Numbers 13:17-18
"And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;"
God told Moses to choose twelve men, one from each tribe, to go into the land of Canaan to spy out the land and to come back and tell the people what they saw. For forty days these men were in the land of Canaan and saw the future that God had promised to them. Sadly, when they came back, ten men gave an evil report and two men gave a positive report. Because of the evil report of the ten men, the children of Israel followed the advice of the ten men to their detriment.