SPIES (מְרַגְּלִימ׃֙, תָּרִ֖ים; NT κατασκόπους, ἐγκαθέτους, all meaning spies). Persons whose mission is to gather information secretly in a hostile place.

Two Heb. words are tr. “spies.” The first and most common is מְרַגְּלִימ׃֙, a pl. participle from רָגַל, H8078, “foot”; hence, “to go around on foot (secretly).” The other, which occurs only once (Num 14:6), is תָּרִ֖ים, also a pl. participle from תּוּר, H9365, “to seek out, explore, spy out.” There seems to be no distinction between the two words, since Joshua 14:7 and Deuteronomy 1:24 both use the verb רָגַל, H8078, in referring to the events of Numbers 14:6.

Spies and spying have always been necessary in warfare in order to discover the weakness of the enemy. In Genesis 42 Joseph accuses his brothers of being spies whose object was to discover the weaknesses of Egypt. Moses sent twelve spies into the land of Canaan to determine its strengths and weaknesses and to see how productive the land was (Num 13). When they returned with a divided report, Israel accepted the majority report and was forced to postpone conquest of the land for forty years. During this time Moses sent spies to Jazer, a fortified Amorite city in Gilead, and then captured the city (Num 21:32). Forty years elapsed and Israel began the conquest. During the conquest, whenever the capture of a town is related in detail, spies always precede the capture. In the case of Jericho, Joshua sent two spies (Josh 2-6). From Jericho an unspecified number of spies were sent to Ai (Josh 7, 8). Later the tribes of Joseph took Bethel after spies had discovered from a traitor an entrance to the city (Judg 1:23-25). David used spies to keep track of Saul’s movements (1 Sam 26:4). Finally, the emissaries David sent to the Ammonites were assumed to be spies by the Ammonites and were treated accordingly (2 Sam 10:3; 1 Chron 19:3).

In the NT, spies are alluded to twice. The scribes and chief priests sent spies to Jesus (Luke 20:20), and Rahab is commended for welcoming the spies (Heb 11:31).

Bibliography R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel (1965), 213-240.