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.
The time ... of the first-ripe grapes. This was in August, when the first clusters are gathered, the Second in September, and the third in October. The spies' absence for a period of 40 days. determine the grapes they brought from Eshcol to have been of the second period. Thus 'the Israelites were in the Arabah, or great Arabian desert, at the most trying period of the year. Their journey to this point from Sinai might have been accomplished by easy marches in eighteen 'days. But probably they rested for some time at Akabah, and hence, five months were consumed with it. They sent forward the spies for the purpose of examining the character and state of the country, particularly of ascertaining the most practicable line of access into the promised land; and for 40 days they looked wistfully for the return of these messengers, because they were anxious to move out of the oppressive, stifling heat of the Arabah, on to the healthier as well as more abundant region, which was there above them, and which they already regarded as their own possession' (Drew's 'Scripture Lands,' p. 77).