The Scatter-Gather Motif in Judges

Alice C. Linsley


The book of Judges contains interesting details about various clans, tribes, and scattered peoples living in Canaan before the establishment of the monarchy. We will focus on three groups whose stories illustrate the scatter-gather motif in Judges. These are the clans of Caleb, Ephraim, and the scattered peoples called “Perizzites.”

The Clan of Caleb

Caleb's name is spelled with the same consonants as כֶּלֶב kéleḇ,  meaning “dog.” The dog was the totem of Caleb’s clan and the clan understood the canine nature. Dogs tend to move in packs and they are the most dangerous when together. They gather to hunt and kill, but they often separate to eat the kill, dragging their piece of flesh away from the pack. In other words, they gather, then scatter.

The clan of Caleb was known to produce brave and bold warriors. The Hebrew word for warrior is gid'on (Gideon). This allusion to the dog clan is found in Judges 7:4-7:

But the Lord said to Gideon, "There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, 'This one shall go with you, he shall go; but if I say, this one shall not go with you, he shall not go."  So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink." Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.  The Lord said to Gideon, "With the 300 men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place.

Here we have an acknowledgement of the Caleb clans as chosen warriors. Gideon was a descendant of Caleb.  As such, he might have shown preference to his clansmen who he knew to be great warriors (and loyal to him as their leader), but Gideon can not be accused on showing favoritism since God gathered the warriors from among the many tribes and clans of Israel.

1 Chronicles 2:50 tells us that Caleb’s firstborn son was Hur (HR). Hur’s firstborn son was Shobal, the founder of Kiriath-jearim where the Ark resided until it was moved to Jerusalem. Shobal the Younger was named after his maternal grandfather, according to the Horite pattern whereby the cousin or niece bride named her firstborn son after her father. Shobal is a Horite name, so some of Gideon’s clan can be traced through his cousin or niece wife to the Horites of Genesis 36.

Caleb is noted as being the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite (Numbers 32:12). The Kenizzites are often listed with the Perizzites as in Genesis 15:18-21. Kenizzite derives from an ancestral name Kenaz and is related to the name Kain and Kenan (Gen. 4).  Caleb’s brother was named Kenaz (Jos. 15:17; Jg 1:13; 1Ch 4:13).  After killing Abel, Kain was banished or told to scat from his homeland.  "Scat" is related to the verb to scatter.  His descendants scattered abroad (cf. Genesis 11:8).

The Clan of Ephraim

A reader from Nigeria who posts as “YT” wondered if some of the Yoruba might be related to the Ephraimites.  He noted that during the Yoruba intertribal wars, a subgroup living in the area of Ibadan in Southwestern Nigeria were identified by their difficulty in pronouncing the sh sound (as in shoe).  The sh sound is not common in the dialect of this Yoruba people. YT wondered if these people might be related to the Ephraimites. He is referring to this verse of Scripture:

The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead asked him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he replied, "No," they said, "All right, say 'Shibboleth.'" If he said, "Sibboleth," because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time. (Judges 12:5-6)

The strange thing about the Judges story is that the Ephraimites should have been familiar with the sh sound. Egyptians had this sound in their language and Ephraim is associated with Joseph of Egypt. The Egyptian sh was represented by this hieroglyph:

It appears that this Ephraim's descendants spoke a different dialect that their brothers in the clan of Manasseh. This suggests that Ephraim and Manasseh were the firstborn sons of two different wives.  It was the custom of Horite rulers to have two wives.  Since the Egyptians were able to pronounce the sh, we must consider the possibility that Ephraim's mother was not Egyptian. The Egyptian rulers took wives from the Upper Nile, so it is likely that Ephraim's mother was Nubian. In Old Nubian, the sh phoneme (as in shoe)was much less common than the s sound (as in sand).

The historical background of this reference is important. Ephraim was located next to Dan. Joppa, a principal city of Dan, was occupied by an Egyptian garrison during the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550–1200 BC). Ephraim and some of Manasseh's descendants lived on the west side of the Jordan directly opposite the other half of Manasseh and their kinsmen of Gad. Ephraim and Manasseh were of the Niolitic House of Joseph. Their plant totem was the ceph or sedge (Nile reeds). The clans of the so-called "half-tribe of Manasseh" and Gad were of the House of Jacob (Aramean). Living on the opposite sides of the Jordan these clans had to cooperate in their control of the river commerce. The scattered were gathered around the Jordan River, which like tied these clans together.

The Perizzites

After Levi and Simeon murdered the men of Shechem, Jacob declared to them: “You've made the people living in the area, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, hate me.”

