NOTES for Num 12:16; Num 13:1-33
The story in the Book of Numbers about the scouts sent to learn everything possible about the land that was to be conquered showed once again, and now beyond all doubt, that the people were not ready for any war. Indeed, even from the appearance of the returning men carrying a heavy cluster of grapes, it was easy to infer that no one had pursued them and that they had met no particular resistance. In principle, this situation made it entirely possible to conquer the land soon after the Exodus.
All that was needed was to move north from the oasis of Kadesh-barnea in Sinai, where the people who had fled Egypt were then living, toward Beersheba and then Hebron in the southern foothills of Judea. That is precisely what the scouts did, meeting no serious resistance; the road was therefore open, and the whole people could have taken it, if only they had not been afraid. This “if” was the main problem. The people were afraid, and so were the scouts. In a fright, ordinary people can look like giants, and settlements surrounded by low mud-brick walls can look like cities whose walls reach “to heaven.”
The fear was completely irrational, but no one wanted to admit it, so stories that had been partly “seen” and partly invented on the way were brought into play to frighten everyone. Most remarkable of all, the whole people believed these tales, which would more accurately be called fabrications, and were also preparing to return to Egypt rather than enter the land that lay so near, within reach.
Of course, after entering Palestine from the south, the conquerors would sooner or later have had to face serious resistance from the local inhabitants. But along the way, which would have taken a considerable time, they could already have learned something, including how to fight. Conquering the whole land would not have been an easy stroll, but they could have established themselves in the southern foothills of Judea during the lifetime of the first generation to leave Egypt. If, of course, the people themselves had dared to do so. They did not, and the prospect of entering the land receded substantially. Now they had to wait for a new generation. Thus human choices alter God’s plans, and always for the worse.