Numbers 13:1-25

The sending of the 12 spies into Canaan 13:1-25

When the people arrived at Kadesh the Lord told them to go up and take possession of the land He had promised them (Deuteronomy 1:19-21). Kadesh stood in the Desert of Zin, which was a section of the great Paran wilderness. The people asked Moses if they could send spies ahead of them. They did so, "that they may search out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up, and the cities which we shall enter" (Deuteronomy 1:22). Moses allowed this (Deuteronomy 1:23) with God’s permission (Numbers 13:2). Clearly the Israelites were not rebelling against God by sending the spies, but neither were they stepping forward in bold obedience with strong confidence in God, as they should have done. Why did God not lead Moses to record here (Numbers 13:1-3) the fact that the sending of the spies was the people’s idea (Deuteronomy 1:22)? The reason may be that this was not the sin that resulted in God’s postponement of their entrance into Canaan. Their reaction to the spies’ report caused that result. The mission of the spies had some genuine value to the Israelites (Numbers 13:18-20), but it also opened the possibility of fear and failure to obey God.