In Judges we read that the king of the Scattered People resided in Bezek (Bezeq as in the shattering lightning of Ezekiel 1:14). Bezek means “scatter.”  The king of Bezek delighted in cutting off the toes and thumbs of the rulers he conquered. This was his trademark form of torture. The toes and thumbs were scattered and the rulers were made to gather crumbs like dogs under the Bezek’s table. When Judah and Simeon captured the King of Bezek, they did to him what he had done to the other rulers. Perhaps word of this retributive justice took some of the edge off the Canaanites hatred of Jacob’s people.

Later God warns the clans of Jacob and Joseph through Joshua (Yeshua) that they will be treated the same if the people slip into idolatry: "The LORD will scatter you among the peoples” (Deut. 4:27). This came true as is evident in the story of the Syro-Phoenician woman, a Greek who was born in the land of Canaan. Note how her story relates to this theme of being scattered and gathered.  Here again we find the reference to the dog under the king’s table.

Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

“First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

“Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”(Mark 7:24-29)

The brilliant Anglican liturgist Thomas Cranmer understood the scatter-gather motif behind this story. He placed the “Prayer of Humble Access” before the distribution or scattering of the consecrated bread and wine. The prayer appeared in the Order for Communion in 1548 and in First Prayer Book of Edward VI (largely Cranmer’s work) published in 1549. It does not appear in any previous liturgical texts.

Prayer of Humble Access

We do not presume to come to this thy Table (O merciful Lord) trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We be not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the Flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his Blood, in these holy Mysteries, that we may continually dwell in him, and he in us, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his Body, and our souls washed through his most precious Blood. Amen.

Related reading:  Ralph K. Hawkins, Centres and Peripheries in the Early Temple Period; Using Animal Totems to Trace Ancestry and Marriage Ties; The Peoples of Canaan, Peter Leithart, Scattering and Gathering

Dogs in the Bible

This pottery dish shows Nilotic hunting dogs on leashes. It dates to 4500-4000 BC. (Pushkin Museum)

Alice C. Linsley

The Canaan Dog is a recognized breed today. It is known as Kelev Kanani. Drawings of these dogs have been found in excavations at Beni-Hassan, on the east bank of the Nile, north of Minya, Egypt. They date from 2200-2000 BC. 

The Kanani breed has been employed for many centuries by Bedouin and Druze peoples as herd dogs for their flocks and guard dogs for their camps. From Jesus' statement to the Canaanite woman, we gather that domesticated dogs were fed scraps from the family table. He said, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." (Matthew 15:26; Mark 7:27)

Kelev Kanani

These are more domesticated than the pariahs who scavenged at the rubbish heaps outside the cities and roamed the streets in packs at night. We have a sense of the danger posed by packs of wild dogs in Psalm 59:6: "They return at evening, snarling like dogs, and prowl about the city."

The word kelbi in Tigrinya means dog. It is the cognate of kaleb/kelev in Hebrew, and holds the idea of a loyal heart, the ka-lib. The word lib is heart in Hebrew and Amharic. In ancient Nilotic mythology, the jackal, the wolf, and the dog were guides to paradise and the promise land. It is no coincidence that one of the scouts sent to open the way for the advancing Hebrews was named Caleb.

Dogs and Vultures

In the Bible, the pariah dog is likened to and paralleled with the vultures. The bodies of enemies were often left to be eaten by dogs. In this context, dogs were associated with vultures.

Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country. (1 Kings 14:11)

Dogs will eat those belonging to Baasha who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country." (1 Kings 16:4)

And also concerning Jezebel the LORD says: "Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country." (1 Kings 21:23, 24)


Dogs and Swords

"I will send four kinds of destroyers against them," declares the LORD, "the sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy." (Jeremiah 15:3)

The association of dogs and swords appears in the Psalms: "Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs." (Psalm 22:20)

The animal totem of the warrior clan of Caleb (Kelev) was the dog.

Dogs and Pigs

The dog was regarded with contempt as ritually unclean, especially during the time of the Second Temple. In this context the dog was associated with the pig. Consider these examples:

Of them the proverbs are true:  "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud." (2 Peter 2:22)

"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces." (Matthew 7:6)

Speaking of spiritual waywardness, the Prophet Isaiah said, "But whoever sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a man, and whoever offers a lamb, like one who breaks a dog's neck; whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig's blood, and whoever burns memorial incense, like one who worships an idol. They have chosen their own ways, and their souls delight in their abominations." (Isaiah 66:3)

Humbling Oneself as a Dog

Speaking of oneself as a dog was a way to humble oneself before a superior.  To call oneself a dead dog was to especially debase oneself, as a dead dog was doubly unclean.

