Deuteronomy 1:19-40

3. Two FAILURES AT KADESH-BARNEA (Deuteronomy 1:19-46)

a. BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF (Deuteronomy 1:19-40)

Deuteronomy 1:19 And we journeyed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which ye saw, by the way to the hill-country of the Amorites, as Jehovah our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea, 20 And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the hill-country of the Amorites, which Jehovah our God giveth unto us. 21 Behold Jehovah thy God hath set the land before thee: go up, take possession, as Jehovah the God of thy fathers, hath spoken unto thee; fear not, neither be dismayed. 22 And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and the cities unto which we shall come. 23 And the thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe: 24 and they turned and went up into the hill-country, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. 25 And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which Jehovah our God giveth unto us.

26 Yet ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah your God: 27 and ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because Jehovah hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Whither are we going up? Our brethren have made our heart to melt, saying, The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there. 29 Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. 30 Jehovah your God who goeth before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that Jehovah thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came unto this place. 32 Yet in this thing ye did not believe Jehovah your God, 33 who went before you in the way, to seek you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way we should go, and in the cloud by day.
34 And Jehovah heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, 35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see the good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, 36 save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it; and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed Jehovah. 37 Also Jehovah was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither: 38 Joshua the son of Nun, who standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage thou him; for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39 Moreover your little ones, that ye said should be a prey, and your children, that this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it. 40 But as for you, turn you, and take your Journey into the

wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 1:19-40

21.

Locate Kadesh-barnea on the map.

22.

Was it wrong to send out the twelve spies?

23.

Was God punishing the Amorites at the same time He gave possession to the Israelites? Discuss.

24.

Try to share in the feelings of the faithless Israelites; what capacity in their faith was lacking? Was it courage? Memory? Love? Obedience?

25.

Caleb and Joshua believed. What made them different? Isn-'t there encouragement for all in the fact that out of the same background God raised up two grand leaders? Discuss.

26.

There is irony in Deuteronomy 1:39, what is it?

AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION 1:19-40

19 And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.
20 And I said to you, You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God gives us.
21 Behold, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has said to you; fear not, neither be dismayed.
22 Then you all came near to me and said, Let us send men before us, that they may search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we should go up, and the cities into which we shall come.
23 The thing pleased me well, and I took twelve men of you, one for each tribe.
24 And they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out.
25 And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the Lord our God gives us.
26 Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God;
27 You were peevish and discontented in your tents, and said, Because the Lord hated us He brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

28 To what are we going up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, The people are bigger and taller than we are; the cities are great and fortified to the heavens; and moreover we have seen the [giant-like] sons of the Anakim there.
29 Then I said to you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
30 The Lord your God Who goes before you, He will fight for you just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,
31 And in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God bore you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.
32 Yet in spite of this word you did not believe [trust, rely on and remain steadfast to] the Lord your God;
33 Who went in the way before you to search out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day.
34 And the Lord heard your words, and was angered, and He swore,
35 Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land which I swore to give to your fathers,
36 Except [Joshua, of course; and] Caleb son of Jephunneh, he shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land upon which he has walked, because he has wholly followed the Lord.
37 The Lord was angry with me also for your sakes, and said, You also shall not enter Canaan.
38 But Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter there; encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
39 Moreover your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who at this time cannot discern between good and evil, they shall enter Canaan, and to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.
40 But as for you, turn and journey into the wilderness by way of the Red Sea.

COMMENT 1:19-40

The parallel account is in Numbers 13:1 to Numbers 14:25. We have said this was a failure because of unbelief, for this was the underlying cause of their disobedience.. ye did not believe in Jehovah your God (Deuteronomy 1:32). And Jehovah said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought against them? (Numbers 14:11). Faith, on the other hand, was the crowning virtue of Caleb and Joshua, and their confidence in God stood in marked contrast to the doubting fearful response of the other spies and the congregation. Let us go up at once, Caleb said upon returning from their mission, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. (Numbers 13:30) And these two men joined in saying, If Jehovah delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it unto us. only rebel not against Jehovah, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us; their defence is removed from over them. (Numbers 14:8-9). Faith in God and his promises always has been and ever shall be a prerequisite for conquering his enemies. There are no limits to his poweror what his people can do when they believe in his power!

