The Israelites failed because they did not believe God, not because the enemy was too strong.
God had promised to drive out the Canaanites and give Israel a land that was ready. At Kadesh Barnea, Israel could not take God at His word, asked for spies, and then believed the ten spies' negative report instead of God's promise. Hebrews 3:19 states plainly, 'So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.'
Hebrews 3:19 — This is the plain New Testament statement of the answer: Israel could not enter because of their unbelief.
Psalm 95:10-11 — Shows God's grief for 40 years and His oath that that generation would not enter His rest.
Scripture consistently identifies unbelief as the reason the Exodus generation did not enter the Promised Land. In Psalm 95:10-11, God says He "was grieved with this generation" because "It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways," and He swore in His wrath "that they should not enter into my rest." Hebrews 3:7-11 quotes this same psalm and applies it directly. The writer warns against hardening the heart "as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness" and reminds readers that God was grieved with that generation. Hebrews 3:12-13 says, "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Hebrews 3:19 concludes the argument plainly: "So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief."
Les Feldick explains that at Kadesh Barnea Israel's problem was unbelief. God had already promised to drive out the Canaanites with hornets and to give them a land that was ready — vineyards, gardens, orchards, farms and houses. Instead of taking God at His word, Israel demanded spies. God condescended to their request, but the ten spies came back saying "we can't do it." The majority report contradicted God's promise. Les says sending the twelve spies was "the biggest mistake Israel ever made," because it was never God's idea. God intended the nation to go right in by faith, just as they had crossed the Red Sea by faith. Their refusal was not because God lacked power or because the giants were too strong; it was because they refused to believe what God said. Les also emphasizes that the Promised Land was a place of God's rest. Israel could have walked in without one ounce of work and possessed everything. He applies this today: "What's the matter with Christianity tonight? Unbelief." People cannot simply say, "I believe what God says."
Les Feldick stresses that God never instructed Israel to send in the twelve spies. God said, "Go in and take the land," and promised to send hornets ahead to drive out the Canaanites. But Israel could not take God at His word, so they asked Moses to send spies. God condescended to their request, yet sending the spies proved to be, in Les's words, "the biggest mistake Israel ever made."
Ten of the twelve spies returned and said, "We can't do it." They described walled cities and people who made Israel look like grasshoppers (Numbers 13:28, 31-33). Les points out that God had already said, "I'll drive them out — you follow." The spies' majority report directly contradicted God's promise. Instead of believing God, Israel wept and wailed and rejected the land.
Les explains that the Promised Land was the place of God's rest. The land of milk and honey was ready — gardens, vineyards, orchards, farms, and houses all waiting. Israel could have walked in without one ounce of work. Instead, because of unbelief, God swore in His wrath that that generation would not enter His rest (Psalm 95:10-11).
Hebrews 3:12 warns of "an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." Verse 13 says hearts are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:19 concludes, "So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." Les adds that it was not their immorality that shut the door, though they had plenty of that — it was their refusal to believe what God said.
Les applies the wilderness lesson directly to today: "What's the matter with Christianity tonight? Unbelief." People cannot break down and say, "I believe what God says." Just as Israel's unbelief kept them out of the Promised Land, unbelief keeps people from taking God at His word and entering His rest.
Forty Years in the Wilderness
Les connects Psalm 95's description of the forty years and God's grief to Israel's rejection at Kadesh Barnea and emphasizes that Hebrews 3 highlights unbelief as the issue.
Israel Couldn't Believe God
God had promised to drive out the Canaanites and leave everything ready, but Israel's first step of unbelief was demanding spies instead of going in.
The Biggest Mistake Israel Ever Made
Sending the twelve spies was not God's idea; Israel could not take God at His word, and the ten spies' negative report revealed their unbelief.
The Land of Rest Was Ready
Israel could have walked into a prepared land of milk and honey — God's rest — without any work, but unbelief kept them from it.
The Grasshopper Report
Hebrews 3 uses Israel's rejection of Canaan to show that their unbelief, not any other sin, kept them from entering.
Unbelief, Not Immorality
Les says the wilderness generation was guilty of much immorality, but the reason they did not enter was unbelief — and the same unbelief plagues Christianity today.
Hornets and Tisha B'Av
Israel insisted on spies before believing God, the spies gave a frightening report, and Israel wept, missing the promise that God would use hornets to chase out the Canaanites.
God's Original Plan: Faith
Deuteronomy 1 shows God setting the land before Israel; God intended them to go in by faith as at the Red Sea, not to rely on a spy report.
Psalm 95:7-11: For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
Quoted by the writer of Hebrews to apply the wilderness failure to readers today.
Hebrews 3:7-11: Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
Quotes Psalm 95 and calls readers not to harden their hearts as Israel did.
Hebrews 3:12-13: Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Explains that unbelief is departing from the living God and warns against hardened hearts.
Hebrews 3:19: So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
The plain conclusion that unbelief was the reason Israel could not enter.
Numbers 13:28: Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
One of the ten spies' reports describing walled cities and giants.
Numbers 13:31-33: But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Records the majority report of the spies that Israel could not take the land.
Deuteronomy 1:21: Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.
Moses commanded Israel to go up and possess the land God had set before them.
Exodus 23:28: And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
God's promise to send hornets ahead of Israel to drive out the inhabitants.
No. Les Feldick teaches that God never intended Israel to send twelve spies. God had promised to drive out the Canaanites and told Israel to go in and take the land. Israel asked for spies because they could not take God at His word.
Israel asked for spies because of unbelief. They said, in effect, 'Send in the spies, we can't believe God.' God condescended to their request, but it was not His original plan.
No. Les points out that Israel had been guilty of immorality, but the reason they were kept out was their unbelief. Hebrews 3:19 says, 'So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.'
The Promised Land was a place of God's rest. It was ready for them — vineyards, gardens, orchards, farms and houses. They could have walked in without labor, but their unbelief kept them from entering that rest.
Watch the Teaching: Why Has Israel Suffered So Much? The Bible's Answer