Spies in the Promised Land Trivia Quiz

Answer: One from each of the twelve tribes will be sent.

The verse reads "Send thou men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel; of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man..." By sending a man from each tribe, Moses assures that all of the people are represented.

Answer: As princes

The end of Numbers XIII:2 states "...every one a prince among them". The Hebrew word, "Nasi", is translated in the Soncino edition as "prince", and in some Christian translations as "leader". Regardless, it is clear that the twelve spies were not ordinary men, but the best of each tribe. In modern Israeli Hebrew, the word "Nasi" means "president".

Answer: Whether there are wild animals or domestic animals.

Moses' instructions to the spies begin with verse seventeen of the chapter. "And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them: 'Get you up here into the South, and go up into the mountains; and see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, and what land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad...'"

Answer: Be of strong courage, and bring back the fruit of the land.

The spies set out at the time of the "first-ripe grapes". Moses instructs them to bring some of this fruit back with them, "as a tangible confirmation of their testimony", according to the Soncino commentators.

Answer: Tied to a pole and carried by two men.

The cluster of grapes was so very large that two grown men were required to carry it (Numbers XIII:23). The image of two biblical figures in robes and sandals, carrying a cluster of grapes on a pole between them, is the symbol of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.

Answer: It is a land flowing with milk and honey.

The initial report of the spies is glowing. "(they) showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him (Moses), 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'". (Numbers XIII:27)
In modern Israel one can find businesses from restaurants to travel agents that call themselves "Milk and Honey".

Answer: The people that dwell in the land are fierce.

"Howbeit the people that dwell in the land are fierce, and the cities are fortified, and very great; and moreover we saw the children of Anak there". Despite the initial, positive report of the spies, they soon begin to describe the land as a fearsome place. "And they spread an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel..." (Numbers XIII:32)

Answer: Joshua and Caleb

Caleb is of the tribe of Judah, while Joshua is of the tribe of Ephraim. They are appalled by the "evil report" given by the other ten spies, and "rent their cloths". "And they spoke unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: 'The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it unto us - a land which floweth with milk and honey'". (Numbers XIV:7-8)

Answer: The Egyptians will say that the Lord could not bring His people into the land.

After the children of Israel begin to complain, and even suggest finding someone to replace Moses and return them to Egypt, the Lord says "How long will this people despise Me: and how long will they not believe in Me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them". (Numbers XIV:14) The Lord tells Moses that he will smite them all.

But Moses, like Abraham before him, argues with the Lord. He tells the Lord that if He kills all of the children of Israel, then the Egyptians will say "Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which He swore unto them, therefore He hath slain them in the wilderness". (Numbers XIV:16)

Answer: They must wander in the desert for another forty years.

The Lord decides that the generation that has murmured against Him will not be allowed to enter the Promised Land. Instead, the Hebrew children must wander in the wilderness for another forty years, until all those over the age of twenty die. A new generation, uncorrupted by life as slaves in Egypt, will conquer and settle the Promised Land.

The only exceptions are Joshua and Caleb, since they opposed the "evil report" of the other spies. Joshua, of course, succeeded Moses as leader. The ten other spies died of plague immediately.