After the debacle at Kadesh Barnea, Israel was sentenced to wander in the wilderness for forty years, one year for each day that the spies spent in Canaan gathering their reconnaissance report. It was a terrible blow. They had witnessed the power of God arrayed against the almost invincible might of Egypt and they had seen Egypt reduced to ashes. And yet, even after everything they had been through, faced with giants who were smaller and weaker than Egypt they balked. Faced with danger that was not as fearsome as the rigors and unrelenting tyranny of Egypt they turned tail and ran.
Israel’s greatest weakness was its lack of faith in God. Not for want of examples of is might but merely from their own stubborn unwillingness to lay their lives and their futures in his hands. The resulting lack of surrender meant that everyone who had been older than twenty years at the time of the exodus died in the wilderness.
The power of God that had been exercised on their behalf, to give them a decisive victory, resulted in defeat because they weren’t willing to trust God and move forward in faith.
How many unmitigated disasters could be averted if we were only more willing to trust God’s word and act on it without question?
With the expiration date of the mandatory 40 years of wandering now within sight, Israel began to once more to approach Canaan. In order to do this, they needed to pass through Edom. Edom was inhabited by the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother and as such were considered kin of the Israelites.
The original plan was to cut through Edom without pausing to rest. The detour would have shaved off a nice chunk of time from their journey to Kadesh Barnea and made their lives easier. But the Edomites were reluctant, bordering on downright antagonistic. They refused to allow Israel safe passage through their borders. Instead of ordering them to fight, God instructed them to leave the Edomites alone and walk around the country. As the Lord pointed out, the Edomites were their brothers and there was nothing to be gained by fighting.
They turned their course and walked back through the wilderness, bone dry and baking beneath a relentless sun. Soon they passed under the shadow of Mt Hor. Here they paused and set up camp because this was to be the burial place of one of their beloved leaders.
