Ramban on Shelach

(27) This is what they told him: “We came to the land you sent us to; it does indeed flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. (28) However, the people who inhabit the country are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, we saw the Anakites there. (29) Amalekites dwell in the Negev region; Hittites, Yevusites, and Amorites inhabit the hill country; and Canaanites dwell by the Sea and along the Jordan.”

(30) Calev hushed the people before Moshe and said, “Let us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it.”

(31) But the other men who had gone up with him said, “We cannot attack that people, for it is stronger than we.” (32) Thus they spread negativity among the Israelites about the land they had scouted, saying, “The country that we traversed and scouted is one that devours its settlers. All the people that we saw in it are of great size;

(1) AND SURELY IT FLOWETH WITH MILK AND HONEY. Since Moses had commanded them to see what the Land is, whether it is fat or lean the spies reported to him that it is fat, and surely it floweth with milk and honey. And in answer to his question whether there are trees therein or not they reported to him, and this is its fruit for so he had commanded them, to show it to him. Now in all this they said the truth, and gave a report about those matters which they had been commanded [to find out], therefore they should [indeed] have said [as in fact they did] that the people that dwell in the Land are fierce and the cities are fortified; for it was their duty to bring back words of truth to them that sent them, and Moses had commanded them [to see] whether they are strong or weak, [and what cities they are that they dwell in], whether in camps, or in strongholds. But the wickedness of the spies consisted in saying the word ephes [“nevertheless” — ‘Nevertheless’ the people that dwell in the Land are fierce], which signifies something negative and beyond human capability, something impossible of achievement, under any circumstances, similar to the expressions: ‘Ha’aphes’ lanetzach chasdo (Is His mercy ‘clean gone’ for ever?); and there is none else; ‘ephes’ (there is no other) G-d. Thus the spies told Moses that the Land is fertile and surely it floweth with milk and honey and the fruits are good, but it is impossible to fight against the people because they are fierce, and the cities are fortified, and very great; and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.

AN EVIL REPORT OF THE LAND. The meaning of this is that the spies left Moses and Aaron and [went around] saying in the [people’s] tents that it is a Land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. For at first when they spoke to the people in front of Moses and Aaron [saying] that the Land … floweth with milk and honey but that the people are fierce, and Caleb said, for we are well able to overcome it, the people hesitated [between these two opinions], and there were some of them who [still] trusted in their power and strength, and some of them [who trusted] in the help of the Eternal against the mighty. Then the spies spread the evil report in front of the people themselves, as it is written, the Land through which we have passed to spy it out, is a Land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof, etc., until they caused the whole congregation to complain, this being the sense of the verse stating, and they returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report against the Land. This happened because when the spies saw the [Amorite] people whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks, the fear of them was fallen upon them and they made the hearts of their brothers melt. And when they saw that the Israelites were still considering going up [to the Land], and that Joshua and Caleb were encouraging them to do so, they invented a false report in order to frustrate their [intention of] going up by all possible means.
Know that he who “bringeth forth ‘dibah’” is a fool who speaks falsely, but he who tells a truthful [bad report] is called “one who ‘brings’ dibah,” as it is said, and Joseph brought ‘dibatham ra’ah’ (evil report of them) unto their father. It was for this [false report] that they were punished by death through a plague, as it is said, And those men that ‘brought forth’ an evil report of the Land, died by the plague before the Eternal. (2) IT IS A LAND THAT EATETH UP THE INHABITANTS THEREOF; AND ALL THE PEOPLE THAT WE SAW IN IT ARE MEN OF GREAT STATURE. If a land is bad and has scanty and poor water so that the Land miscarrieth, it does not sustain men of great [physical] stature, and its inhabitants are weak and flabby, small in size and lacking in strength! [So the question appears in what way is the spies’ statement that the Land produces men of great stature an evil report?] But the evil report of the spies consisted in saying that the Land has an overpowering atmosphere and a heavy nature, and its water and fruits are thick and heavy, so that [the fruits] grow to a very large size, such that people of an average temperament cannot take them, unless they are giants and men of powerful build who are naturally strong and exceptional in their height and stature. Therefore the Land supports very tall men but brings [premature] death to the rest of the people, as is the nature of coarse foods. The spies then continued and emphasized the strength of the giants, for at first they said, and moreover, we saw the children of Anak there, and now they exaggerated and called them nephilim [a word which implies that they were so enormous that the hearts of those who saw them “fell” through fear]; saying to the people, and there we saw the Nephilim, the three sons of Anak who are of the ancient Nephilim about whom you have heard, for the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown. And since the nature of the Nephilim who lived in the times of Noah was known throughout the world, the spies mentioned that these sons of Anak were their descendants, in order to frighten them, and to terrify them. Therefore the spies said now, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.