And when they returned, they related, “We have seen the land which we are to conquer with the sword, and it is good and fruitful. The strongest camel is scarcely able to carry one bunch of grapes; one ear of corn yields enough to feed a whole family; and one pomegranate shell could contain five armed men. But the inhabitants of the land and their cities are in keeping with the productions of the soil. We saw men, the smallest of whom was six hundred cubits high. They were astonished at us on account of our diminutive stature, and laughed at us. Their houses are also in proportion, walled up to heaven, so that an eagle could hardly soar above them.”[550]
When the spies had given this report, the Israelites murmured, and said, “We are not able to go up to the people, for they are stronger than we.”
And the spies said, “The country is a land that killeth its inhabitants with diseases; and all the people who are in it are giants, masters of evil ways. And we appeared as locusts before them.”
And all the congregation lifted up their voices and wept; and it was confirmed that that day, the ninth of the month Ab, should be one of weeping for ever to that people; and it has ever after been one of a succession of calamities in the history of the Jews.
“Would that we had died in the land of Egypt,” said the people; “would that we had died in the wilderness. Why has the Lord brought us into this land, to fall by the sword of the Canaanites, and our wives and little ones to become a prey?”[551]
Then the Lord was wroth with the spies, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, saving only Joshua and Caleb, who had not given an evil report of the land.[552]
The account of the Targum of Palestine is different. The Targum says that the men who had brought an evil report of the land died on the seventh day of the month Elul, with worms coming from their navels, and with worms devouring their tongues.[553]
The Rabbis relate that though for the wickedness of men the fruitfulness of the Holy Land diminished, yet in places it remained as great as of old. “The Raf Chiji, son of Ada, was the teacher of the children of the Resch Lakisch; and once he was absent three days, and the children were without instruction. When he returned, the Resch Lakisch asked him why he had been so long absent. He answered, ‘My father sent me to his vine, which is bound to a tree, and I gathered from it, the first day, three hundred bunches of grapes, which gave as much juice as would fill two hundred and eighty and eight egg-shells (three gerabhs). Next day I cut three hundred bunches, of which two gave one gerabh. The third day I cut three hundred bunches, which yielded one gerabh of juice; and I left more than half the bunches uncut.’ Then said the Resch Lakisch to him, ‘If thou hadst been more diligent in the education of my children, the vine would have yielded yet more.’
“Rami, son of Ezechiel, once went to the inhabitants of Berak, and saw goats feeding under the fig-trees, and the milk flowed from their udders, and the honey dropped from the figs, and the two mingled in one stream. Then he said, ‘This is the land promised to our forefathers, flowing with milk and honey.’
“The Rabbi Jacob, son of Dosethai, said that from Lud to Ono is three miles, and in the morning twilight I started on my way, and I was over ankles in honey out of the figs.