Hazael said, "How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?" "The Lord has shown me that you will become king of Aram," answered Elisha. (2 Kings 8:13)

Mephibosheth bowed down and said [to David], "What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?" (2 Samuel 9:8)

The Canaanite sought Jesus' help for her daughter. "Lord,' she said, 'help me.' He replied, 'I was set only to the lost sheep of Israel.' The woman had come and bowed low before Him. Jesus told her. "It is not right to give the children's bread to the dogs," to which she replied, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." (Matthew 15:27)

Dogs and Evil Men

Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. (Psalm 22:16)

Israel's watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep. They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, each seeks his own gain. (Isaiah 56: 10, 11)

Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. (Philippians 3:2)

Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (Revelation 22:15)

Dogs Among the Hebrew Clans

The oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship is Nekhen on the Nile (4200 BC). Burial sites at Nekhen include dogs. A child's body was found buried with 12 young dogs in a Nekhen cemetery. 

In the Nile Valley dogs were well treated as household pets, for protection, and for their skill in hunting. That they lived with the Nilotic Hebrew is evident from these verses:

But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal. Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. (Exodus 11:7)

You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs. (Exodus 22:31)

Long before the time of Moses dogs were kept to herd sheep, as is evident from this verse in Job: "But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs." (Job 30:1)

The Calebites

Caleb was the son of Jephunneh, a descendant of Kain which is why he was called a ‘Kenizzite’ הַקְּנִזּי haKenizi (cf. Gen. 15:19). The Kenizzites were a Hebrew clan according to Gen. 36:11 - "And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.”

Caleb's connection to the Kenites is explicitly stated in 1 Chronicles 2:55 which says that Caleb's sons were Kenites. Kenaz was a son of Eliphaz by Timna, daughter of Seir, a Horite Hebrew ruler named in Genesis 36. The dog was the totem of the Calebites. Caleb or Kelev means dog.

The Canaan Dog (Kelev) was a symbol of the warrior. The Hebrew word for warrior is Gid'on (Gideon). This allusion to the dog clan is found in Judges 7:4-7:

But the Lord said to Gideon, "There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, 'This one shall go with you, he shall go; but if I say, this one shall not go with you, he shall not go." So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink." Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. The Lord said to Gideon, "With the 300 men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place.

This information makes it possible to trace Gideon’s ancestry back to Caleb whose Horite Hebrew wife was Ephrathah. 1 Chronicles 2:50 tells us that the firstborn son of Caleb and Ephrathah was Hur or HR (a Horite name). Hur’s firstborn son was Shobal, the founder of Kiriath-jearim where the Ark resided until it was moved to Jerusalem in David’s time. Shobal was a Horite Hebrew chief, and the totem of his clan was the lion.

One of Caleb's grandsons was named Korah (1 Chron. 2:43). The term korah refers to a shaved priest. Moses' half-brother was Korah. The Hebrew ruler-priest caste served at the temples and shrines along the Nile. They were known to shave their bodies before their terms of service at the temples and shrines.

Related reading: The Hebrew Were a Caste, Horite and Sethtite Mounds, The Men Who Spied on Canaan; Using Totems to Trace Ancestry and Marriage Ties; Totemism in the Old Testament; Where and When Did Dogs Become Man's Best Friend?; Solving the Mystery of Dog Domestication; Mesolithic Iberian dogs: An archaeogenetic study; Dog Breeds of the Nile 

The Men Who Spied on Canaan

Alice C. Linsley

Numbers 13:4-16 gives the names of the spies sent by the Moses the Horite to the land of Canaan. These were given the mission to go into the Negev and into the mountains to investigate the land, its inhabitants and their wealth. Their journey was north from Kadesh-Barnea to Hebron, a distance of about 75 miles.

Each member of the spy team is called a "leading man." The first six names indicate prominent elders among the people in Egypt and each has a connection to the Horite Hebrew ruler-priest caste. The last six names appear to be synthetic and do not appear to reflect historical persons.

These are the names of the spies:

....from the tribe of Reuben, Sham-mua son (ben) of Zakkur

Sham (Shams in Arabic) refers to the Sun. A variant spelling is Shamma, one of David's three great champions. This Shamma was the son of Elah the Horite (II Sam. 23:11). He was known as a great warrior. Mua is a common name in Arabic and Aramaic (likely the original language of the material collected in the Qur'an).

