What did you find confusing in the Book of Numbers?

Answer 1

A:

The 'Spies' story is confusing to some. Approaching their destination after more than a year of wandering, Moses was commanded to send men to search out the land of the Canaanites. There are two separate versions of this account, blended together and sufficiently similar to appear to the casual reader to be just one rather complex account:--

In the first version: Moses dispatched the spies (13:17b-20); the spies travelled only as far north as Hebron (in the future kingdom of Judah) (13:22-25); the spies returned and issued their report to one person (Moses), stating that the land was 'flowing with milk and honey', but that the inhabitants were giants and their cities fortified (13:27-29); Caleb alone tried to encourage the Israelites to proceed with the conquest (13:30); the spies countered Caleb's claim, stating that the land was unconquerable (13:31,33); the people refused to enter Canaan and plotted to elect a new captain to lead them back to Egypt (14:1b, 4);God was angry, threatening to destroy the people by plague (14:11-12);God chose not to destroy the Israelites, instead they were to wander the desert until the present generation had died, and Caleb alone of this generation would live to enter the Promised Land (14:20-25).

In the second version: Moses appointed twelve heads of tribes to scout the land, and dispatched them from the Wilderness of Paran (13:1-17a); the spies toured the entire Promised Land, "from the Wilderness of Zin to the entrance to Hamath (southern Syria)" (13:21); the spies returned and displayed the land's fruit, issuing their report to Moses, Aaron and all the congregation (13:25-26); The report stated that Canaan was not only unconquerable, but a 'land that devours its inhabitants' (13:32-33);The Israelites refused to enter Canaan (14:1a, 2-3); Caleb and Joshua both tried to encourage the Israelites to proceed with the conquest, but the Israelites responded by calling for them to be stoned (14:6-10a);God was angry and decreed that the Israelites will wander the wilderness for forty years - one year for each day they had spent in scouting the land - until the present sinful generation had died, but Caleb and Joshua would live to enter the Promised Land (14: 26-35).

The passage in which Moses struck the rock to bring forth water, in the wilderness of Zin (20:1-11), can only be a retelling of the same story in Exodus 17:1-6, where Moses had already struck the rock to bring forth water, in the wilderness of Sin. Unlike the first case, this time the Lord told Moses to speak to the rock and not to strike it, but Moses struck it twice and water came abundantly. For his disobedience, Moses was told that he would not lead the people into the Promised Land.