Deuteronomy 1:2-3 - "It is eleven days’ journey from
Horeb by the way of Mount
Seir to Kadesh-barnea. In
the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the
children of Israel,
according to all that the Lord had commanded him to give to them."
In verse 2 we're told that it is eleven days journey from Horeb to Kadesh-Barnea, then in verse 3 we're told that it was the fortieth year. That's quite a delay, an eleven day journey taking forty years? Something went terribly wrong. In Exodus 33:1-2 After Moses brought the people out of the land of Egypt and received from God the ten commandments on mount Sinai we're told - "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, "Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite."" God told Moses to lead the people up to the the land which He had promised them. He also said that He would drive out the inhabitants of the land ahead of them.
Numbers 13 and 14 gives us the account of the children of Israel nearing the promise land and, by the command of the Lord, sending twelve men to spy out the land. We read in Numbers 13:25-14:2 - "When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days, they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Thus they told him, and said, “We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.” Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely 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 too strong for us.” So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight. Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!""
Notice what the ten men said. They told the people that the land was a very good land and it indeed flowed with milk and honey just as the Lord said. But, they said that they could not go up and take it because of the people who lived there, and they even name some of these people: the Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, and the Canaanites. These are the very same peoples that God said in Exodus 33 that He would drive out before them. He mentions each of these people groups specifically, and yet the people of Israel say that they cannot take the land because of the people who are in it. Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, believed the word which the Lord spoke to them so they remind the people in Number 14:6-9 - "Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.""
But rather than listening to them the people wanted to stone them and return to Egypt, and so the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and He spoke of destroying them. But Moses interceded on behalf of the people, and God answered Moses and heeded his prayer. verses 20-24 say - "So the Lord said, “I have pardoned them according to your word; but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it. But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it."" Numbers 14:26-35 - "The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are making against Me. Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey—I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness. According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition. I, the Lord, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die.’"
That's how an eleven day journey turned into a forty year journey. And it's sad. Because of the peoples unbelief they missed out on Gods promises. After the end of the forty years, after all the adults had died except for Joshua and Caleb, this new generation of Israelites entered into the promised land under the leadership of Joshua, and we find out something very interesting. The first city that Israel came up against was Jericho, you know the story. But before the people came there, Joshua sent two spies into Jericho who were hidden by Rahab the harlot. In Joshua 2:9-11 she said to the men - "I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath." This is amazing. She tells these two spies that terror has fallen on all the people of the land since they heard about the exodus of Israel out of Egypt. That was forty years earlier! At that time God put fear into the hearts of the inhabitants of Canaan, and the Israelites could have easily gone up and taken the land because the people there were in terror of them. We see something similar later on in Joshua 9:24 when Joshua encounters the Gibeonites, and they say to him - "Because it was certainly told your servants that the Lord your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you; therefore we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and have done this thing." Moses never even entered the land, but the people were in terror because of what the Lord told Moses forty years earlier.
If they had believed the word of the Lord they could have inherited the land, but they feared what they saw instead of trusting what they heard. So they were prevented from entering because of unbelief.
We need to learn from their mistakes and not follow after them. In First Corinthians chapter ten we're told that these things that happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness are examples for us. Paul says "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." We can't think of ourselves as better then the Israelites. We're mere humans just as they were, and we need to guard ourselves from thinking that we're so much better than they were. The Children of Israel messed up so many times, but then so have I. And that makes me all the more grateful that the Lord is compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.
Hebrews 3:12-4:11 - " Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.” For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath,
They shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.” Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience."
In verse 2 we're told that it is eleven days journey from Horeb to Kadesh-Barnea, then in verse 3 we're told that it was the fortieth year. That's quite a delay, an eleven day journey taking forty years? Something went terribly wrong. In Exodus 33:1-2 After Moses brought the people out of the land of Egypt and received from God the ten commandments on mount Sinai we're told - "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, "Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite."" God told Moses to lead the people up to the the land which He had promised them. He also said that He would drive out the inhabitants of the land ahead of them.
Numbers 13 and 14 gives us the account of the children of Israel nearing the promise land and, by the command of the Lord, sending twelve men to spy out the land. We read in Numbers 13:25-14:2 - "When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days, they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Thus they told him, and said, “We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.” Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely 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 too strong for us.” So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight. Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!""
Notice what the ten men said. They told the people that the land was a very good land and it indeed flowed with milk and honey just as the Lord said. But, they said that they could not go up and take it because of the people who lived there, and they even name some of these people: the Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, and the Canaanites. These are the very same peoples that God said in Exodus 33 that He would drive out before them. He mentions each of these people groups specifically, and yet the people of Israel say that they cannot take the land because of the people who are in it. Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, believed the word which the Lord spoke to them so they remind the people in Number 14:6-9 - "Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.""
But rather than listening to them the people wanted to stone them and return to Egypt, and so the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and He spoke of destroying them. But Moses interceded on behalf of the people, and God answered Moses and heeded his prayer. verses 20-24 say - "So the Lord said, “I have pardoned them according to your word; but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it. But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it."" Numbers 14:26-35 - "The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are making against Me. Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey—I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness. According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition. I, the Lord, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die.’"
That's how an eleven day journey turned into a forty year journey. And it's sad. Because of the peoples unbelief they missed out on Gods promises. After the end of the forty years, after all the adults had died except for Joshua and Caleb, this new generation of Israelites entered into the promised land under the leadership of Joshua, and we find out something very interesting. The first city that Israel came up against was Jericho, you know the story. But before the people came there, Joshua sent two spies into Jericho who were hidden by Rahab the harlot. In Joshua 2:9-11 she said to the men - "I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath." This is amazing. She tells these two spies that terror has fallen on all the people of the land since they heard about the exodus of Israel out of Egypt. That was forty years earlier! At that time God put fear into the hearts of the inhabitants of Canaan, and the Israelites could have easily gone up and taken the land because the people there were in terror of them. We see something similar later on in Joshua 9:24 when Joshua encounters the Gibeonites, and they say to him - "Because it was certainly told your servants that the Lord your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you; therefore we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and have done this thing." Moses never even entered the land, but the people were in terror because of what the Lord told Moses forty years earlier.
If they had believed the word of the Lord they could have inherited the land, but they feared what they saw instead of trusting what they heard. So they were prevented from entering because of unbelief.
We need to learn from their mistakes and not follow after them. In First Corinthians chapter ten we're told that these things that happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness are examples for us. Paul says "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." We can't think of ourselves as better then the Israelites. We're mere humans just as they were, and we need to guard ourselves from thinking that we're so much better than they were. The Children of Israel messed up so many times, but then so have I. And that makes me all the more grateful that the Lord is compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.
Hebrews 3:12-4:11 - " Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.” For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath,
They shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.” Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience."
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