Consider these:

Muamur Gadaffi
Mua'ad Ibn Jabal
Sa'ad ibn Mua'dh
Mua'yyad (Persian)

The muathi مؤذن  is the man at the mosque who calls the people to prayer.

Zakkur is a name associated with a West Semitic prophet (See Zakkur Stela).

From this information we might infer that Shammua was a religious leader associated with the Sun, the Horite symbol for the Creator. He belonged to a family of prophets and warriors.

⁵ from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son (ben) of Hori

Hori refers to the Horites, a Hebrew caste or ruler-priests. Shaphat is a name associated with the divine council described in Psalm 82:1-6. They are called elohiym (deified rulers), and in Psalm 72 they are called shaphat.

Psalm 82:1-2 - "God presides in the great assembly; he gives judgment among the gods [rulers]. How long will you judge unjustly, And show partiality to the wicked? Selah.”

Psalm 82:6 - "I said, 'You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.”

From this information we might infer that Shaphat was a Horite ruler. His connection to the tribe of Levi would reinforce this, as the Horites were a caste of ruler-priests, devotees of the high God Ra and his son Horus. Horus means "One on high" and he was said to be conceived when his mother Hathor was divinely overshadowed (cf. Gen. 3:15; Luke 1).

⁶ from the tribe of Judah,Caleb son (ben) of Jephunneh

Jephunneh יְפֻנֶּה means "for whom a way is prepared." Jephunneh was a descendant of Kain which is why he was called a ‘Kenizzite’ הַקְּנִזּי haKenizi (cf. Gen. 15:19). The Kenizzites were a Horite clan according to Gen. 36:11 - "And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.” Caleb's connection to the Kenites is explictly stated in 1 Chronicles 2:55 which says that Caleb's sons were Kenites. Kenaz was a son of Eliphaz by Timna, daughter of Seir, a Horite Hebrew ruler.

The dog was the totem of Caleb’s clan. This was a symbol of the warrior. The Hebrew word for warrior is Gid'on (Gideon). This allusion to the dog clan is found in Judges 7:4-7:

But the Lord said to Gideon, "There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, 'This one shall go with you, he shall go; but if I say, this one shall not go with you, he shall not go." So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink." Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. The Lord said to Gideon, "With the 300 men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place.

Based on this information, it is possible to trace Gideon’s ancestry back to Caleb whose Horite wife was Ephrathah. I Chronicles 2:50 tells us that the firstborn son of Caleb and Ephrathah was Hur (Horus in Greek). Hur’s firstborn son was Shobal, the founder of Kiriath-jearim where the Ark resided until it was moved to Jerusalem in David’s time. Shobal was a Horite chief and his totem was the lion.

One of Caleb's grandsons was named Korah (I Chron. 2:43), which refers to the Horite priesthood. Moses' half-brother was Korah. The name means "shaved one" as Horite priests shaved their bodies before their terms of service.

From this information we may infer that Caleb also was associated with the Horites. His family settled in Bethlehem, a Horite settlement. Caleb's son Salma is designated the "founder" of Bethlehem in I Chronicles 2:51.

⁷ from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son (ben) of Joseph

Igal is also spelled Yigal and means "He redeems." A later hero by this name was listed among David's thirty champions in II Samuel 24:36. The name Joseph is a common name among the Horites. Joseph, son of Jacob, married Asenath, the daughter of the priest of the Horite shrine at Heliopolis (Onn). Joseph who married the Virgin Mary was a descendant of these ruler-priests. According to Matthew 1:15, Joseph was of the priestly line of Mattai (Matthan/Matthew). Luke 2 tells us that Joseph was to register for the census in Bethlehem which was originally a Horite settlement.

from the tribe of Ephraim, Joshua son (bin) of Nun

Joshua is said to have lived to the ripe age of 110 (Judges 2:9). He was buried at Timnah of Horus in Ephraim.

In this list of spies everyone is referred to as “so-and-so ben (son of) so-and-so,” except for Joshua. He is called Joshua bin Nun, using a non-Hebrew word for son. The explanations given by rabbis for this curiosity are fanciful rather than historical. Here are some examples:

Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (1195–1270) suggests that the bin Nun should be read together as “binnun.” The word is related to the Hebrew word binah, meaning “the understanding one.”

The Torah tells us that Joshua was Moses’ prize student. Exodus 33:11 says, “His attendant, Joshua bin Nun, a lad, would not depart from the tent.” The bin is suggested as an explanation of Joshua' dual parentage: he was Nun’s biological child, but he was Moses' son by training.

