Albert Barnes Commentary Deuteronomy 1:22-23

"And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and the cities unto which we shall come. And the thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe:" — Deuteronomy 1:22-23 (ASV)

The plan of sending the spies originated with the people; and, since it was in itself a reasonable one, Moses approved of it; it was submitted to God, sanctioned by Him, and carried out under special divine direction. The speaker’s purpose in this chapter is to emphatically bring before the people their own responsibilities and behavior. It is therefore important to remind them that the sending of the spies, which led immediately to their complaining and rebellion, was their own suggestion.

The following verses to the end of the chapter give a condensed account, the fuller one being in Numbers 13–14, of the occurrences which led to the banishment of the people for 40 years into the wilderness.