because this means salvation, whereas Jesus means Savior.
It is clear third, that the name Jesus is not the same as the tetragrammatic name, nor does it differ from it merely by the insertion of the letter shin, as a certain person from the innovators' flock, namely Lucas Osiander on Matthew 1, thought; and consequently nor should it be written Jehescuh with he at the end preceded by vav, as he would have it, as if Christ the Lord's name Jesus were entirely different from Josue or Jescua. For this has already been refuted; and St. Matthew, 1, 21, openly overthrows it, who says of Christ: You shall call His name Jesus; for He shall save, etc. Whence it is clear that the name Jesus is the same as Jescua, or Josue, that is, savior; nor should it be written Jehescuh in Hebrew, but Jescua, because Jehescuh does not mean savior, but Jescua does; indeed Jehescuh is a fabricated name, and does not properly have any Hebrew root. Finally, on the title of the Lord's cross, which is preserved at Rome in the church of the Holy Cross, Jescua, not Jehescuh, is written as this name, as Pagninus testifies as an eyewitness, in his interpretation of Hebrew names.
You will say: Jescua also does not mean savior, but saved, because it has the form of a passive pual participle. I respond that Jescua is not a pual form, but is a noun meaning savior, just as Josue does; for nouns differ greatly from participles both in their vowel points and in their meaning; for Jescua alludes to ioschia, that is, who will save, or certainly to jescuah, that is, salvation, as if you were to say, salvation itself, that is, Savior by essence.
Jesus and Emmanuel
You will say second: in Isaiah VII, 14, and Matthew 1, 23, it is said that Christ is to be called Emmanuel, that is, God with us: but this is what Jehescuh means, not Jescua or Josue: for Jehescuh contains all the letters of the tetragrammatic name of God, with only the letter shin inserted. I respond: Jehuda also contains all the letters of the tetragrammatic name, as do many other names, yet it does not on that account mean the same as the tetragrammaton. Second, even if you pretend it means the same as the tetragrammatic name, it could by no means signify God with us: because the tetragrammatic name does not signify this, but simply signifies God.
I add that Jehoscua, which is the same as Jescua, has all the letters of the tetragrammatic name, and these joined together, not split apart, as in Jehescuh. As for the passage of Isaiah and St. Matthew, Justin responds in Questions to the Orthodox, Question CXXXV; Tertullian, book Against the Jews, chapter IX; Lactantius, book IV On True Wisdom, chapter XII; Cyril, book On the Incarnation of the Only-Begotten, chapter III, that and they shall call His name Emmanuel, does not mean that Christ was to be so named (for we never read that the name Emmanuel was given to Him, but only Jesus, and that at the circumcision), but that He would be Emmanuel, so that He could rightly be called Emmanuel; for to be called in Scripture often means to be, as in Isaiah IX, 6, Isaiah LX, 14, Zechariah VIII, 3, Jeremiah III, 17.
Then, as Tertullian rightly says above: Emmanuel and Jesus are the same, not in sound, but in meaning. For to be God with us, is to be the Savior: for our salvation and redemption was accomplished by God's descent to us, and could not have been accomplished in any other way.
Josue's name and the tetragrammaton
I confess, however, that just as God added the letter he of His tetragrammatic name to Abraham and Sarah, to signify that He would be born as a man from them: so also He added the same letter to Josue, so that Jehoscua would contain within itself all the letters of the tetragrammatic name: because through this He wished to signify that Jesus Christ, whose type Josue was, would be Jehovah, that is, God.
The Prophets and Sibyls foretold the name of Jesus
Wherefore this name of Jesus was revealed to the Prophets, who foretold that the Messiah would be called by it, as is clear from Habakkuk III, 18: "I will exult in God my Jesus." Isaiah XLV, 8: "Let the earth be opened and bring forth the Savior," and throughout the Septuagint. The Hebrews translate the name masciach, that is, Messiah, as soter, that is, savior.
Hence also the ancient Rabbis before the times of Christ predicted that the name of the Messiah would be Jesus, as Galatinus teaches from Rabbi Haceados, book III, chapter XX.
The Sibyls prophesied the same, as that acrostic of the verses of the Erythraean Sibyl teaches, whose first letters yield these words: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, Cross, which is found at the end of the Sibylline oracles, volume II of the Library of the Holy Fathers, and Cicero cites it, book II On Divination, and from it proves that the poem of the Sibyl was not the work of a frenzied mind, but of an attentive mind, and of art and deliberation. The Emperor Constantine also cites the same in Eusebius, at the end of the latter's Life, and St. Augustine at length, book XVIII of the City of God, XXIII.
