Short Texts with BIG Meanings

Deuteronomy 1:2 states, (It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.)

Deuteronomy's second verse might escape our curiosity if we're reading the Bible to get it done in a year. However, if we stop here and think about it for a second or two, we might be shocked about what we discover. 

In this short geographical description, Moses tells us that the journey from Mount Horeb, which is Mount Sinai, takes only eleven days. But, wait a minute, from Mount Sinai to the Jordan River área, just across the way from Jericho, is an eleven-day walk? How could that be? 

The Israelites had taken this walk after spending a year at the foot of Mount Sinai. So, why did it take FORTY years to get there?? Do you remember how that happened? An eleven-day walk turned into a death march of forty years because the people didn’t trust God. 

You see, God had promised their father, Abraham, that he would inherit the land for his descendants. That land was thus named the Promised Land. Therefore, when God extracted the people from Egyptian slavery, one of his purposes was to fulfill that promise. However, after the people had received the Law at Mount Sinai, they walked that eleven-day stroll to Kadesh-Barnea, something happened. 

In the book of Numbers chapter 13, God told Moses to send spies into the promised land so that they could come back and tell the people about all of its riches and goodness. The list of men is right there in that chapter. What happened next was what caused the death of all people from age 20 and above over the next forty years. 

Ten of those chosen leaders came back with a report that made the children of Israel afraid. It made them forget that God was leading them and that he had promised them the good land. These spies told of good land, yes, but they also saw, what they called, giants in the land. Look at what they said in Numbers 13:33, “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."

Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, tried to remind the people that God had promised to give them the land centuries earlier, but the people wouldn't listen to them. They were petrified with fear. Because of their unbelief, they turned their backs on God's Promised Land and walked back into the desert toward their death. 

One of the excuses that they named as to why they didn't want to go into the land was this one in Numbers 14:1-3, "That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?"

God granted their requests in two ways. First, he eventually protected the children (who all grew up during the desert walk), and he let the older ones stroll to their death in the wilderness! 

However, don't get too cocky about their lack of faith! Isn't this the excuse that many of us use for not obeying God? We feel that if we dedicate ourselves totally to God's will, our family will suffer. God takes this type of attitude as a personal affront to his ability to care for his own. So when we don't do as God wants us to do because of our kids, our wives, or even our fears, we are saying, "I don't trust you, God!" 

Is that really where you want to be? I didn't think so.