Of Spies and Rebellions: Numbers 13–14 constitutes one of the central narratives in the book, a kind of watershed that determines the course of a generation in Israel. The narrative is complicated and carefully constructed, taking a variety of turns along the way.

Since the census in Numbers 1, readers have been prepared for some military encounter. As chapter 13 begins, the people in the Desert of Paran appear on the verge of the land they have been promised and are preparing to take possession of it.

13:26–33 The spies complete their exploration and return to the camp at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. They give their report and display the fruit of the land. The report contains both good news and bad. The land is fertile; it does flow with milk and honey! The difficulty (v. 28) is that the…