Sometimes, when we read Scripture, the answers to our questions are as clear as day. There’s no searching, very little actual thinking involved—just good, old-fashioned reading.
God’s judgment on the nation of Israel to wander for forty years in the wilderness is one such occasion. Due to their unbelief at Kadesh-Barnea (ref. Deut. 9:23) by listening to the report from the ten cowardly spies, God told them they would not enter the Land after all. Instead, they would wander for forty years—one year for every day the spies were in the land.
This judgment is swift but fair. If the people would refuse to enter Canaan, what other choice did God have? He’s not going to force the people to have faith, and returning to Egypt isn’t an option. What else could He do?
That’s why I think—despite my earlier statement—that there’s more to it than just a simple forty-year punishment (which is enough, if that’s where you want to stop).
Think about the end result of this wandering: At the end of forty years, everyone that’s over the age of 20 will be dead, except for Caleb and Joshua, and a completely different generation will be standing on Canaan’s doorstep. It won’t be this faithless one that saw the plagues and still disbelieved, it’ll be one with fresh eyes and a ready heart.
In a way, the forty years in the wilderness served as a cleansing period of sorts. If that generation isn’t ready now, they’ll wander, eat the manna, observe the Sabbath, make sacrifices at the tabernacle, and perform other religious activities.
In short, during those forty years, they’ll learn dependence on God.This is exactly the rationale that Moses gave later in Deuteronomy 8:2: “You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”
The heart from the original generation was hard. Every time they faced something difficult, they hit the “we can go to Egypt” escape hatch. They had an out. They had a plan B.
God wanted a generation that didn’t have options—and didn’t want options. He wanted them to learn full and total dependence on Him. Without that, no one is taking Canaan.
