Unbelief at Kadesh

From Mt. Sinai, the LORD led the Israelites to the border of the land He had promised them, but they chose not to believe that He could give them the land.

About a year after Israel first camped in front of Mt. Sinai, the cloud above the Tent of Meeting lifted, so the Israelites broke camp and left the Sinai Desert. They followed the cloud northward until it reached the Paran Desert.

Then, at Kadesh Barnea, the LORD said to Moses, “Choose a leader from each tribe and send them into Canaan to explore the land I am giving you Israelites.” (This is the land God promised to Abraham’s descendants over 600 years before.) So, the chosen men explored the land from the Zin Desert in the south to Rehob in the north. They found the land fruitful and the cities fortified. The men brought back some of the fruit—such as they had never seen before!

The leaders came back to Kadesh in the Paran Desert, where the people were camped, and gave a report. “Look at this fruit! The land we explored truly is rich with milk and honey. But the people are strong, living in large, walled cities. Several different nations are living throughout the land.”

Caleb calmed down the crowd and shouted, “Let’s go take possession of the land now. I know we can do it!”

But the other leaders who went with him said, “We’ll never be able to take that land. The people are too strong for us. And they’re huge! We felt like grasshoppers next to them.”

So the people cried all night and complained to Moses and Aaron, “We wish we had died in Egypt or somewhere out in this desert! Is the LORD leading us into Canaan to have us killed by warriors, our wives and children taken captive? We’d be better off in Egypt.” Then they said to each other, “Hey, why don’t we choose a leader and go back there?”

Frustrated and not knowing what else to do, Moses and Aaron threw themselves down on the ground in front of the people. Joshua and Caleb spoke up. “Don’t do this! The land we explored is fantastic! The Lord will lead us into the land and give it to us. Don’t rebel against Him. Don’t be afraid of the people. Their protection is nothing. God is with us!

The people wanted to stone Caleb and Joshua, but the glory of the Lord appeared over the Tabernacle. God spoke to Moses. He was not pleased at all with the people’s response and considered destroying them then and there.

Couldn’t they just believe God’s word? Couldn’t they trust in Him, who had promised them the land and brought them safely this far?

Well, they didn’t want to go into the land, and they got their wish. God told Moses to convey this message to the people: “Not one of you will enter the land that I solemnly swore to give you except for Caleb and Joshua. You will all die here in the desert. Your children will suffer for your unfaithfulness, too. They will wander as shepherds in the desert for 40 long years until the last of your generation falls dead.”

Unbelief brought dreadful consequences.