Midrash su Numeri 13:25

(Num. 13, 25) And they returned from spying out the land. (Fol. 35) And again it is further written, And they went and came. Said R. Jochanan in the name of R. Simon b. Jochai, "Their going to and their coming back are to be compared. Just as their coming back was of bad counsel so also was their going towards the land of Israel with the intention of bad counsel." (Ib., ib. 27) And they told him and said we came unto the land whither thou didst send us and truly doth it flow with milk and honey; and this is its fruit. Howbeit the people that dwelt in the land are fierce. R. Jochanan in the name of R. Maier said: "Every calumny in which no true facts are said in its inception has no support [by the audience] in its end [when the real calumny is told]." (Ib., ib. 30) And Caleb stilled the people toward Moses. Said Raba: "He stilled them with his words, for he saw when Joshua was about to speak that they said to him, 'Is this mutilated head [childless] going to speak?" Caleb then said to himself: "If I will begin to speak now, they will also start with something else against me and thus they will stop me from speaking. I shall first bring them to order and then I will speak to them." He then said to them: "Is this the only thing that [Moses] the son of Amron, did to us?" The audience thought that he was going to speak in an accusatory towards Moses, whereupon they all remained silent. He then said to them: "Behold, he has taken us out of Egypt, he split for us the Red Sea, he brought down for us the Manna. Why, if he should say to us, 'Make ladders to ascend Heaven,' should we not listen to Him?" — (Ib.) We can easily go up and take possession of it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men who had gone up with him said: We are not able to go up against the people; for, they are stronger than we. Said R. Chanina b. Pappa: "A great thing did the spies say in that moment, for they are stronger mimenu. Do not explain the word Mi-me-nu, than we, but explain the word Mimenu, than He himself, even the owner [God] cannot take out His own things from there,"

(Numb. 13:25:) AT THE END OF FORTY DAYS THEN THEY RETURNED FROM EXPLORING THE LAND. But do you not find that they went from south to north?³⁹Tanh., Numb. 4:8; Numb. R. 16:15. Moreover, would they have walked the whole <land> in forty days? It is simply that it was revealed to the Holy One that they would come and utter slander, and that there would be decreed against that generation years of suffering (according to Numb. 14:34): [EVERY] DAY A YEAR, YOU SHALL BEAR YOUR INIQUITIES FORTY YEARS. So the Holy One caused their road to shrink (i.e., to close up) before them.

15 (Numb. 13:25) “At the end of forty days then they returned from exploring the land”: But do you not find that they [only] went from south to north? Moreover, would they have walked the whole [land] in forty days? It is simply that it was revealed to the Holy One, blessed be He, that they would come and utter slander, and that there would be decreed against that generation years of suffering (according to Numb. 14:34), “[every] day a year, you shall bear your iniquities forty years.” So the Holy One, blessed be He, caused their road to shrink (i.e., to close up) before them.