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Welcome, I'm Cliff Hedges. This is Pastor Cliff's Notes. This is a podcast where we are studying the Bible. We're working our way through the book of Numbers. Today is episode 1621, and we're looking at Numbers chapter 13, verses 17 through 25. So the first part of the book of Numbers, Numbers chapters 1 through 10, God's been getting the Israelites ready to move from Sinai to the promised land, the land of Canaan. Then the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, and that was a sign to move, and the people did. They moved out very orderly. But three days later the grumbling started. So we had the grumbling at Tabora, the grumbling about the hardships of the wilderness. Then the grumbling at Kibrath Hatahava, the grumbling about the food. We're tired of manna. Then we had Miriam and Aaron, Moses' siblings grumbling. Why is Moses the only one who gets to speak to God? Doesn't God speak through us too? And through all this, we've seen God's long suffering with the people, and we've seen that when people take their eyes off of God's promises and start looking at their circumstances, they turn to grumbling. So now they have finally arrived at Kadesh Barnia, the edge of Canaan. And Moses has selected twelve men, one from each tribe, to go scout out the land. And these are the instructions he gives them. Start in Numbers chapter 13, verse 17. When Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, he told them, Go up this way to the Negev, then go up into the hill country. So these are the instructions where to go. And they're going to go up into the Negev, which is the southern region of Canaan. The word Negev literally means dry land. And it's not a desert, but it's a wilderness, it's called. And from there, north into the hill country. Now, fairly nebulous directions. And some question, well, how what does Moses know about the area? Well, remember, he grabbed his brother-in-law on the way and said, Why don't you come be our guide? So he does have somebody providing some local guidance for him. Verse 18. See what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. Is the land they live in good or bad? Are the cities they live in encampments or fortifications? Is the land fertile or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? So these instructions are this is the information you are to gather. So what's the land like? What are the people like? What are the cities like? What are the crops like? And just various bits of information about what is it like, what should they expect. Continues in verse 20, be courageous. Bring back some fruit from the land. It was the season for the first ripe grapes. So he tells them where to go from the south to the north, what information he wants them to gather, and what they're to bring back. This is the assignment. Now notice nowhere in the assignment is determined whether it's something we should do or not. And that'll become important when they bring back the report, because God's already decided they are to go in. So they're just to get details about where they're going in. Verse 21. So they went up and scouted out the land from the wilderness of Zen as far as Rahab near the entrance to Hamath. So this is kind of an overall picture, this statement right here. That basically, wilderness of Zen, the far south, Rahab, the entrance to Hamath is the far north. So it's just saying, and so they went up and they scouted from the extreme south to the extreme north. So just an introductory statement. Now they're at Kadesh Barnea, which is the very southern part of the edge of Canaan. Yeah, it said they were in the wilderness of Peron. Well, where Kadesh Barnea is, is kind of almost the border of the wilderness of Peron and the wilderness of Zin. And then just beyond that, they would actually get into the Negev. Then they're going to go up to Rahab, which will be up actually north of Damascus. So they're going to cover the whole area of the promised land. Verse 22. They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Haman, Sheshe, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were living. So really the only details we have about stuff here is they're at Hebron. Now, Hebron, we've seen this before. We saw this in Genesis 13, Genesis 14, Genesis 23, 25, 35, and 50. At Hebron, it's the burial place for Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Leah. So Hebron's important in their history. And so who's living there now? These three clans. These aren't people, these would be clans, descendants of Anak. Now, why is that important? The Anak were reputed for their unusual height. And so we'll see in their report, this is part of the information they bring back and give the people is these descendants of Anak are there. Anyway, in verse 22, Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. Now you see this is a so what? And what does that mean? Give me a date. Well, we don't really have a date. And why is it here? What's the significance of it? Now, Zoan was an ancient city in Egypt, thought to have been around in the 12th dynasty, 2000 BC. Hebron. It was there when Abraham came into the area about 2000 BC. So these are two ancient cities, Hebron and Zoan. And they would have been familiar with Zoan from living in Egypt, the Israelites, for 400 years. So it was an important city in Egypt. And so here now, Hebron is, well, that's a city, it's just as old as that important city in Egypt. I think the significance of that is it says something about Canaanite culture. They're not just a bunch of nomadic goat herders, they've got an ancient city here, and they're well established. Verse 23. When they came to the Eskol Valley, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes, which was carried on a pole by two men. They also took some pomegranates and figs. This was part of the assignment. Get some of the fruit. Now the Eskal Valley, that is near Jerusalem. So that gives the area there. Verse 24. That place was called Eskal Valley because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut there. The word Escal basically means cluster. Verse 25. At the end of 40 days, they returned from scouting out the land. Now that could mean literally 40 days, or 40 days often can be a euphemism for more than a month. So they were gone for a while. And it would take a while to cover that much area on foot. So they started the south, went up through the Negev, and then as they were in the area of Hebron, that's where the Hittites were living. And then north of that where the Jebusites were living, and up near the area of Shechem where the Canaanites were living, and continued north all the way up to Hamath, where the Amorites were living. So they got to see all these people who are on the list of inhabitants of the Promised Land that they're going to have to eject from this area. That's why we had the census in the beginning of Numbers. That's going to be the army which is going to go into the Promised Land and eject these current residents. The point here of Hebron is a very ancient, well-established city. So the people are got some deep roots there that the Israelites are going to have to come and remove. So they've gone, they've seen the land, and now they've got to come back and make a report. That's what we'll see next time. Thanks for joining me. Join me next time as we continue working through numbers.