A question from the past:  Why did the children of Israel take the route they took?

 

(Exo 13:17-18 NIV)  When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." {18} So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.

 

(Num 13:1-3 NKJV)  And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, {2} "Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them." {3} So Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the LORD, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.

(Num 13:4-16)  Now these were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; {5} from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; {6} from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; {7} from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; {8} from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun; [Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.] {9} from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; (Num 13:10) from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; {11} from the tribe of Joseph, that is, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; {12} from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; {13} from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; {14} from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; {15} from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. {16} These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.

 

 

(Deu 1:19-23 NKJV)  "So we departed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the mountains of the Amorites, as the LORD our God had commanded us. Then we came to Kadesh Barnea. {20} "And I said to you, 'You have come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us. {21} 'Look, the LORD your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the LORD God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged.'

 

Words that fell on deaf ears.

 

They are at Kadesh Barnea.  They were poised to take the land.

 

 

(Deu 1:22) "And everyone of you came near to me and said, 'Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come.' {23} "The plan pleased me well; so I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe.

 

 

(Num 13:1-3 NKJV)  And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, {2} "Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them."

 

 

(Num 13:17-21 NKJV)  Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, "Go up this way into the South, and go up to the mountains,

 

 

(Num 13:18) "and see what the land is like: whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many; {19} "whether the land they dwell in is good or bad; whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds; {20} "whether the land is rich or poor; and whether there are forests there or not. Be of good courage. And bring some of the fruit of the land." Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes. {21} So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, near the entrance of Hamath.

 

“God directed Moses to send them (Num_13:1-2), but it appears by the repetition of the story afterwards (Deu_1:22) that the motion came originally from the people; they came to Moses, and said, We will send men before us; and it was the fruit of their unbelief. They would not take God's word that it was a good land, and that he would, without fail, put them in possession of it. They could not trust the pillar of cloud and fire to show them the way to it, but had a better opinion of their own politics than of God's wisdom. How absurd was it for them to send to spy out a land which God himself had spied out for them.”  -- Matthew Henry

 

(Num 13:21-27 NKJV)  So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, near the entrance of Hamath. {22} And they went up through the South and came to Hebron; Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) {23} Then they came to the Valley of Eshcol, and there cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs. {24} The place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the men of Israel cut down there. {25} And they returned from spying out the land after forty days. {26} Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. {27} Then they told him, and said: "We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

 

(Num 13:28-33 NKJV)  "Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. {29} "The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan."

"The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, [Jebusalem] and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea

 

(Num 13:30) Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it." {31} But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we." {32} And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. {33} "There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

 

 

(Num 14:1-4 NKJV)  So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.

 

 

(Num 14:2) And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness!

 

 

(Num 14:3) "Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?" {4} So they said to one another, "Let us select a leader and return to Egypt."

 

 

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