Bible Timeline · About 1445 to 1406 BC
Forty Years in the Wilderness
Israel reached the edge of the Promised Land, but ten of the twelve spies said the giants were too big. The people refused to go in, so God had them wander forty years until that generation died. God still fed them with manna every morning.
Read it in the Bible: Numbers 13:1-14:45 Numbers 21:4-9 Exodus 16:1-36 Deuteronomy 8:1-5 John 3:14-15 Hebrews 3:7-19
Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years because they refused to trust God and enter the Promised Land. Twelve spies scouted Canaan. Ten said the people there were giants and could not be beaten. Only Joshua and Caleb said, with God we can do this. The nation sided with the ten, so God said that whole adult generation would die in the desert and their children would go in instead. By the traditional count that was about 1445 to 1406 BC. Through all those years God fed them with manna, and one strange moment with a bronze snake on a pole became a picture Jesus used for His own death.
How Long Should the Trip Have Taken?
Here is the painful part. Moses tells us the normal travel time from Mount Sinai to Kadesh barnea, on the southern edge of Canaan.
Moses says the trip from Horeb, another name for Sinai, to Kadesh barnea was an eleven day journey by way of Mount Seir, Deuteronomy 1:2. Eleven days. It ended up taking forty years. That might be the worst detour in history, and it was not because Moses refused to ask for directions.
Israel left Sinai in the second year after the Exodus, Numbers 10:11. God had counted the fighting men, and there were 603,550 men age twenty and older, Numbers 1:46. With women and children, the camp was huge.
What Happened With the Twelve Spies?
At Kadesh, Moses sent twelve men, one leader from each tribe, to explore Canaan for forty days, Numbers 13. They came back carrying a single cluster of grapes so big that two men had to carry it on a pole. The land was everything God promised.
And they gave this account to Moses: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and indeed, it is flowing with milk and honey. Here is some of its fruit! Numbers 13:27
Then came the but. The cities were walled, and the people were huge. Ten of the spies spread fear through the camp. They said they saw the descendants of Anak, a clan of giants, and then said this.
We seemed like grasshoppers in our own sight, and we must have seemed the same to them! Numbers 13:33
Notice they decided how they looked to the giants before anyone asked the giants. Fear does that. Only two spies, Caleb from Judah and Joshua from Ephraim, stood up.
Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We must go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly conquer it!” Numbers 13:30
Why Did God Make Israel Wander Forty Years?
The people cried all night. They talked about picking a new leader and going back to Egypt, Numbers 14:4. When Joshua and Caleb begged them to trust God, the crowd wanted to stone them.
God's verdict was serious and fitting. They said they would die in the wilderness, so they would. They feared for their children, so their children would be the ones to enter.
In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years … and you will experience My alienation. Numbers 14:34
That is one year for each day the spies were in the land.
Everyone twenty and older would die in the desert, except Joshua and Caleb. God said Caleb had a different spirit and followed Him wholeheartedly, Numbers 14:24. Hebrews sums up the whole tragedy in one line.
So we see that it was because of their unbelief that they were unable to enter. Hebrews 3:19
What Was Manna?
God did not abandon them. Every morning except the Sabbath, food appeared on the ground.
When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. So Moses told them, “It is the bread that Yahweh has given you to eat. Exodus 16:15
The name manna comes from that question. In Hebrew, man hu means what is it? So for forty years Israel basically ate a food called Whatchamacallit. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey, Exodus 16:31. It stopped the day after they ate food from Canaan, Joshua 5:12.
God also gave them water from a rock and kept their clothes from wearing out, Deuteronomy 8:4. Moses explained why He did it this way.
He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of Yahweh. Deuteronomy 8:3
Jesus quoted this verse when Satan tempted Him in the wilderness, Matthew 4:4. Israel failed its forty years of testing. Jesus passed His forty days.
What Else Happened in the Wilderness?
- Korah's rebellion. A group of Levites challenged Moses and Aaron, and the ground opened up, Numbers 16.
- Moses strikes the rock. God told Moses to speak to a rock for water. Moses, angry, struck it twice instead, and God said he would not lead Israel into the land, Numbers 20:7 to 12.
- Miriam and Aaron die. Both died before reaching Canaan, Numbers 20.
- Balaam. A foreign prophet was hired to curse Israel but could only bless them, and his donkey had more sense than he did, Numbers 22 to 24.
What Was the Bronze Serpent?
Near the end of the forty years, the people complained again, this time about the manna itself.
“Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!” So Yahweh sent venomous snakes among the people, and many of the Israelites were bitten and died. Numbers 21:5 to 6
When they repented, God gave an unusual cure.
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. If anyone who was bitten looked at the bronze snake, he would live. Numbers 21:8 to 9
They did not have to earn it or fix themselves. They only had to look. Sadly, centuries later Israel was burning incense to that same bronze snake, so King Hezekiah smashed it, 2 Kings 18:4. A good gift from God had become an idol.
How the Wilderness Points to Jesus
Jesus pointed to the bronze serpent when He explained to Nicodemus why He came.
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. John 3:14 to 15
The very next verse is John 3:16. Jesus was lifted up on a cross, and anyone who looks to Him in faith lives. He also called Himself the true bread from heaven, better than manna, John 6:35 and 6:49 to 51. Paul says these stories were written as warnings for us, 1 Corinthians 10:11, and Hebrews 3 and 4 urges believers not to harden their hearts the way that generation did. The lesson of the wilderness is simple. God keeps His promises. The only thing that kept Israel out was unbelief.
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Questions People Ask
Why did the Israelites wander for 40 years?
Because they refused to enter the Promised Land after ten of the twelve spies gave a fearful report, Numbers 13 to 14. God decreed one year of wandering for each of the forty days the spies explored the land, until that unbelieving generation died.
Who were the two faithful spies?
Joshua and Caleb. They urged Israel to trust God and take the land, and they were the only adults of that generation allowed to enter Canaan, Numbers 14:30.
What was manna?
Manna was the food God provided Israel every morning in the wilderness for forty years. Its name comes from the Hebrew for what is it, and it was white like coriander seed and tasted like honey wafers, Exodus 16:31.
What is the bronze serpent in the Bible?
When venomous snakes struck Israel, God told Moses to put a bronze snake on a pole, and anyone bitten who looked at it lived, Numbers 21:8 to 9. Jesus said He would be lifted up in the same way so that whoever believes in Him has eternal life, John 3:14 to 15.
How long was the trip from Sinai to Canaan supposed to take?
Deuteronomy 1:2 says the journey from Horeb, or Mount Sinai, to Kadesh barnea was eleven days. Because of unbelief, Israel spent about forty years in the wilderness.