Rabbi Moses Sofer (1762–1839) offers this explanation. According to the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 47), when G‑d changed Sarai’s name to Sarah, the Hebrew letter yud was removed from the holy woman's name and felt wronged. G‑d placated the letter by promising to make amends at a future date. This was accomplished when Moses added the letter yud to Joshua’s name (Yehoshua), which was originally Hoshea. This explanation does not however, explain the appearance of the Arabic word for son. So the following explanation was offered by Rabbi Baruch S. Davidson.

In its original state, when it was the final letter of Sarai’s name, the yud did not have a vowel—as is the case with most letters which come at the end of a Hebrew word or name. Now, in order to be the yud which begins the name Joshua, it would need the sheva vowel, which is comprised of two dots vertically aligned. These two dots were “borrowed” from the segol vowel which normally is beneath the word ben, which is three dots set up as a triangle. This leaves only one dot for the word ben. One dot is the chirik vowel, which changes the pronunciation to “bin.”


The name Joshua is Yeshua (Jesus).In Numbers 13:16, Moses changed Joshua's name to Hoshea. Why this change was made is uncertain since the names are linguistically equivalent. Probably this is a late gloss on the text. Both are variants of one original name meaning "the Lord saves."

The most historically accurate interpretation of Joshua bin Nun rest in examination of the word Nun. Nun is found at the Horite shrine of Heliopolis in Egypt and represents the cosmic waters which are separated into the firmament above and firmament below (Gen.1:6). In Heliopolitan cosmogony the two watery realms were connected by the great pillars of the temple of Heliopolis.

Deified rulers were shown as the pillars holding up the watery firmament. In the temple of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel in Nubia the pillars are in the form of massive statues of the king. Nefertari is also shown on a pillar. Abu Simbel was a temple dedicated to Hathor, the virgin queen mother of Horus.

This conception of the ordering and control of cosmic water originated in the Nile region where stone pillars and mounds of earth were erected. In the Lower Nile small pyramids were carved from a single block of stone. These were known as a bnbn, from the root, bn, meaning to "swell forth" or to "come forth" and this is the likely meaning of the tern bin (bn) in reference to Joshua's descent.

⁹ from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son (ben) of Raphu

The name Raphu is Rafu in the Abydos King Listand is a reference to Ra, the Creator and father of Horus. Palti is also spelled Paltiel. The name refers to a noble family as is evident in Saul decision to give his princess daughter Michal to Palti the son of Laish (I Sam. 25:44). In doing so, Saul was likely showing favor to a fellow tribesman.



A List of Suspicious Origin

The first six names have connections to historical persons and extant texts. However, from this point on the names appear to be synthetically constructed to make up the balance of 12 tribes.

¹⁰ from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi

Gaddiel (or Gadiel in Arabic) likely means warrior of God. The -iel refers to God and gid'on means warrior. This is the only place where the name Sodi is found in the Bible.

¹¹ from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi son of Susi

These names are suspiciously like the names Gaddi and Sodi, so one wonders if this might be a replication from a different source. Susi appears to be a variant of the Akkadian Susinak.

¹² from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli

Ammiel means "people of God" and Gemalli appear to be a compound of g-m-al, which means "God gathers." The suggestion is that God gathers his people appealed to the author, but this does not appear to have an historical reference.

¹³from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael

Seth is combined with Ur, both ancient names in the Afro-Asiatic Dominion of Abraham' s ancestors. Michael means “the one who is as God."  The oldest reference to the name Michael is in the book of Daniel (8:16, 10:13) which dates long after the time of Moses and the spies. In Jewish tradition, the Archangel Michael was said to have destroyed the city of Babylon.

¹⁴ from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi

In some Bibles this is rendered: Nahabi the son of Vapsi. Nahbi appears to relate to the word for prophet, נְבִיא (nabi). Vophsi or Vapsi does not appear to have an historical reference.

¹⁵from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki

The names Geuel and Maki (Machi) are found only here and do not appear to have an historical reference.

Conclusion

Given this information it appears that the spies sent by Moses were his Horite kinsmen. Given that only six of the names can be verified as historical it is possible that only six spies were sent. If Moses sent only six spies, they most likely would have gone in three teams of two. This would explain why Joshua sent two spies into Jericho (Joshua 2:1 and 8). The Horites were particularly fond of the numbers 2 and 3.

Related reading: The Horite High Places; Who Were the Horites?; Why Does Genesis Speak of Gods?; Christianity Lacks Originality; Joseph's Relationship to Mary; Mary's Ruler-Priest Lineage; Using Totems to Trace Ancestry and Marriage Ties