Deuteronomy 1:22
And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.
Deuteronomy 1:22 belongs to Moses' recounting of Israel's journey on the verge of entering the land, a history to be rehearsed as a record of their failures and victories and of the principles God had given during forty years of wandering. As Israel neared the promised land after being commanded to go up and possess it, the people came to Moses with the proposal to send men ahead to explore Canaan and bring back word by what way to go up and into what cities they would come. That proposal originated with the people and not with God. Moses was pleased with the plan, presented it before the Lord and obtained His consent, then chose twelve men, one from each tribe, to go.
The scouts returned with fruit as evidence and confirmed the land was good, yet the people were discouraged, refused to go up, feared its inhabitants and fortified cities, distrusted God's leadership, and rebelled against His command. Their request showed lack of faith, since God had already told them to take possession and they could have moved forward trusting Him to lead them by the best way through their difficulties. If they had waited for the Lord to say go forward and had followed the divine Leader, they would have seen God's majesty and glory just as Israel did forty years later. God allowed them to have their own way, and that choice delayed their entry into Canaan and ended in disaster and destruction, showing that the Lord often lets people follow their own choice to teach them that the path He marks out is the only safe way.
The verse thus helps explain why the adult generation that left Egypt was refused entrance into the promised land and sentenced to die in the wilderness, except Caleb and Joshua who wholly followed the Lord. It shows that God's promises rest on the condition of obedience, so that disobedience forfeits entrance into the promised land. The surrounding chapter should be read in full as admonition for those living at the end of the world, calling them to follow the Lord's guidance completely rather than only as far as agrees with human judgment, to let go of personal ideas and opinions, to view everything in light of Christ's example as the truth, and to aim at perfection of character as God's standard rather than feeble human standards.