The Sibylline number 888
The Cumaean Sibyl predicted the same, but enigmatically, who, as Sixtus of Siena reports, book II, under the entry Sibyl, prophesied that the number of the letters of the Messiah's name would be 888, when she sang thus: But I will teach what the total sum of the number is: For eight units, as many tens above these, and eight hundreds, will signify the name to faithless men: but you, keep it in mind.
For the four Greek letters of the name Jesus contain this number, whose numerical mystery the Venerable Bede explains, in his commentary on Luke chapter II: "Namely, that through Jesus the resurrection is signified, and the way to heaven has been opened. For the number eight, whether simple, or multiplied by ten, that is eighty, or by a hundred, that is 800, signifies the eighth day of the resurrection."
And hence perhaps the devil, who is the ape of God and so great a rival of our Savior, assumed among the Romans and Greeks the masks of Jupiter and Minerva Soter, Jupiter Eleutherius, the goddess Salus, Minerva Sospita, and similar divine disguises, about which Giraldus writes much in his book On the Gods of the Nations, syntagma I, p. 35, and syntagma II, pp. 406 and 407, and syntagma III, p. 121. Finally Justin, Apology 1 for Christians, near the end, writes that Christians in his time used to cure the possessed and free them from demons by the invocation of the name of Jesus; see Gretser, book III On the Cross, chapter XXVII.
The holiest and most august name
For this name of Jesus is most holy and most august, and indeed more venerable than the tetragrammatic name, as Abulensis rightly proves, Question VII, on chapter XX of Exodus. For it is the proper name of the incarnate Word, as St. Augustine teaches, tractate 3 on the first epistle of St. John, volume IX, and therefore it embraces within itself all other names of Christ, which are very many and most excellent, that Scripture attributes to Him. For it signifies the entire economy of the Lord's incarnation (in which, above all other works, all the attributes of God shine forth), and all the good things which from it come to us, whether in soul or in body, both in this life and in the future through all eternity. See Origen, homily 22 here, and homily 1 on Josue, Bernard, sermon 15 on the Canticle, where he says that the ancient bearers of the name Jesus gloried in empty names; for they did not provide true salvation, but foreshadowed it: for our Jesus alone provided this.
On the name of Jesus I said more in my commentary on Philippians II, 10.
Verse 20: Walled cities or camps
20. What kind of cities, walled or without walls. -- The Translator renders the Hebrew clearly, which reads thus: Whether the inhabitants dwell in camps or in fortifications, that is, enclosed places. Camps here are contrasted with places enclosed by walls: camps here therefore are open places, or municipalities, in which the inhabitants dwell in groups; for thus soldiers in camps are not enclosed by walls, but dwell in field tents. So Oleaster. Enclosed places are what we commonly call Burgos; whence the Burgundians are so called, because they kept themselves in boroughs, so as to be safe from enemy attack.
Verse 21: The season of early grapes
21. NOW IT WAS THE TIME WHEN THE EARLY (that is, first-ripening) GRAPES CAN BE EATEN, -- that is, the scouts sent by Moses explored Chanaan when it was the season of the first grapes there: whence they also brought back a cluster of grapes to the Hebrews. This exploration therefore took place around the beginning of June (for at that time in Palestine, being a warm region, ripe grapes are found in Chanaan), in the second year after the departure from Egypt, in the month of June. For one year and three months had already passed since this departure, and at that point, after a few days, the Hebrews would have entered Chanaan, had they not murmured. For this murmuring delayed their entry by 38 years: so Abulensis.
Verse 22: From the desert of Sin to Rohob
Verse 22. THEY EXPLORED THE LAND FROM THE DESERT OF SIN, AS FAR AS ROHOB, AT THE ENTRANCE OF EMATH, -- that is, by the road that leads and enters into the region of Emath, in which there was a powerful city, which was afterward called Epiphania by Antiochus Epiphanes, says St. Jerome on Amos VI; and it was on the borders of Syria, marking the northern boundary of the holy land; whence Emath is often mentioned in Scripture among the boundaries of the promised land. There was also another Emath the Great, which was afterward called Antioch, the most celebrated city of Syria.
Verse 23: The sons of Enac and Hebron
23. WHERE THE SONS OF ENAC WERE. -- "Sons," that is, grandsons and descendants of Enac the giant: see verse 30; whence from this giant Enac, the giants in Scripture are called the sons of Enakim.
