Whedon's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 13:33
33. The giants Hebrew and R.V. Nephilim, like the antediluvian tyrants who corrupted the earth. Genesis 6:4, note. The application of the term Nephilim to a race of antediluvians does not prove that the giants found by the spies were the lineal descendants of these, nor does it justify the extraordinary hypothesis of the “higher criticism,” that the writer of Genesis 6:4, knew nothing of a flood in which all mankind except one family were destroyed. A resemblance in stature is all that... read more
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible - 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... read more