Moses had been married a long time to Zipporah, so for Miriam and Aaron to be upset now at Moses for marrying a Cushite (now modern day Ethiopia) probably meant that he recently remarried or took a second wife. It doesn't say why they didn't like her, but some commentaries believe it was due to the color of her skin. They also started questioning his spiritual authority. God heard the accusation and told all three of them to come out to the Tent of Meeting. God came down in a pillar of cloud and defended Moses and how he's very special because God talks to prophets in dreams, but God actually talks to Moses face to face because Moses is humble. God leaves angrily, and then immediately Miriam contracted leprosy. Both Aaron and Moses plead with God to heal her. God said to quarantine her for 7 days, and she'll be healed.
God tells Moses to send one of its leaders from each tribe to explore Canaan because he will be giving that land to the Israelites. They went to do some recon for 40 days to see what the people who inhabit the land were like and if they were unwalled or fortified.
When they came back, they reported that the land indeed flowed with milk and honey. However, the cities are fortified and lots of different powerful tribes live there. A man named Caleb said that they are certainly able to take possession of the land. The rest of the recon team rebeled and said the inhabitants are so big that they looked like grasshoppers compared to them. Then the Israelites started to complain again and wanted to go back to Egypt and die there instead of dying in war. They wanted to pick a new leader to lead them back to Egypt. Joshua spoke to them and told them not to rebel against God and be afraid. Instead, the people wanted to stone them. God wanted to destroy them, but Moses pleaded with God, saying that other nations will hear that God did not deliver his people to the land he promised. God forgives the Israelites, but he says that all the people older than 20 who disobeyed him will never see the land, except for Caleb and his people. God said they will suffer for 40 years, until the last person in the first generation dies. The recon team, however, were killed immediately of a plague (only Joshua and Caleb survived). The Israelites mourned and then told Moses that they will go to the place the Lord promised now. However, they can't go there now because God was not with them and they would lose. They still didn't listen, and so they lost the battle.
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