The journey from Egypt to the Promised Land should have taken only 11 days. But for the Israelites it took 40 years. This wasn’t because of distance -it was because of disobedience, fear, and lack of faith in God’s promises.
The Bible tells us that the journey from Mount Sinai (Horeb) to Kadesh-barnea should have taken only 11 days.
“It is eleven days journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir unto Kadesh-Barnea” -Deuteronomy 1:2
Kadesh-Barnea was the edge of the Promised Land it was the spot where the Israelites first stood ready to enter Canaan. But they didn’t go in.
What took so long?
The 40 year delay was not due to geography. It was because the people didn’t trust God. They sent spies to check the land. Ten of the twelve spies came back afraid. They said the people of the land were too strong.
Instead of bleeding, God‘s promises, the people panicked. They refused to go forward. This rebellion caused God to judge them.
In Numbers 14:34 God is speaking to the Israelites addressing their grumbling and disbelief, “After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.”
They wandered in the wilderness one year for each day the spies explored Canaan.
God was teaching them something:
The 40 year delay was also a time for discipline and testing. God prepared their hearts and removed the old generation that didn’t trust Him.
In Deuteronomy 8:2, Moses is speaking to the Israelites. He is recounting their journey in the wilderness, reminding them of God’s guidance and testing.
“You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart,whether you would keep His commandments, or not.”
This time tested their faith, refined their obedience, and prepared a new generation to enter the promised land with courage.
Only two men from the original adult generation entered Canaan: Joshua and Caleb. Because they trusted God when others did not.
Joshua showed strong faith and later led Israel across the Jordan.
There are lessons for us today we can learn from the Israelites 40 year journey. A few I have learned the hard way over the years.
God always has a way of testing and humbling us on this journey through life.
An 11 day journey took 49 years because of fear, not faith. God’s promise was sure, but the people’s hearts weren’t ready. Today we are also called to walk by faith, not by sight.
“For we walk by faith, not by sight” – 2 Corinthians 5:7
From Pity to Praise 