KADESH-BARNEA (Deuteronomy 1:19)(See also under Deuteronomy 1:1 and Deuteronomy 1:46).This station was, more than any other one place, home base or headquarters for the Israelites during their wanderings. In Numbers 33:36 we are told Israel encamped in the wilderness of Zin (the same is Kadesh)a statement that lends credence to the idea held by many students, that the term included an area much larger than a town. Others, however, would translate that passage, the wilderness of Zinnamely Kadesh (Berkeley. The R.S.V., Moffatt, Meek, and the Torah are similar). This latter translation is more in harmony with Numbers 20:1: And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month [this is their second visit, in the fortieth year]: and the people abode in Kadesh. Kadesh was such a leading oasis of that area that it was the encampment in the wilderness of Zin. Thus it was almost a synonym for it. The wilderness of Paran, a much larger area, contained both Kadesh and the wilderness of Zin (Numbers 13:26).

THAT GREAT AND TERRIBLE WILDERNESSIndeed it was, and Still is! ... wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water (Deuteronomy 8:15). He found him a desert land, And in the waste howling wilderness. (Deuteronomy 32:10. See also Jeremiah 2:6. Mc-Garvey, after visiting this area in 1897 could say, it is still, and it was anciently, -a waste howling wilderness,-' almost totally uninhabited, and seldom traversed even by the Bedawin Arabs.[8] And eighty years later a modern writer can say. In recent times this whole area [of the wanderings] has not been able to support more than about seven thousand underfed wanderers. What a wilderness it must have been in those ancient days to almost a hundred times that many people, completely inexperienced in the rigors of this arid steppe! As in Bible times, there are still long waterless stretches, with infrequent brackish wells, any one of which may have been Marah. One tempting oasis of palm trees and clear, good water still exists, which is probably biblical Elim.[9]

[8] Lands of the Bible, pp. 494, 495.
[9] Story of the Bible World, by Nelson Beecher Keys, p. 28. The Reader's Digest Association, Pleasantville, N.Y.

THE HILL-COUNTRY OF THE AMORITES, WHICH JEHOVAH OUR GOD GIVETH UNTO US (Deuteronomy 1:20)a fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, Genesis 15:16. We-'ll learn more about the Amorites and their conflicts with Israel in chapter three.

22 AND YE CAME NEAR UNTO ME EVERY ONE OF YOU AND SAID, LET US SEND MEN BEFORE US, THAT THEY MAY SEARCH THE LAND FOR US, AND BRING US WORD AGAIN OF THE WAY BY WHICH WE MUST GO UP, AND THE CITIES UNTO WHICH WE SHALL COME. 23 AND THE THING PLEASED ME WELL; AND I TOOK TWELVE MEN OF YOU, ONE MAN FOR EVERY TRIBE: 24 AND THEY TURNED AND WENT UP INTO THE HILL-COUNTRY, AND CAME UNTO THE VALLEY OF ESHCOL, AND SPIED IT OUT.

The destructive critics have attacked these verses in much the same manner as they have the appointment of the judges (Deuteronomy 1:12-14). They find a discrepancy in the fact that while the record here speaks of the people recommending the sending forth of spies, in Numbers 13:1-3 it is God issuing the command and working directly through Moses. And though here the spies are said to have gone as far north as the valley of Eschol (Hebron), Deuteronomy 1:24, in Numbers 13:21 they are said to have gone as far north as the entrance of Hamatha much farther distance.

The rebuttal by McGarvey is excellent; Nothing in the experience of the people addressed by Moses could have been more familiar than this piece of history; for it furnished the reason why, instead of entering the promised land within less than two years after they left Egypt, they had been kept out of it for more than thirty-eight years longer. It explained the deplorable fact that all the fathers and mothers[10] of the persons addressed, to the number of more than a million, had perished in the wilderness. In referring to it, therefore, as a warning, Moses could with perfect propriety mention such parts of the story as suited his horatatory purpose, and omit all others, without the slightest appearance of ignoring them, much less of denying their existence. He accordingly treats the whole subject in the space of twenty-four verses (Deuteronomy 1:24-46), whereas the original account in Numbers contains seventy-eight. He abbreviates by omitting many well-remembered incidents. He omits the names of the twelve spies and those of the tribes which they respectively represented (4-16); he omits the whole of the long list of directions which he gave them (17-20); he omits the season of the year in which they were sent (21); he omits the names of the giants whose people were found at Hebron (21, 22); he omits the number of days that were occupied in the journey (25); he omits the detailed account the spies gave of the location of the different tribes in the land (29); he omits the thrilling incidents of himself and Aaron falling on their faces before the people, of the urgent pleadings by Caleb and Joshua, and the proposal of the people to stone these four men (Deuteronomy 14:5-10); he omits his own long and earnest pleading with God against the latter's proposal to slay the whole multitude and raise up a people from Moses to inherit the land (11-21); he omits the greater part of the final sentence upon the rebels (28-35); and he omits the fact that the ten false spies died of a plague (36, 37). In the midst of such a multitude of omissions, why should it be thought strange that he omitted to state the whole distance that the spies journeyed, and the fact that God directed him to send them? To look all the facts in the face is all that is necessary to see the impertinence and absurdity of the charge of contradiction. The admission of Driver is then cited.

