The KJV Holy Bible

 

Numbers Chapter Thirteen

 

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.

21 So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.

22 And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

23 And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.

24 The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.

25 And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.

26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.

27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.

29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.

30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.

32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.

33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

 

 

Esoteric Interpretation & Commentary

 

The Hermetic Blueprint of Numbers Chapter Thirteen: The Projection of the Mind and the Guardians of the Threshold 

"Numbers Chapter Thirteen details the critical Alchemical phase where the Conscious Mind projects its internal Faculties forward to survey the ultimate goal of the Great Work. It illustrates the immense Spiritual Vitality waiting in the Higher Planes, and the catastrophic psychological terror that occurs when the unrefined Ego encounters the massive energetic thresholds required for total Reintegration."

 

 

Verses 1-3: The Magickal Projection of the Faculties - "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 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..." 

The sending of the spies represents a deliberate Magickal projection of the Conscious Mind. The active Will (Moses) selects the leading ruler (the dominant, most refined aspect) of each of the twelve foundational Faculties. These internal forces are projected beyond the Astral wilderness to actively survey Canaan—the high-frequency Promised Land symbolizing the ultimate state of Superconscious Reintegration. The Sovereign Will demands that every part of the Microcosm consciously comprehends the exact Energetic reality of the Higher Planes before attempting the final ascent.

 

 

Verses 21-25: The Cluster of Eshcol and Superconscious Vitality - "So they went up, and searched the land... And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff... And they returned from searching of the land after forty days." 

The forty-day search represents a complete, rigorous Alchemical cycle of internal assessment. The massive cluster of grapes cut from Eshcol is a physical manifestation of pure, concentrated Spiritual Vitality. It is so energetically dense that it requires the combined structural effort of the Faculties (borne upon a staff) to transport it back to the lower planes. This proves to the Microcosm that the Higher Planes are not barren voids, but are overflowing with immense, transmuting Superconscious Energy capable of permanently sustaining the Awakened Soul.

 

 

Verses 26-29: The Walled Cities and the Guardians of the Threshold - "And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation... and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey... Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there." 

The milk and honey are strictly Alchemical symbols representing the perfect, synthesized nourishment of pure Divine Light and Harmonious Intent, entirely devoid of dense, material earthly bounds. However, the spies also perceive walled cities and the children of Anak (giants). In Hermetic terms, these are the massive, crystallized Energetic barriers and terrifying psychic guardians of the threshold. The Higher Planes are heavily fortified against unauthorized entry. To the unrefined earthly Intellect, these protective Spiritual forces appear as insurmountable giants, designed specifically to repel any lower Ego attempting to claim Superconscious power without absolute internal purification.

 

 

 

Verses 30-33: The Evil Report and the Collapse of Will - "And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we... we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." 

Caleb represents the fully Awakened, fearless aspect of the Conscious Will, recognizing its supreme Magickal Authority and demanding immediate Alignment with the Divine Light. Conversely, the other ten spies embody the mundane Intellect violently regressing into fear. This is the "evil report"—the disastrous internal narrative where the Ego convinces the Psyche that it is completely powerless. By identifying as mere "grasshoppers," the lower Mind completely forgets its Divine origin, allowing dense Astral terror to crush its Spiritual momentum and sabotage the Great Work precisely at the threshold of victory.