Hebron and Tanis
FOR HEBRON WAS BUILT SEVEN YEARS BEFORE TANIS, THE CITY OF EGYPT. -- All agree, say Adrichomius, Cajetan, and Oleaster, that Tanis is a noble city of Egypt, situated not far from Memphis, which was formerly called Titannis, built by 10, or as Adrichomius says, 17 Titans, sons of Noah, but with the first syllable cut off it was called Tanis, or the city of Taneos, and it is famous in Scripture, inasmuch as in it Moses performed his signs before Pharaoh and inflicted the ten plagues upon Egypt, as is clear from Psalm LXXVII, 12, where it says: "He did marvels in the land of Egypt, in the plain of Taneos;" and verse 43: "As He set His signs in Egypt, and His wonders in the plain of Taneos." Whence it seems that Tanis was then the royal city of the kings of Egypt; the same is gathered from Isaiah XIX, 11. It was situated near an outlet of the Nile, which was called Tanitic after it, and it is next to the Pelusiac outlet. To this Tanis, after Godolias was slain, the Jews fled with the prophet Jeremiah, and there Jeremiah was stoned by the Jews, whose idolatry he rebuked: whence Tanis, or Taphnis, is frequently mentioned in Jeremiah, as in chapters II, XLIII, XLIV, and XLVI.
Therefore the conjunction for, which our Translator has in this verse, indicates that the Hebrews had also seen a race of giants in Tanis, as if to say: It is no wonder that there are giants in Hebron, such as you saw in Tanis, since Hebron is older than the city of Tanis, so that it could have been inhabited by the earliest giants, as Lyranus and Abulensis say.
Verse 24: The cluster of grapes on a pole
24. THEY CUT OFF A BRANCH WITH ITS GRAPES. -- Philo also explicitly asserts that there was not more than one cluster, but only one. The Hebrew and Chaldean have a branch and one cluster of grapes, that is, one branch with one cluster; but he says of grapes, because there are also clusters of henna and of other fruits. Therefore it must be said that the grapes in Chanaan were exceedingly large: seeing that a single cluster needed to be carried on a pole by two men, which was an indication that that land was most fertile. Thus Pliny, book XIV, chapter 1, says that in the interior of Asia grapes grow to the size of a cow's udder, a pot, and even of an infant child.
Furthermore, Euphorus and Metrophanes, as reported by Stephanus in his book On Cities, relate that in Eucarpia, a town of Asia Minor, clusters of grapes so immense grow that each one is a full load for a cart, so that sometimes a cart has collapsed under the weight of just one cluster, and that from this the city was called Eucarpia, that is, Fertile, and therefore the ancients used to say that this city had been given by Jupiter to Ceres and Bacchus to inhabit; but I think that this cart collapsed long ago under a heavier load of falsehood than of grapes, and vanished. Is this surprising? The trustworthiness of the Greeks is well known, and we know that the Greeks were accustomed to playing Greek tricks and spinning fables. More credibly, Strabo, book II, mentions clusters of grapes which are each two feet in length. The same author, books XI and XV, reports that in Mauritania and Carmania clusters grow that extend to two cubits in length.
Allegorical interpretation: Christ on the cross
Allegorically, just as the bride says to Christ: "My beloved is to me a cluster of henna in the vineyards of Engaddi," and this on account of the sweetness and glory of the resurrection of Christ: so likewise here the grape hanging on the pole is Christ hanging on the cross: this grape was born from the promised land, that is, the Blessed Virgin, whom Isaiah promised in chapter VII, verse 14: "The two bearers are the two testaments: the Jews go before, the Christians follow; the Christian carries salvation before his face, the Jew behind his back: the one shows obedience, the other contempt. Let us labor, therefore, that we may not set down so holy a burden from our shoulders." So St. Augustine, sermon 100 On the Seasons; St. Ambrose, sermon 72 On St. Cyprian; St. Jerome to Fabiola, on the fifteenth station; Prosper, part II of the Predictions, chapter IX; Rupertus here, and St. Bernard, sermon 44 on the Canticle.
WHICH TWO MEN CARRIED. -- St. Ambrose, in the passage already cited, says that these two bearers of the cluster were Josue and Caleb: which is supported by the fact that these two alone commended the land of Chanaan to the Hebrews, as is clear from verse 31, and the next chapter, verse 6.
Verse 26: The scouts returned after forty days
26. AND THE EXPLORERS OF THE LAND RETURNED AFTER FORTY DAYS. -- For forty days therefore the explorers surveyed the land of Chanaan, during which they did not eat manna; for manna was found only in the camp of the Hebrews: but they fed on the fruits of the land of Chanaan, which they either plucked in the fields, as here they plucked the cluster of grapes, or bought from the Canaanites in the villages. So Abulensis.
