Bible Discrepancies - Spying Canaan

by Mike James

Was it God's idea to spy out the land of Canaan or the people's? This alleged discrepancy relates to the two scriptures provided below:

Report of the Spies (Numbers 13, 1 - 26). Chromolithograph after a drawing (1860) by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (German painter, 1794 - 1872), published ca. 1880

Numbers 13:1-2: 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 (KJV).

Deuteronomy 1:21-23: 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. And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe (KJV).

The scripture in Numbers seems to be saying God told them to spy out the land, while the scripture in Deuteronomy seems to imply the people made the decision to do it.

This and other scriptures can be easily resolved by understanding that the writer is not providing all the details in the second account. This is often done when we speak and write. If you have already established that God gave the word for the people to act in a certain way, why do we have to repeat all the details whenever we address this same issue?

Also, note Numbers 32:8, where now we get another slight difference about the incident of spying out the land. Here, Moses says he sent them to spy out the land. This can be easily resolved by looking at all three scriptures. The first scripture tells us God spoke to Moses. Moses obviously told the men what God wanted. The men then carried out the action that God had begun. More than one thing can be true at the same time. God, Moses, and the people were all involved in getting this done.

This type of thing is found in other scriptures that address the same event. For example, in 2 Chronicles 23:1-20, we read that the Levites were involved in the inauguration of King Joash. Second Kings 11:4-19 addresses the same incident, the inauguration of Joash, but the Levites are not mentioned as being involved. Does this mean there is a contradiction? Of course not; the writer is emphasizing different details pertaining to the same event. This is noted in many other similar incidents that are addressed in the books of Chronicles and Kings.

This happens today with our daily news. Some news articles will add details on the same event that others exempt.

Some other biblical examples of this include Manasseh's repentance—see 2 Chronicles 33:11-17. Second Kings 21:17 does not mention him repenting but tells us to see what Chronicles has to say about Manasseh.

In Exodus 18:2-6 we learn that Moses' family was sent back to Midian when Moses went to Egypt. In Exodus 4:20, those details are omitted from the text.

Yet another example pertains to Moses' fast. In Deuteronomy 9:9, 18 we read that Moses fasted by not eating or drinking water for forty days and forty nights. Yet in Exodus 24:18, which addresses the same incident, Moses' fast is not mentioned—just the length of time he was up in the mountain.

One further example of this can be found in the appointment of judges. In Exodus 18:23-25 and Deuteronomy 1:15, it seems that Moses had decided to set judges over the people of Israel at the behest of Jethro and the agreement of God. But if we also read Deuteronomy 1:12-14, we will see the people were also involved in picking their own judges at the behest of Moses! The Exodus account does not mention this additional detail.

It is clear to see we are dealing with additional details being included and omitted in these similar accounts. These are not discrepancies; they are just accounts excluding and including various details.

Source: Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible, John W. Haley, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1977), pp. 350-351.