Numbers
13:1 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses,
saying, 2 Send thou men, that they may
search 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. 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, Caleb the
son of Jephunneh. 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. 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 land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.
17 And Moses sent them to spy out the
land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this 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.
Oshea, meaning salvation according to
Strong, is the family name of Jehoshua, which is a variant spelling of Joshua,
both meaning “Jehovah is salvation” according to Strong. Jesus is the
Greek version of that Hebrew name. This creates a strong prophetic link between
Jesus and Joshua.
At the peak of Egypt’s power, in the general time frame of 1100 to
1600BC and keep in mind that dating ancient history is a dicey proposition at
best as scholars try to connect events in one civilization with other
civilizations with great uncertainty, Canaan was a tributary of this great
superpower. God has Moses scout out the cities of Canaan so that the Hebrews
can determine their size and strength, checking out how fruitful the land might
be. They need to see with their eyes the value of the land they are being given
and understand what they are up against even though God, as you remember from
Exodus, 23, has promised to drive the inhabitants out gradually based on the
Hebrew’s obedience.
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