Deu 1:22 | KingComments | STEP | Despite all the promises of God, the people want spies to be sent out first. The core of this request is distrust of God and His Word. What will the spies be able to tell beyond what God has already said? In Numbers it says that God commands spies to be sent out ( ), while here we learn that the people wanted it. Their question came from a lack of trust in God. When God sees that their will is fixed in this, He gives what they ask for. It is like the question the people later ask to have a king. In so doing they reject God. Yet God gives them a king because He wants to teach them a lesson. Moses agreed to the request. The spies travelled through the land and returned with the evidence of the land’s wealth. The mention of “the valley of Eshcol” reminds us of the enormous bunch of grapes they have brought from the land ( ). They have also recognized that the land God gives is “a good (or: fair) land”, an expression that appears ten times in this book ( ).

‏ Deuteronomy 1:22

The Twelve Spies

Despite all the promises of God, the people want spies to be sent out first. The core of this request is distrust of God and His Word. What will the spies be able to tell beyond what God has already said?

In Numbers it says that God commands spies to be sent out (Num 13:1-2), while here we learn that the people wanted it. Their question came from a lack of trust in God. When God sees that their will is fixed in this, He gives what they ask for. It is like the question the people later ask to have a king. In so doing they reject God. Yet God gives them a king because He wants to teach them a lesson.

Moses agreed to the request. The spies travelled through the land and returned with the evidence of the land’s wealth. The mention of “the valley of Eshcol” reminds us of the enormous bunch of grapes they have brought from the land (Num 13:23-24). They have also recognized that the land God gives is “a good (or: fair) land”, an expression that appears ten times in this book (Deu 1:25 ; 35 ; Deu 3:25 ; Deu 4:21 ; 22 ; Deu 6:18 ; Deu 8:7 ; 10 ; Deu 9:6 ; Deu 11:17).