Deuteronomy 1:19-46
Israel’s Refusal to Enter the Land (Numbers 13:1–33)
19 “So we departed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the mountains of the Amorites, as the LORD our God had commanded us. Then we came to Kadesh Barnea. 20 And I said to you, ‘You have come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us. 21 Look, the LORD your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the LORD God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged.’
22 “And every one of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come.’
23 “The plan pleased me well; so I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe. 24 And they departed and went up into the mountains, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. 25 They also took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought back word to us, saying, ‘It is a good land which the LORD our God is giving us.’
26 “Nevertheless you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God; 27 and you complained in your tents, and said, ‘Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Where can we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.“‘
29 “Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, or afraid of them. 30 The LORD your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ 32 Yet, for all that, you did not believe the LORD your God, 33 who went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day.
The Penalty for Israel’s Rebellion (Numbers 14:20–45)
34 “And the LORD heard the sound of your words, and was angry, and took an oath, saying, 35 Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and his children I am giving the land on which he walked, because he wholly followed the LORD.’ 37 The LORD was also angry with me for your sakes, saying, ‘Even you shall not go in there. 38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
39 Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. 40 But as for you, turn and take your journey into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.’
41 “Then you answered and said to me, We have sinned against the LORD; we will go up and fight, just as the LORD our God commanded us.’ And when everyone of you had girded on his weapons of war, you were ready to go up into the mountain.
42 “And the LORD said to me, ‘Tell them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; lest you be defeated before your enemies.“‘ 43 So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen, but rebelled against the command of the LORD, and presumptuously went up into the mountain. 44 And the Amorites who dwelt in that mountain came out against you and chased you as bees do, and drove you back from Seir to Hormah. 45 Then you returned and wept before the LORD, but the LORD would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.
46 “So you remained in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you spent there.
After the people had been delivered from the bondage of idolatrous Egypt and experienced the miraculous walk through the Red Sea as their baptism of grace and saw the awesome power of God on Horeb, that is Sinai, and had flashing thunder bring fear and the handwritten commandments of God to them, they feared to fight in order to enter the promised land. Their cowardice turned to outright rebellion against the word of the LORD that they had so wonderfully received and they refused to enter the good land which the LORD our God was giving them. They lied about the strength of the adversaries there after spying out the land as they exaggerated the opposition and blamed God as if He hated them by bringing them out of comfortable enslavement in Egypt to face the reality of conflict and so denounced the land of plenty offered them. They gained the anger of the LORD for this rebellious disobedience of sin even after Moses reminded them of the power of God to defeat their enemies as He did in Egypt and along the way until that very day. Only Caleb and Joshua remained faithful and true to their God as they advocated for pushing forward into the fray for the inheritance, knowing the battle was the LORD’s and therefore failure was never an option. Joshua was appointed to cause Israel to enter that land with Caleb, but the rest of Israel was doomed to die in a decades-long wandering in the desert wilderness for their lack of faith and rebellious response of slander, doubt, and fear. Only the children who had no understanding of good and evil displayed by their parents would be allowed to follow those faithful two into the promised land of milk and honey as promised. They came to grasp this truth of Hebrews 5:14 which had not been yet written that their parents did not, that they had to learn the knowledge of good and evil by listening to God’s instruction and following it by faith to gain that heart of wisdom lost in Eden (Genesis 3:2-3, 4) long before. The people knew they had sinned, but added to their error with further disbelief and disobedience to fight battles they were not given to fight and suffered great loss as a consequence. These lessons teach us to hear and believe God’s word, even when we don’t understand fully and cannot see the victory is only in Christ and is due to His grace and not our own strength (2 Corinthians 12:10) or knowledge of good and evil unless revealed and taught to us by Him. Why fear the enemy in the battle for the souls of men and women (Revelation 12:17) when the power to overcome the lies and doubts of disobedience and disbelief lies in His power and the faith God gives to the listeners? Together we will enter the promised heavenly land by this faith and work of God’s Son as we learn by the teaching of His Spirit (John 6:45, 14:26, 1 John 2:27) within and among us as His people of the promise. We are of those entering by faith and not those who rebelliously disbelieve (Hebrews 3:12, 16-17, 18-19,4:2, 8-10) and cannot follow us to our inheritance.
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