Miriam and Aaron begin to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife.  Could it be because his wife was from the line of Noah's son Ham? (Genesis 10:6).  Many Cushites settled in Ethiopia, Northern Africa, and in Iraq and Arabia. There are many details concerning this period of time that we just don't know much about.  It does seem that in addition to Moses' marriage to a Cushite, they were a bit jealous  of Moses.  God strikes Miriam with leprosy.  Why wasn't Aaron punished as Miriam was? Since God sees what's in the heart could it be that Aaron's heart was not set in jealousy against Moses but Miriam's heart was?

Great words of affirmation for Moses in today's reading!
Numbers 12:5-8a
Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward, he said, "Listen to my words: "When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD.

WOW! The Lord speaks to Moses "face to face"!

While there were some great words of affirmation for Moses, there is also some that might be considered disturbing ones.
Numbers 12:3 (Now the man Moses was very meek (NIV says humble), more than all the men on the face of the earth.)
While at first glance, this sounds like a good thing. However, the Hebrew word for meek is "anav" and it figuratively means "depressed". Shortly before this, Moses was complaining that the burden of the people was just too heavy for him. He even said to the Lord, "If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now..." Sounds like a depressed person. Is this why he needed help from the 70 elders?

There are several Hebrew words that are translated into English as humble or meek. One of those is the Hebrew word "kana" which means "to prostrate oneself in submission, to bow the knee." This is not the one used in today's reading to describe Moses.

There are a couple of other things to consider concerning the spies sent into the land of Canaan. God said in Numbers 13:2 Send men so that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give to the sons of Israel.
The key word here is "search". God told them to search the land. The word means "to go on a reconnaissance mission." They were to only go in and look around in the land. God wanted them to see the lush riches of the land that He was providing for them. (We can see evidence of this lushness in the size of the grapes they found.) Instead, Moses told them to go in and spy out the land and the people. God didn't tell them to pay any attention to the people. They were to stop at the grapes and report this back to the Israelites, not about the giant people in the land, nor their large fortified cities. And, about the land where there were no inhabitants? The spies, with their Egyptian superstitious pagan mindset, reported back that "the land we explored devours those living in it." The land hadn't devoured those living in it...God had already driven them out! He told them He would send hornets to drive them out. Amazing how God uses nature (like the hornets) to accomplish His purposes!

The people were to go only into the part of the land where the people had already been driven out by the hornets, and then wait until God gave them instructions to advance further. Then He would use the hornets to  drive out even more people. Notice that the people living in the land were not to be destroyed. They were just to turn and run from the hornets. But the Israelites having come out of Egypt, a land of godlessness and superstition, perceived that the land had devoured the people and they were afraid of the empty land. If only they had trusted and obeyed, God would have created a regular "Garden of Eden" for them, as illustrated by the grapes. By the way, in just a few short months in their second year they have already moved four times. (We know this because of the season of ripe grapes,)

The leaders who were sent in to explore the land certainly displayed their lack of trust in God to keep His promises…all of the leaders except for Joshua and Caleb. They were doing what God wanted them to do, focus on the land that He had promised to give them. Oh, that we could all live our lives trusting the Lord to keep His promises!

Psalm 145:13
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.

A land flowing with milk and honey is a land of crops and animals. The land is divided up into the milk land where animals are raised (goats, sheep, cattle) and the honey land is where the crops are raised (dates, figs, etc.) The Nephilim were giants, men of unnatural size or ability.

When the whole assembly talks about stoning Joshua and Caleb, God's anger is aroused and He tells Moses that He will strike them with a plague.  And again God offers to make Moses into a nation greater and stronger.  Moses once again pleads with God for mercy for the people.

When the people saw that the leaders of the 10 tribes were struck down and died (did they contract a "bug" of some kind), they sure were quick to obey God then…but alas it was too late. God had been willing to take care of their enemies for them, but once they displayed lack of trust, God was not with them. And isn't it amazing that God promised to do that for them way back in Exodus 23, right after He SPOKE the Ten Commandments to them.

Exodus 23:27-28
"I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.

Did they forget??? Or did they just not trust God???