[10] See footnote under number II in the Introduction. Only the numbered Israelites were cursed.

-No doubt the two representations are capable, in the abstract, of being harmonized: Moses, it might be supposed, approving personally of the purpose (Deuteronomy 1:23), desired to know if it had Jehovah's sanction; and the command in Numbers (Deuteronomy 13:1-3) is really the answer to his inquiry.-'

What could be more reasonable than this, especially as Moses was not in the habit of adopting measures that might involve the lives of a dozen eminent men without God's approval?[11]

[11] Authorship of Deuteronomy, pp. 88-90.

THE SONS OF THE ANAKIM (Deuteronomy 1:28)See under Deuteronomy 9:2.

JEHOVAH YOUR GOD, WHO GOETH BEFORE YOU, HE WILL FIGHT FOR YOU(Deuteronomy 1:30)cf. Deuteronomy 3:22, Deuteronomy 20:4. When God is on our sidethe Lord of hostswe are unconquerable. If God be for us, who can be against us? He who created the world and all it contains; he who made ushow can we insult him by limiting his power and might? His kingdom shall stand forever (Daniel 2:44) and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).

But suppose God is not on your sidenot undergirding you with his strength, not filling you with his Spirit, not directing you by his word, What then? Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you (James 4:8). But what of those who draw away from him and reject his counsels? It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31).

YET IN THIS THING YE DID NOT BELIEVE JEHOVAH YOUR GOD (Deuteronomy 1:32)Their trouble all along, time after time in the wilderness. Take heed, brethren, the writer of Hebrews exhorts us, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God: but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called Today; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin: for we are become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end: while it is said,

Today if ye shall hear his voice.
Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

For who, when they heard, did provoke? Nay, did not all they that came out of Egypt by Moses? And with whom was he displeased forty years? Was it not with them that sinned, who bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that were disobedient? And we see that they were not able to enter in BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF (Hebrews 3:12-19). That was it exactly, for the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not united by faith with them that heard (Hebrews 4:2). THEY were not able to enter in because of unbeliefWE cannot enter in to the antitype, heaven, with an unbelieving heart, for without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him (Hebrews 11:6). Israel exercised faith at the beginning: By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were swallowed up (Hebrews 11:29). That was a fine beginning. And the next verse in Hebrews gives us another example of Israel's faithforty years later! By faith, the walls of Jerocho fell down. Where was the faith in the interim? The hall of faith has no illustration from Israel during this period! The reason is, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were over-thrown in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:5). Will we learn? Will we see the lesson in these things for us? Will we ever recognize that whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning. (Romans 15:4)? Far too often, A servant will not be corrected by words; For though he understand, he will not give heed (Proverbs 29:19). Must we, like Israel, be chastized with God's rod before we begin to heed his will? Is not his word enough? Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. (1 Corinthians 10:11).

CALEB. HATH WHOLLY FOLLOWED JEHOVAHA wonderful compliment to any child of God! Our Lord demands one hundred percentwill accept nothing less. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service (Romans 12:1). This is demanded of every true disciple. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man [note that: ANY man!] would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross [Luke adds, daily], and follow me (Matthew 16:24). And if such consecration is needed in all, it is surely a must among today's spiritual leaders. What Paul told Timothy he would tell all the servants of Christ: Be diligent in these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy progress may be manifest unto all (1 Timothy 4:15).

