Sforno on Numbers 14:36/ספורנו על במדבר י״ד:ל״ו

1והאנשים אשר שלח משה, who at the time had been considered as loyal by him but had in the meantime become disloyal,

2become enemies by causing to make slanderers out of the whole elite of the nation (the word עדה is taken to refer to the members of the Supreme Court, Sanhedrin) and the leaders of the nation. They had stated that “the local inhabitants are stronger than we.” (13,31) they had intended to slander the land by this remark. They reasoned that during the time it would take the elders of the people to assimilate the information they had just received, they themselves would have time to speak to the ordinary people and to spread lies about the land of Canaan. They could not have gotten away with telling such lies to the elders who knew that these statements were lies.