Why the Spies Feared Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai

"Then he said to them: Go up here into the Negev, [and go up into the hill country]" (Numbers 13:17). While they were going up, R. Berekhyah the Priest [son of Rabbi] said: They found there three sons of the giants, Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai (Numbers 13:22). Why was his name called Ahiman? Because he would say, "My brother (achi), who (man) will come against me?" Sheshai, because he was as firm as marble (shayish). Talmai, because he would go and make furrows (telamim) in the earth. "Children of Anak (yelidei ha-anak)," because they would embrace (onkim) the sun. When the spies saw them, they were afraid. Immediately they went and said, "For it is stronger than we" (Numbers 13:31). Resh Lakish said: They directed it upward [as though to say God Himself could not prevail]. And on account of that sin, evil decrees were decreed upon them. What does the Holy One, blessed be He, say to Jeremiah? "Go, say to them: You do not know what you have brought forth from your mouth, on a day of great tumult" (Jeremiah 11:16). They said, "And we were in our own eyes like grasshoppers" (Numbers 13:33). The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I would have overlooked that, but rather [they added], "and so we were in their eyes" (ibid.). Who says you were not in their eyes like angels? Did you know what I made you in their eyes? What have you brought upon yourselves "by the number of the days in which you spied out the land" (Numbers 14:34)? And as if this were not enough, they did not enter the land. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: In this world, because the ones sent were of flesh and blood, it was decreed upon them that they should not enter the land. But in the world to come I will suddenly send My messenger, and he will clear a way before Me, as it is said, "Behold, I am sending My messenger, and he will clear a way before Me, [and suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to His temple]" (Malachi 3:1).