Look! He has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be discouraged!’ “But you all came to me and said, ‘First, let’s send out scouts to explore the land for us. They will advise us on the best route to take and which towns we should enter.’ [Deuteronomy 1.21-22]
The passage above is Moses speaking to Israel. He was reminding them of their failure at Kadesh-barnea regarding entrance to the Promised Land.
The problem is, this does not at all match up with the account of this event recorded in Numbers 13:
The LORD now said to Moses, “Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes.” So Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He sent out twelve men, all tribal leaders of Israel, from their camp in the wilderness of Paran. [Numbers 13.1-3]
Obviously, it cannot be both ways. I see no way to reconcile the difference between these two accounts.
However, and, although both accounts can be 'spiritualized' for great lessons, it doesn't matter which way it was, because either way it was initiated, the failure of the scouts and the people to draw the correct information from the scouting trip was the same. Israel let fear guide them instead of God.
With further research, I found that the King James Version of these 2 accounts does not read with the same 'contrast.' Check the same passages out in KJV:
Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. [Deuteronomy 1.21-22]
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel. [Numbers 13.1-3 KJV]
What does this mean? It simply means that translators can get it wrong - or, maybe I should just say, "unclear." While the NLT translation seems to make it clear that the people were in rebellion by sending scouts first, the KJV indicates it was simply a strategic planning mission. But, again, the end result was the same. What was probably a 'good move' strategically turned into a failure of fear.
I am not disturbed by the differences in translations because God is bigger than man's understanding of Him. What is consistent from translation to translation is the character of God and His purpose for the earth. Clearly, God did not intend for Israel to look at the Promised Land in fear.
Father, thank You for Your Word and the preservation and revelation of it through different translations.
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