Numbers 13:33 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Numbers 13:26-33

It is a wonder how the people of Israel had patience to stay forty days for the return of their spies, when they were just ready to enter Canaan, under all the assurances of success they could have from the divine power, and a constant series of miracles that had hitherto attended them; but they distrusted God's power and promise, and were willing to be held in suspense by their own counsels, rather than be brought to a certainty by God's covenant. How much do we stand in our own light by our... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 13:33

And there we saw the giants ,.... Not throughout the land, and yet it is so expressed, and in such connection with what goes before, that it might be so understood, and as they might choose it should; that as there were men everywhere of an uncommon size, and were generally so, there were some larger than they in all places, of a prodigious size, of a gigantic stature; and yet this was only in Hebron where they saw them: the sons of Anak ; whose names are given, Numbers 13:22 ; and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 13:33

There we saw the giants - נפלים nephilim . It is evident that they had seen a robust, sturdy, warlike race of men, and of great stature; for the asserted fact is not denied by Joshua or Caleb. Tales of gigantic men are frequent in all countries, but they are generally of such as have lived in times very remote from those in which such tales are told. That there have been giants at different times, in various parts of the earth, there can be no doubt; but that there ever was a nation of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Numbers 13:1-45

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Numbers 13:33

The giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants, אֶת־הַנְּפִילים בְּנִי עַנָק מִן־הַנְּפִלים . The Nephilim, Beni-Anak, of the Nephilim. The Septuagint has only τοὺς γίγαντας . The Nephilim are, without doubt, the primaeval tyrants mentioned under that name in Genesis 6:4 . The renown of these sons of violence had come down from those dim ages, and the exaggerated fears of the spies saw them revived in the gigantic forms of the Beni-Anak. There is no certainty... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Numbers 13:33

Numbers 13:33. We were in our own sight as grasshoppers Thus their fear magnified these sons of Anak above measure, so that in comparison of them they thought themselves as weak and contemptible as insignificant insects. And so we were in their sight An hyperbole, signifying that the Anakims looked down upon them with the utmost contempt. read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Numbers 13:1-33

The twelve spies (13:1-33)Israel pushed on towards the promised land. The long and tiresome journey through the wilderness of Paran was relieved by stoppages at various points where the people set up camp for a few days (see 10:12; 11:35; 12:16; 13:3). As they moved nearer to Canaan, Moses sent twelve spies, one from each tribe, to see what they could find out about the country - its terrain, its people, its defences and its productivity (13:1-20). The spies probably split up, going in... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Numbers 13:33

giants. Hebrew. nephilim. Those mentioned in Genesis 6:4 were all destroyed in the Flood; these came from a second irruption of fallen angels, "after that": i.e. after "those days" = the days of Noah. See Genesis 6:4 , and App-23 and App-25 . See note on Numbers 13:22 . sight. It is all "sight" where there is no faith 2 Corinthians 5:7 . grasshoppers: or locusts. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Numbers 13:33

33. there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak—The name is derived from the son of Arba, a great man among the Arabians (Joshua 15:14), who probably obtained his appellation from wearing a splendid collar or chain round his neck, as the word imports. The epithet "giant" evidently refers here to stature. (See on Joshua 15:14- :). And it is probable the Anakims were a distinguished family, or perhaps a select body of warriors, chosen for their extraordinary size. we were in our own sight as... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Numbers 13:1-33

The failure of the first generation chs. 13-14The events recorded in chapters 13 and 14 took place while Israel was at Kadesh. read more