A Grumbling rebellion: 1:24–46 With the return of the spies and the good report of some of them (the bad report of the others is suspended until v. 28), the original command Go up and take possession of the land (v. 21) has been reinforced by the encouragement, it is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us. This makes the people’s next response all the more surprising and shocking: But you were unwilling to go up (v. 26). The rest of the section is presented as an ever intensifying resistance to all Moses’ encouragements, ending in the debacle of an attempted conquest and humiliating defeat. Structurally, the narrative has a dramatic dialogue form, with alternating responses among the people, Moses, and God. The people’s initial refusal (vv. 26–28) is countered by Moses’ encourageme…