Numbers 13:32

32. A land that eateth up the inhabitants This cannot mean that the land was sterile and the inhabitants dying of famine. It may refer to some pestilence whose ravages were noted by the spies. Calvin “thinks that the wretched inhabitants were worn out by the laborious task of cultivating it.” But it is more reasonable to suppose that from the central position of Canaan among the powerful Oriental empires it was an apple of discord, and that the people were constantly embroiled in wasting wars to maintain their independence. Hence Israel would be decimated in conquering it, and diminished, or eaten up, in defending it. See Ezekiel 36:13-15, for a confirmation of this exegesis. “It is remarkable how rapidly unbelief grows when it has once found expression. At first it was only a suggestion.

Numbers 13:28-29. Then, when Caleb had tried to still the fears to which it had given rise, it became an assertion. Numbers 13:31. Lastly, it assumed the form of ‘an evil report of the land’ itself, as of one ‘that eateth up the inhabitants thereof,’ (Numbers 13:32,) where the people are consumed by pestilence or exterminated by constant warfare of fierce races, against whom it were hopeless to attempt contending. That, if such were the views and feelings of the great majority of their best and most trusted men, the people should have risen in rebellion, need not, perhaps, surprise us. But it indicated how thoroughly unprepared Israel was for the possession of the land. Viewed from the human stand-point, the history of the Bible is one of constant disappointments.” Dr. Edersheim.

Men of a great stature Hebrew, men of measures; that is, of tall stature. See the dimensions of King Og’s bedstead, Deuteronomy 3:11.