Deuteronomy 1:22-33

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.

Ye came ... and said, We will send men. The proposal to despatch spies emanated from the people through unbelief; but Moses, believing them sincere, gave his cordial assent to this measure, and God, on being consulted, permitted them to follow the suggestion (see the notes at Numbers 13:1). The issue proved disastrous to them, only through their own sin and folly.

Verse 28. Cities are great and walled up to heaven - an Oriental metaphor, meaning very high. The Arab marauders roam about on horseback; and hence, the walls of Catherine's monastery on Sinai are so lofty that travelers are drawn up by a pulley in a basket. Anakims (see the note at Numbers 13:33). The honest and uncompromising language of Moses, in reminding the Israelites of their perverse conduct and outrageous rebellion at the report of the treacherous and faint-hearted scouts, affords a strong evidence of the truth of this history as well as of the divine authority of his mission. There was great reason for his dwelling on this dark passage in their history, as it was their unbelief that excluded them from the privilege of entering the promised land (Hebrews 3:19); and that unbelief was a marvelous exhibition of human perversity, considering the miracles which God had performed in their favour, especially in the daily manifestations they had of His presence among them as their leader and protector.