A land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. This cannot mean that the people died of starvation, pestilence, or other natural causes, which would have been contrary to facts and to their own report.
It must mean that the population was continually changing through internecine wars, and the incursions of fresh tribes from the surrounding wastes. The history of Palestine from first to last testifies to the constant presence of this d anger.
The remarkable variation in the lists of tribes inhabiting Canaan may be thus accounted for. All the people … are men of great stature, אֲגְשֵׁי מִדּוֹת "men of measures. " Septuagint, ἄνδρες ὑπερμήκεις.
The "all" is an exaggeration very natural to men who had to justify the counsels of cowardice.