1: 23-25 - The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe. They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and explored it. Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, "It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us."

The proposal, deemed good by Moses,1 was quickly executed. Twelve scouts—one from each tribe—were sent forth. Whether the number of scouts was part of the people's proposal or it was Moses', it too was a good one, since each tribe would be represented in the reporting and no one can accuse any other tribe of prejudice or false-pretence. If any of the scouts gave a differing opinion, it was at least representative.

The scouts' report was that "it is a good land that Yahweh our God is giving us," an assessment supported by the fruit they brought back.2

With the report, however, the sense of obedience, hopefulness, and anticipation that has characterized events so far slides quickly—in the next section—into disenchantment, despair, and unbelief:

From obedience to rebellion to distrust:

As Yahweh our God commanded us, we set out . . . v19

you rebelled against the command of Yahweh, v26

in spite of this, you did not trust in Yahweh your God, v32

From accomplishment to destitution:

You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, v20

Where are we going to go up to? v28

From gift to rejection and on to accusation
and blame:

See, Yhwh your God has set before you the land. Go up and
take possession of it as Yhwh, the God of your fathers,
told you, v21

But you refused to go up, v21

You grumbled . . . and said, "In hatred Yahweh
delivered us out of Egypt to give us into the hands
of the Amorites to destroy us, v27

Our brothers have melted our hearts, v28

This descent through disbelief into discomposure is further emphasized by the use of the verb 'ala, "go up," beginning with Moses' hopeful command to "go up" in v21, to their proposal to send in the scouts to seek out "the route we are to go up" in v22, to the report that the scouts "left and went up" in v24, to Moses' indictment that they "refused to go up" in v26, and finally to their despondent cry, "Where are we going to go up to?" in v28.

All the goings up for GenA turned through the filter of their unbelief into horrendous goings down. The frightening truth is that it can happen just as easily to us too!

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