BACK TO THE DESERT

The Lord commanded the Israelites to return to the desert by the way of the Red Sea. They were very near Canaan, but because of their wickedness and rebellion they had lost God's protection. If the Israelites had accepted Caleb and Joshua's report and gone to Canaan right then, God would have given them the land. But the people did not believe God's word. Their bold, insulting spirit caused God to punish them by not letting them enter Canaan.SRme 1.693

God sent them back by the Red Sea because, while the Israelites were rebelling, the Amalekites and Canaanites learned about the spies and were preparing for war against Israel.SRme 1.694

"And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 'How much longer are these wicked people going to complain against Me? I have heard enough of these complaints!'" (Num. 14:27).SRme 1.695

God told Moses and Aaron to tell the people that God would do what the Israelites had said they wanted. They had said, "'It would have been better to die in Egypt or even here in the wilderness!'" So all of the people twenty years of age and older would die in the desert as the result of their rebellion and insults against the Lord. Only Caleb and Joshua would go into the land of Canaan.SRme 1.696

God said, "'You said that your children would be captured, but I will bring them into the land that you rejected, and it will be their home'" (Num 14:30, 31).SRme 1.697

The Lord said the children of Israel would keep traveling in the desert for forty years from the time they left Egypt. They would wander around until all the parents died. "'You will suffer the consequences of your sin for forty years, one year for each of the forty days you spent exploring the land. You will know what it means to have Me against you'" (Num. 14:34).SRme 1.698

The Israelites were to fully understand that their worship of idols and their rebellion and complaining led God to change the plans He had for them. Caleb and Joshua were promised aSRme 1.699

reward that the other Israelites would not receive because they had given up their claims to God's promises.SRme 1.700