appeals and remonstrances were in vain. Moses announced that as a
punishment for their rebellion they must now wander in the wilderness till
a new generation should arise which would go up and posses the land. The
spies had been forty days absent on their expedition, and for each day the
Israelites were to be wanderers for a year in the desert. (See ESHCOL.)
Two spies were sent by Joshua “secretly” i.e., unknown to the people
(Joshua 2:1), “to view the land and Jericho” after the death of Moses, and
just before the tribes under his leadership were about to cross the Jordan.
They learned from Rahab (q.v.), in whose house they found a hiding-place,
that terror had fallen on all the inhabitants of the land because of the great
things they had heard that Jehovah had done for them (Exodus 15:14-16;
comp. 23:27; Deuteronomy 2:25; 11:25). As the result of their mission
they reported: “Truly Jehovah hath delivered into our hands all the land;
for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.”
- SPIKENARD (Hebrews nerd), a much-valued perfume (Cant. 1:12; 4:13,
14). It was “very precious”, i.e., very costly (Mark 14:3; John 12:3,5). It
is the root of an Indian plant, the Nardostachys jatamansi, of the family of
Valeriance, growing on the Himalaya mountains. It is distinguished by its
having many hairy spikes shooting out from one root. It is called by the
Arabs sunbul Hindi, “the Indian spike.” In the New Testament this word
is the rendering of the Greek nardos pistike. The margin of the Revised
Version in these passages has “pistic nard,” pistic being perhaps a local
name. Some take it to mean genuine, and others liquid. The most probable
opinion is that the word pistike designates the nard as genuine or faithfully
prepared. - SPIRIT (Hebrews ruah; Gr. pneuma), properly wind or breath. In 2
Thessalonians 2:8 it means “breath,” and in Ecclesiastes 8:8 the vital
principle in man. It also denotes the rational, immortal soul by which man
is distinguished (Acts 7:59; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 6:20; 7:34), and the soul in
its separate state (Hebrews 12:23), and hence also an apparition (Job 4:15;
Luke 24:37, 39), an angel (Hebrews 1:14), and a demon (Luke 4:36; 10:20).
This word is used also metaphorically as denoting a tendency (Zechariah
12:10; Luke 13:11).
In Romans 1:4, 1 Timothy 3:16, 2 Corinthians 3:17, 1 Peter 3:18, it
designates the divine nature.