THOU [MOSES] SHALT NOT GO IN THITHERMoses-' exclusion from the promised land was in punishment for his sin of rebellion and unbelief in response to the striving and murmuring of Israel because of the lack of water (See Numbers 20:1-13). Aaron was excluded for the same reason. The basic sin is stated in Numbers 20:12: Because ye believed not in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of Israel. Proper action at that time on Moses-' part would have exalted, glorified, and elevated God in the eyes of Israel. This lack of trustdisbeliefcaused him to do all sorts of wrong things:

1. Moses said the wrong thing: Hear now, ye rebels, shall we bring you forth water out of this rock? (Deuteronomy 1:10). Possibly Moses was not aware of the significance of what he had been ordered to do, but God held him responsible for not obeying him exactly, nevertheless. Obedience to his will is vitally important, whether we understand his purpose or not. -God's will, nothing more; nothing less; nothing else; at any cost,-' would have been priceless to Moses and Aaron that day, if they had only followed it,[12]

[12] Amplified Old Testament, comment under Numbers 20:11.

God had said, Speak to the rock; Moses spoke to the people.

They angered him also at the waters of Meribah,
So that it went ill with Moses for their sakes;
Because they were rebellious against his spirit,
And he spake unadvisely [Rotherham, rashly] with his lips. (Psalms 106:32-33).

And when he spoke, it was with a question mark: Shall we bring you forth water. ? A question was not involved in God's command.

2.In addition, instead of speaking to it, as instructed, he smote it twice! Speaking to it wasn-'t enoughso he didn-'t speak to it at all, but rather struck it savagely twice! At Rephidim, at the foot of Horeb, Moses was commanded to smite the rock (Exodus 17:6).[13] He may have assumed such a commandment herebut we cannot assume God's will to be other than that which he has already spoken! He struck the rock twice, which certainly in this case indicates a great perturbation of spirit and want of attention to the presence of God (Clarke).

[13] But never is he instructed to strike it twice.

Through this entire incident, then, Moses failed to sanctify God in the eyes of the peopleand this Because ye believed not in me. Why would Moses and Aaron, God's great chosen leaders, lack faith? One need not go far for the answer. It is found in the pressing and distressing circumstances of the hourand the fact that they were becoming exasperated, exhausted, and disgusted with the everlasting complaining of the multitudes.
From a purely human standpoint, we would excuse Moses. We would say, Surely God will not keep this great man from the promised land just for loosing his temper this one time! But that is human reasoning, not divine, God despises sin, and his ways are not our ways. Uzzah was killed for staying the ark with his hand; Nadab and Abihu were killed for offering strange fire; Achan was executed, along with his family, for stealing a few articles of the consecrated booty; Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were swallowed up by the earth for murmuring against God's chosen leadership; Ananias and Saphira were struck dead for lying about their offering to, the churchand so on and on could we extend this list. But what is the lesson for us all? That God despises sinhates disobedience to his commands, and abhors the faithless heart!

Moses, the Man of meekest heart,
Lost Caanan by Self-Will,
To show where grace has done its part
How sin defiles us still.

MOREOVER YOUR LITTLE ONES, THAT YE SAID SHOULD BE A PREY, AND YOUR CHILDREN, THAT THIS DAY HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD OR EVIL, THEY SHALL GO IN THITHER, AND UNTO THEM WILL I GIVE IT, AND THEY SHALL POSSESS IT. (Deuteronomy 1:39)And now, as they were poised on the east of the Jordan, this very prophecy (see Numbers 14:1-3; Numbers 14:26-33) was being fulfilled. The children were not under the curse, as they were not numbered. It is difficult to estimate their number. There were 603,550 numbered Israelites after a little over a year in the wilderness (Numbers 1:46), and 601,730 as they entered Canaan (Numbers 26:51). Between these numberings, the older generation of numbered Israelites died, except Joshua and Caleb. We have already pointed out (see the Introduction) that these numberings did not include many people in Israel's camp. Levites (Numbers 2:33; Numbers 26:62), women, children (all those under twenty years old), strangers, and the physically unfit were not counted, for the counted ones (and therefore the recipients of the curse) were only those from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers-' houses, ALL THAT ARE ABLE TO GO FORTH TO WAR IN ISRAEL (Numbers 26:2). This is why we have the divine record worded as it is in Deuteronomy 2:14 ... thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the MEN OF WAR were consumed from the camp, as Jehovah sware unto them.

BUT AS FOR YOU, TURN YOU, AND TAKE YOUR JOURNEY INTO THE WILDERNESS BY THE WAY OF THE RED SEA (Deuteronomy 1:40)This is the wandering part of Israel's journeysroughly thirty-eight years. Kadesh was more or less home base at this time (see Deuteronomy 1:26, Cf. under Deuteronomy 1:19). Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwelt in the valley: tomorrow turn ye, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea (Numbers 14:25).