It didn’t take them 40 years. It took the large group of men, women, children and old folks, plus animals, about 6 weeks or so to walk across Sinai, and get to the border of the Land.
One person, hiking long hours daily, could have done it a lot sooner, of course.
The Biblical account is pretty clear – the whole group got to the border of the country. Then 12 of the group were sent out to scope out the land and the possible competition.
They came back after their scouting trip, and only TWO of them said ‘we can do it’. The other ten said ‘no way, we are TOO WEAK’.
Whether they were or weren’t isn’t the issue. The point is, the majority of them ASSUMED they were FAILURES. They had all been poor slaves barely two months before. They could not see themselves as successful.
So they turned ‘aside’ and spent ’40 years’ (Biblical trivia – ’40 years’ like ’40 days’, means basically – a very long time) wandering in the wilderness – which is another word for living a nomadic lifestyle in the region nobody claimed as theirs.
And in that 40 years, the fearful older generation died off or got very old, and a new, younger, more confident generation who had never been enslaved, grew to adulthood – and THEN they were ready.
Replys
According to the Bible the reason it took so long was because of unbelief. God told the children of Israel that because of their murmuring they would not enter into the promised land but would die in the wilderness. It took 40 years for the generation of complainers to die off and it was the new generation that entered into rest.
Hebrews 3:17 – But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
Hebrews 3:18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
Hebrews 3:19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
ReplySharon Mareya · 1y
This is the correct reason. Their lack of faith in the God that had made them cross The Red Sea miraculously is why God left them to wander in the wilderness until the faithless generation died out except for a few.
Right! This is also why Jesus often talked about “this faithless generation,” and how they asked for “signs.” Jesus knew full well that man’s unbelief could be so stubborn and “stiff-necked”, that even the greatest miracles would go unheeded and unremembered. This is also why Jesus emphasized FAITH. Faith is a gift from God to the chosen, the saved, the elect.40ReplyTiannaHow many miracles do you see happening nowadays? Instead,you see lots of fake prosperity preachers all over. Signs & miracles and truthfulness is very much needed nowView more replies
Good answer, but I’d slightly disagree on your explanation of ’40 years.’ You sort of allude to 40’s significance in your last paragraph, and it’s exactly for that reason that I believe 40 means specifically 40, rather than to imply an approximation. 40 years means the duration of a generation; and the exodus generation were not to cross over to the Promised Land. But their children would.32Reply
A generation is 20 to 25 years. The term ‘forty’ is frequently used both in the Jewish scriptures and in the Christian New Testament, and invariably means something close to ‘a lot of time’ whether it was days on a mountain, days fasting, or years wandering around. Never think it has to mean precisely ‘forty’. Could be forty. Could be thirty-six, or forty-two. It’s just ‘over a month of days’ and ‘a substantial period’ of years.17ReplySteve Schuh“Could be forty. Could be thirty-six, or forty-two. It’s just ‘over a month of days’ and ‘a substantial period’ of years.” Can you provide a citation for that? Were there really 10 commandments or were there “a bunch”? How do you know what to take literally and what to take figuratively?
One generation is actually 20 to 25 years. The Bible uses ‘40’ multiple times. Forty days and nights. Forty years. Over and over again – it means ‘a long time’ and not some specific time. Forty is the age of full adulthood when people are considered mature adults, ready to study kabbalistic topics, in the Bible, people live multiples of 40 – ‘fourscore years ‘ (80 years) is a full life. Exceptional people (Moses) live ‘120 years’ (three times 40).
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