Verse 27: Cades in the desert of Pharan
27. THEY CAME TO MOSES, etc., IN THE DESERT OF PHARAN, WHICH IS IN CADES, -- that is, the returning explorers came to their own people in Cades, or Cadesbarne, which is in the desert of Pharan; it is a hypallage.
It is doubtful whether this Cades, from which the explorers were sent, is the same as Cades the thirty-third camp, about which see Numbers XX, 1, and chapter XXXIII, verse 36.
Abulensis thinks it is the same place, and the same camp, and consequently that the explorers were sent not from the fifteenth but from the thirty-third camp, and that in it, or near it, the Hebrews remained for 38 years, namely until the death of Miriam, who died in Cades, at the beginning of the fortieth year after the departure from Egypt, Numbers XX, 1. He proves the same from Deuteronomy 1, 46, where it says: "You remained therefore in Cadesbarne a long time." Abulensis therefore thinks that in the second year the Hebrews passed very quickly through all the camps from Sinai, which was the twelfth, to Cades, which was the thirty-third, and that they stayed in Cades from the second year until the fortieth.
But it is not likely that the Hebrews remained so long in one camp, especially since Scripture says they wandered in the desert for 40 years, verse 33. Second, because in Numbers XX, 1, they are said to have finally come to Cades, the thirty-third camp; therefore in this chapter it is a different camp. Third, because in Deuteronomy II, 14, the Hebrews are said to have walked 38 years in the desert: therefore they did not remain in Cades during those years.
I say therefore that this camp is different from the one in chapters XX and XXXIII, and consequently this Cades is different from that Cades, as Zieglerus, Wolfgangus, and Adrichomius teach in the Description of the Holy Land. If however you wish this to be the same Cades in both places, as Cajetan, Oleaster, and Andreas Masius in Josue chapter XV would have it, it must be said that the Hebrews came to Cades twice, namely first here; second, in Numbers XX, 1. For the Hebrews were wandering and being led around by God, especially after this murmuring of the explorers, through the trackless wilderness in winding circuits and meanders. Hence it is not surprising that they returned again to the place they had departed from, namely to Cades. Hence also the Chaldean translates both instances of Cades as Recem, by which name he usually designates Petra, the famous city of Arabia, or at least a place near that city. But the former view is more true, as I shall say on chapter XX, verse 1.
These explorers were therefore sent from the fifteenth camp, which was in Rethma, Numbers XXXIII, 18; moreover Rethma was near the city of Cades: whence the explorers are said here to have returned to Cades, or, as is said in Josue XIV, 7, Deuteronomy 1, 20 and 22, to Cadesbarne.
Verse 28: A land flowing with milk and honey
28. WHICH TRULY FLOWS WITH MILK AND HONEY, -- that is, the land of Chanaan is most fertile; it is a hyperbole.
Verse 29: Strong inhabitants and walled cities
29. Cities great and walled -- exceedingly, as the Hebrew, Chaldean, Greek, and Rabanus add. In Deuteronomy chapter 1, 28, they are said to have been fortified, that is walled, up to heaven, that is, to have had very high walls; it is a hyperbole. These walls terrified the faint-hearted Hebrews: for the magnanimous do not worry about walls, but about valiant warriors and defenders.
Hence Agesilaus the king, when someone asked why Sparta lacked walls, said: "These are the walls of Sparta," pointing to the armed citizens. To another person inquiring about the same matter he replied: "Cities should be fortified not with stones and timber, but with the valor of their inhabitants." When someone showed him the very strong walls of a certain city and asked whether he judged them beautiful, he replied: "Indeed so, but not for men to dwell within, but for women." Likewise Agis, king of the same Spartans, walking around the walls of Corinth, after he had observed them to be lofty and strong, said: "What women dwell in this gyneceum?" Likewise Antalcidas used to say that the walls of Sparta were its young men, and its boundaries the points of spears.
So also Scipio Africanus said to a soldier lifting a rampart who complained that he was very hard pressed: "Rightly so," he said, "for you trust this piece of wood more than your sword." To a young man showing off a beautiful shield, he said: "The shield is indeed beautiful, young man, but it is more fitting for a Roman man to place his confidence in his right hand than in his left." Plutarch testifies to these things in their Lives.
Verse 30: Amalec dwells in the south
30. AMALEC DWELLS IN THE SOUTH. -- The explorers say this, not as though the land of the Amalekites belonged to the land promised to the Hebrews; but because it was neighboring to it, so that the Amalekites could easily impede the entry of the Hebrews into it, and could attack and harass the Hebrews with wars. And they had attempted this in Exodus XVII. For the explorers present to the people this difficulty of very powerful enemies dwelling in the promised land and in its vicinity, in order to deter them from entering Chanaan.
