Old Testament Commentary - Numbers 13

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 13 Moses sends twelve spies to search land of Canaan—Ten of them bring an evil report,telling only of the strength of its inhabitants.
1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 ^aSend thou men, that they may ^bsearch the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. 3 And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.		1^a Lev. 10:1 (1-2) 2^a Heb. 9:12 (7, 12, 24-25); Heb. 10:19 (19-22) ^b TG Veil ^c Ex. 25:22; Ex. 29:42 (42-43); Ex. 40:34 (34-35); D&C 97:16 (15-17); D&C 109:5 (5, 12-13); Abr. 2:19 (19-20)
4 And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. 5 Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori. 6 Of the tribe of Judah, ^aCaleb the son of Jephunneh.		1^a Lev. 10:1 (1-2) 2^a Heb. 9:12 (7, 12, 24-25); Heb. 10:19 (19-22) ^b TG Veil ^c Ex. 25:22; Ex. 29:42 (42-43); Ex. 40:34 (34-35); D&C 97:16 (15-17); D&C 109:5 (5, 12-13); Abr. 2:19 (19-20)
7 Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. 8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun. 9 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.		1^a Lev. 10:1 (1-2) 2^a Heb. 9:12 (7, 12, 24-25); Heb. 10:19 (19-22) ^b TG Veil ^c Ex. 25:22; Ex. 29:42 (42-43); Ex. 40:34 (34-35); D&C 97:16 (15-17); D&C 109:5 (5, 12-13); Abr. 2:19 (19-20)
10 Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi. 11 Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi. 12 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.
13 Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael. 14 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. 15 Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.
16 These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the ^aland. And Moses called ^bOshea the son of ^cNun ^dJehoshua^a. Oshea Oshea is the same name as Hosea or Hoshea. A translated 'transliterated' Greek form of that name is given as 'Auses' by Bishop Eusebius of Ceasarea. 'Auses' is considered by some to be a 'common' or 'corrupt' form of the more proper form 'Osee' meaning 'Salvator' meaning, one who saves of rescues. Oshea, Hosea or Hoshea is the same name meaning 'salvation'. When Moses bestowed upon Oshea his 'new name', the name of the Saviour yet to Come 'Jesus - Jehoshua - Joshua', Moses granted unto the son of Nun that great name which was known and given before the foundation of the world as that name of the Lord which meant 'Jehovah Saves' or 'Jehovah Is Salvation'.	16^a Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua It was under the inspiration of God that Moses renamed Oshea (Hosea/Hoshea) the Ephraimite heir, the son of Nun, by one of the given names of the Messiah. In the preexistence, the God the Father of Spirits anointed and ordained Jehovah to become the Savior of the world, to act in the Father's stead in all things by the power of God, and gave him the name of Jesus (transliterated Greek) or Jehoshua (transliterated Hebrew) (See Philippians 2:9-11, Leviticus 16:32 and Zechariah 3). The name Jehoshua or Jesus means Jehovah in whom is Salvation. Thus from an eternal and spiritual perspective Oshea, the son of Nun, was named by the name which God the Father bestowed upon Jehovah in the preexistence and the Only Begotten son was not named after the name of the great prophet and leader of Israel, Joshua, except in a temporal since that Joshua lived in mortality before Jesus.	16^a TG Israel, Land of ^b Num. 11:28 ^c Deut. 34:9; Judg. 2:8 Num. 14:6; 1 Chr. 7:27 Bishop Eusebius Confirms Bishop Eusebius of Ceasarea Pamphili (c.264-c.340 A.D.) in his Ecclesiastical History confirms that the name of 'Jesus' or 'Jehoshua' was well known and taught by Moses and all prophets to be the name by which the promised Savior would be known. (See Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius of Ceasarea, Book 1, Chapter 3, paragraphs 1-8). Therein Bishop Eusebius states speaking of in the first part of Moses relative to Joshua that: "His [Moses] successor [Joshua], therefore, who had not hitherto borne the name Jesus [Jehoshua/Joshua], but had been called by another name, Auses [Oshea], which had been given him by his parents, he now called Jesus [Jehoshua] (see Numbers 13:16), bestowing the name upon him as a gift of honor, far greater than any kingly diadem. For Jesus [Joshua] himself, the son of Nave [Nun], bore a resemblance to our Saviour in the fact the he alone, after Moses and after the completion of the symbolical worship which had been transmitted by him, succeeded to the government of the true and pure religion. "Thus Moses bestowed the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, as a mark of the highest honor, upon the two men who in his time surpassed all the rest of the people in virtue and glory, namely, upon the high priest [Aaron surnamed 'the Anointed' or 'Christ'] and upon his own successor [Oshea as Jesus-Joshua] in the government." (~ Eccl. His. para. 4&5) Thus it does appear that Bishop Eusebius in his day did have access to such enriched and enhanced scriptural knowledge as held in the great Christian library at Ceasarea as has now been lost from our traditional Bible cannon by the hands of designing men who would hide many facts concerning Christ and the gospel from mankind as part of Satan's efforts to altar and corrupt the true understanding of the nature of God and Jesus Christ His Son, that he was known from before the foundation of the world and by all ancient prophets both in the Bible and in the Book of Mormon as the non-corrupted text of the Book of Mormon does so plainly establish. And herein lies another confirming evidence of the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith and the translation of the Book of Mormon, for against the many critics of the Book of Mormon which find fault in the fact that Jesus Christ is know of the Nephites by name prior to the coming of the Savior in the flesh, that so does Bishop Eusebius of Ceasarea so also confirm that all the holy prophet of the Bible did likewise so know and understand in the days of the Old Testament the name by which he would be called and named, even Jesus Christ (in the transliterated to English Greek) or Jehoshua/Joshua Messiah (in the transliterated to English Hebrew).
17 ¶ And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up ^athis way southward, and go up into the mountain: 18 And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; 19 And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; 20 And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.
21 ¶ So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, ^aas men come to Hamath. 22 And they ^aascended by the south, and came unto ^bHebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before ^cZoan in Egypt.) 23 And they came unto the ^abrook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. 24 The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. 25 And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
26 ¶ And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it ^afloweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are ^awalled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 29 The ^aAmalekites dwell in the land of the ^bsouth: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. 30 And ^aCaleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
31 But the ^amen that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33 And there we saw the ^agiants, the sons of Anak, which come of the ^agiants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.