From Kadesh to the Death of Moses.

Num. 14-Dt. 34.

The Pathos of the Forty Years.  The stories of this period have running through them an element of pathos arising especially from two sources. (1) Perhaps the experiences of Moses are most sorrowful.  That he should now, after faithfully bringing this people to the very border of the land which they sought, be compelled to spend forty monotonous years in this bare and uninteresting desert must have been a disappointment very heavy to bear.  During these wanderings he buried Miriam, his sister, and Aaron, his brother and helper.  He was often complained of by the people he was trying to help, and because of it was led to sin in such a way as to cause God to refuse him the privilege of entering Canaan.  It was necessary for him to appoint his successor and himself be buried in these lands.  He was compelled to renumber the people to find that all but two of those who were above twenty when they left Egypt had perished. (2) Surely the experience of the people of Israel during these years is sufficient to arouse a feeling of pity.  Forty years of suffering and unhappiness and the loss of all opportunity to enter Canaan by those who fell in the wilderness beclouds the whole story.

The Events of the Forty Years’ Wandering.  It is now impossible to trace exactly any except the latter portion of their journeyings.  It is clear that they went from place to place, not of course marching continuously each day, but changing their location as often at least as the requirements of pasturage demanded.  Of the early portion of these years we know but little.  They seemed to have remained a long while at Kadesh (Dt. 1:45) and indeed may have made it a sort of headquarters.  The story of the rebellion of Konah with the consequent punishment, and the budding of Aarons rod by which the appointment of the family of Aaron to the priesthood was attested are the important incidents of this period.

Final Scenes at Kadesh.  After about thirty-eight years had elapsed (Dt. 2:14), and the period of wandering was nearly at an end, Israel is again found at Kadesh (Num. 20:11) on the borders of Edom where the spies had been sent out and they made their calamitous blunder.  Here at this time happened three important events; (1) Miriam died and was buried, (2) Moses smote the rock and brought forth water, but because he smote it instead of speaking to it Jehovah was angry with him and told him he should not enter the land of promise. (3) Moses asked permission of the King of Edom to pass peaceably through his land and was refused.  They were, therefore, compelled to take a long journey around Edom to reach there own land.