Verse 31: Caleb restrains the murmuring
31. IN THE MEANTIME CALEB, RESTRAINING THE MURMURING OF THE PEOPLE. -- While Josue was silent, Caleb alone opposed everyone and tried to quiet the murmuring: because Caleb was more courageous and full of zeal; whence God wonderfully praises him alone for this heroic act in the next chapter, verse 24, saying: "My servant Caleb, who, full of another spirit, has followed Me, I will bring into this land." For the same reason God, through Moses, promised the same Caleb under oath a particular part of the land of Chanaan, namely the mountains of Hebron, where these giants were, and Caleb himself asked for it from Josue and obtained it, as is clear from Josue XIV, 6, 9 and 12, and Josue XV, 13.
THE MURMURING WHO, -- that is, the murmuring which: it is an antiptosis.
Verse 32: The sins of the explorers
32. WE ARE BY NO MEANS ABLE TO GO UP AGAINST THIS PEOPLE. -- Hence it is clear that these explorers sinned in their report to the people, first, by dissuading and diverting the people from entering Chanaan, and thus resisting the promises and will of God, who wished to lead the Hebrews into it. They did this out of faintheartedness and fear of wars with the Canaanites, since they preferred to lead a quiet, idle, and luxurious life in Egypt, even under the yoke of Pharaoh; second, by lying, and that in many respects:
First, because they asserted that the Canaanites were so powerful that the Hebrews could not prevail against them; for they say: "We are by no means able to go up against this people, because they are stronger than we."
Second, by imposing false charges against the land of Chanaan, saying: "The land which we surveyed devours its inhabitants."
Third, by amplifying beyond the truth the things they had seen, as when they say: "There we saw certain monsters of the sons of Enac, compared to whom we seemed like locusts."
Fourth, by asserting that all the Canaanites everywhere were of tall stature compared to the Hebrews: "The people," they say, "whom we beheld, are of tall stature," when in fact the Canaanites were ordinarily no taller than the Egyptians, Hebrews, and other peoples neighboring them.
Fifth, because they suppressed the truth, such as that they had seen only three giants in Chanaan, and many other things which could have raised the people's hope of obtaining Chanaan and removed or diminished their fear of the Canaanites. So Abulensis.
Verse 33: The land devours its inhabitants
33. THE LAND WHICH WE SURVEYED DEVOURS ITS INHABITANTS. -- Some understand this as referring to the goodness of the land, as if to say: The land of Chanaan is so fertile that everyone covets it, and its possessors in turn drive out and kill one another. Others explain it thus, as if to say: The land of Chanaan is so good that no one wishes to leave it; whence whoever is born in it, wishes to live and die there; and so they are, as it were, devoured by their land. But this would not have been detraction, but rather praise of the land.
I say therefore: "The land devours its inhabitants," that is, the land of Chanaan is unhealthy from the inclemency of the climate, harmful and pestilential, so that it breeds diseases and brings early death to its inhabitants. They said this, perhaps because while surveying the land, they found a pestilence raging in it at that time, and they attributed it to the condition and bad quality of the land, when it should rather have been attributed to God, who in Leviticus chapter XVIII, 24, had promised the Hebrews that He would cause the land itself to vomit out the Canaanites because of their crimes. Hence certain Hebrews relate, whose credibility may be judged, that at that time there was so great a plague in Chanaan, and so many dying, that the Canaanites, occupied with the funerals of their own, although they saw these explorers, nevertheless did not capture them, did not examine them, and indeed did not even bother with them.
Verse 34: The nephilim and the locust comparison
THERE WE SAW MONSTERS. -- In Hebrew, there we saw nephilim, that is, giants, who are called nephilim, that is, fallers, because they were so tall that anyone who saw them would fall from terror: or rather, fallers, that is, those who cause to fall (taking the qal for the hiphil), casting down and killing other men on all sides; for these giants were fierce and savage tyrants. It is therefore ridiculous what Rabbi Solomon says, that these giants are called nephilim, that is, fallers, because, he says, the giants were from the race of two angels who fell from heaven, namely Aza and Azael.
WE SEEMED LIKE LOCUSTS. -- This is an excessive and deceitful hyperbole, to deter the people from entering Chanaan. Josephus adds, from his own genius and paraphrasing spirit, as it seems, by which he is accustomed to embellish and color the affairs of his nation, that the explorers said the Hebrews could not overcome the Canaanites who were equipped with wealth and arms, because of their own poverty and lack of weapons and resources, and that they would first need to cross impassable rivers and insurmountable mountains. He adds furthermore that the Hebrews were roused to such great murmuring by these words that they wished to kill Moses and Aaron, and so return to Egypt.