Moses recounted how nearly forty years earlier God had told Israel at Horeb (Mount Sinai) to go towards the land he had promised to Abraham and his seed - the land of Canaan right up to the River Euphrates.
Moses explained how he found the burden as leader of such a multitude of people to be very great and how chiefs of the twelve tribes were appointed to assist him. They were to act as judges of Israel and were commanded to exercise impartial justice.
Moses described how at Kadesh, on the southern border of the Promised Land, the people requested that spies go in first to report on the land and its people.
Moses then recounted the disastrous results which came from this. Ten of the spies discouraged the people, despite finding the land was abundantly fruitful and desirable. The people murmured and desired to return to Egypt, preferring slavery to facing the giants and people of the land.
Only Caleb and Joshua were faithful, and they exhorted the people to trust in God. But Israel persisted in their rebellion and God declared that none of that generation would enter the land, but their children would do so forty years later.
They were commanded to return into the wilderness but, too late, they realized their error and attempted to enter the land, but they were repulsed by the Amorites.
There are many lessons in this record for us: to believe God’s promises; to trust in him; not to be faithless or murmur; and to be like Joshua and Caleb. Of Caleb God said: “he hath wholly followed the LORD” and he is an admirable example to emulate for he successfully entered into his inheritance in the land when his contemporaries were dead Joshua 14:6-14Waiting for response for Joshua 14:6-14