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.

14:1–12 The story continues in chapter 14 with the people’s response to the majority report from the spies. Fear spreads through the camp, and the people complain and weep. All the Israelites grumble against Moses and Aaron and begin again to remember Egyptian slavery with fondness. Despite th…