Spies According to Numbers 13:2, Moses sent the spies into Canaan at the command of God; but according to Deuteronomy 1:22 at the suggestion of the people. The seeming discrepancy disappears thus; the people begged that they should be sent; Moses laid their request before God, who thereupon gave the command. In the historical book, Numbers, God's command alone is mentioned; but in Deuteronomy, which treats of the people's conduct toward God, Moses reminds them that the request which eventuated in their fathers' rebellion and death in the wilderness, emanated from themselves. The generation whom Moses addressed in Deuteronomy needed to be warned by the fate of their fathers. Moses treats fathers and children as one people.