Numbers 13:5

Study note

Setting — Moses records the names of the twelve scouts he dispatched from the wilderness of Paran to survey the land of Canaan. This verse functions as a precise entry in that official roster.

The words — The Hebrew לְמַטֵּה (le-matteh) marks tribal assignment, while שָׁפָט (Shaphat) literally means "judge," identifying the scout as Shaphat son of Hori from Simeon.

The thread — This specific scout appears only in the spy list of Numbers 13, while his tribe is repeatedly documented in the territorial allotment records of Joshua 19:1–9 and the leadership lists of Numbers 34:24–25.

Why it lands — The text names a single tribal representative in a national mission, requiring the reader to track how individual lineage fits into God’s structured distribution of land and authority.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.