Week 8 Deuteronomy 1
Right up front Moses retells the story about the 12 spies. It’s a little different from the Numbers 13 version of the same story.
Deuteronomy says the people approached Moses with the idea of infiltration.
Numbers says it was the Lord’s idea.
I wonder if I’ve sniffed out a contradiction. A genuine contradiction might be where one account says “12 spies were sent out” and the other says “no spies were sent out”. So I wonder how this one stacks up.
I look at all my materials from both stories:
a) the Lord spoke to Moses and told him to send out 12 spies (Numbers)
b) Moses did send out 12 spies (Numbers)
c) the people floated the idea to Moses about sending 12 spies (Deuteronomy)
d) Moses thought that was a good idea (Deuteronomy)
e) Moses did send out 12 spies (Deuteronomy).
I rearrange the pieces…
c) the people floated the idea to Moses
d) Moses thought it was a good plan
a) Moses got confirmation from the Lord – who ok’d the covert operation
b) & e) Moses sent the spies.
Shuffling the pieces like this makes pretty good sense to me (if I’d written Deuteronomy the only thing I’d have added to the reordered list – between d) & a) – was that when the people made the suggestion to Moses he ran it by the Lord).
I’m not saying that “this absolutely solves the question”. But the concern is less of a concern for me now.
Note: the two stories are Deuteronomy 1:19-23 & Numbers 13:1-17