“I Am Not Able to Bear You Myself Alone”

At the beginning of Deuteronomy, Moses presents a version of the spies’ sin and preceding events different from Exodus and Numbers.

An important, sometimes overlooked difference is that in Deuteronomy Moses is punished following the spies’ sin at the wilderness journey’s beginning, in the second year after the exodus, and barred from bringing Israel into the land (Deuteronomy 1:37). In Numbers this is decreed only in the fortieth year, after the sin at Meribah’s waters (Numbers 20:12). Moreover, in Numbers’ spies story, the LORD neither grows angry at Moses nor punishes him, but offers to destroy sinful Israel and make a new nation from him (Numbers 14:12).

There are also significant differences between the two preceding stories at Deuteronomy’s beginning and their Exodus and Numbers counterparts.

In the first (Deuteronomy 1:9–18), Moses asks Israel to select wise, discerning men whom he will appoint as heads. Unlike Exodus, where the problem is judicial – his difficulty judging everyone alone – Deuteronomy’s problem is broader. He says he cannot “bear” the people alone, rather than judge them: “I am not able to bear you myself alone”; “How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?” This resembles the seventy elders’ story in Numbers: “I am not able to bear all this people myself alone, because it is too heavy for me.” (Numbers 11:14). Deuteronomy’s appointment of officers thus distributes the burden of leadership between Moses and the people rather than merely establishing a judicial system.

In the second story (Deuteronomy 1:19–46), Moses says sending the spies was the people’s initiative, which he accepted, whereas Numbers describes it as the LORD’s command (Numbers 13:2).

I do not seek here to address the gaps and contradictions between passages. My aim is to explain how the two preceding stories as told in Deuteronomy explain why Moses too was punished after the sin and did not enter the land.

The stories mirror each other. Immediately after the LORD commands leaving Horeb for the land, Moses says he cannot bear the people alone and seeks to appoint some to share leadership. Then, when he orders Israel to go up and possess the land, they ask to send men ahead to investigate the route.

Both requests initially seem reasonable, but their place in the sequence exposes weakness. Moses’ complaint immediately after the departure command expresses reluctance to bear sole leadership responsibility; Israel’s spies request immediately after the conquest command expresses reluctance to advance directly and distrust of the LORD’s promise.

Moses’ complaint is especially sharp. “Your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife” treats the people’s numbers as an unbearable burden. Immediately before, however, he calls that increase the LORD’s blessing: “The LORD your God hath multiplied you,” adding “The LORD, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times so many more as ye are.” This addition hints at his awareness of the tension: the LORD’s blessing has become, in his eyes, a heavy burden.

A similar tension appears with the spies. The land is a gift already given: “Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee.” Yet Israel requests an additional preliminary stage, expressing hesitation and distrust. Moses sees the numerous people as an unbearable burden, and Israel, after the spies return, sees the inhabitants’ strength and fortified cities as an insurmountable obstacle. Both perceive the LORD’s gift primarily through the difficulty it imposes: Moses recoils from leadership’s burden and the people from conquest.

Decision-making also parallels. First Moses proposes, “Get you, from each one of your tribes, wise men, and understanding, and full of knowledge, and I will make them heads over you.’” and the people agree: “And ye answered me, and said: ‘The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.’” (verse 14). In the second story the pattern remains but reverses: Israel proposes, “Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us” (verse 22), and Moses agrees: “And the thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe;”

Shared leadership thus emerges. Moses fears bearing leadership alone, and Israel fears assuming conquest. Moses proposes and the people agree; the people propose and Moses agrees. When their shared course ends in refusing to enter, responsibility and punishment become shared too:

Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying: Thou also shalt not go in thither; (Deuteronomy 1:37)

גַּם בִּי הִתְאַנַּף ה' בִּגְלַלְכֶם לֵאמֹר גַּם אַתָּה לֹא תָבֹא שָׁם (דברים א', לז)