Who did? The Israelites in the wilderness. What was it that they wanted to be sure of? They wanted to be sure that the promised land was worth possessing, and they wanted to know the way to get to it, and whether they could conquer it or not.
And did they find out what they wanted to know? Yes; the spies came back and said it was a good land, fruitful, and flowing with milk and honey; but they also found out that they were not able to take possession of the land, and so they never did. After all their trouble and their long journey, what a pity to get nothing but disappointment!
Yet it is hardly correct to say that they got disappointment. They did not really believe that they ever could take the land, and so they had no reason to feel disappointed when the spies brought back word that it was impossible.
How do we know that they did not believe that they could take the land? Because if they had, they would never have sent the spies to explore it and bring them word. God had already told them all that they needed to know. He had said, before they left Egypt, that the land was a goodly land, flowing with milk and honey. (Exodus 3:8,17)
Moreover He had very plainly indicated the way by going before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. "He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation." (Psalm 106:7)
And He had also assured them that He would fight for them as He did against the Egyptians, even sending out an army of hornets, so that it made no manner of difference what sort of people inhabited the land. (Exodus 23:28)
They had the word of God, but they did not feel sure until they had seen for themselves. They thought that they would make the word of God more sure, or at the least verify it, and the result was that they denied it utterly, and so lost all that it promised.
How much better it would have been for them if they had not tried to see with their own eyes, but had been content to see by the light of God's word. They did not need to know the way beforehand, and they would never have come face to face with the giants, and so they could always have been happy and at rest.
It is better to be ignorant of some things. It is better to be ignorant of difficulties that are beyond our power, and which God's power alone can remove. If we have the promise of being carried along a precipice or over a deep chasm by an Almighty arm, it is much better to rest in that arm, and keep our eyes shut, than to run the risk of becoming giddy and falling out, by peering over the edge to see how deep down it goes.
When God has plainly spoken, it is the height of folly to "investigate" to see if possibly it is not wrong. The everlasting arms are still outstretched, and, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength." (Isaiah 30:15)--Present Truth, May 28, 1903--Numbers 13 & 14; Deuteronomy 1:19-36
E.J. Waggoner