spies

Those who seek to obtain privileged information secretly. In the OT, spies are involved in three complexes of material: the dispatch of twelve spies by Moses to reconnoiter the land of Canaan (Num 13-14; Deut 1:19-46); the sending of two spies to Jericho by Joshua (Josh 2); and the mission of the five spies sent to Laish as part of the Danite migration to the north (Judg 18). The usual form of the spy story includes the selection and dispatch of the spies, their return and report, the announcement that God has given the reconnoitered land to Israel, and the report of the subsequent invasion and conquest.