Rebellion Leads to Curses

God was finally ready to move the people into the Promised Land after a number of miracles but He wanted to test their hearts. Moses was instructed to select twelve leaders, one from each tribe, to spy out the Promised Land. Ten of the men were full of unbelief and didn’t believe that God could bring them into the land.

This unbelief spread to the people and it would be an understatement to say that God was displeased. The Lord would have killed them all if Moses had not interceded on their behalf, nevertheless, they were still cursed and had to deal with the consequences. The ten spies were killed on the spot and anyone twenty years old and upward was sentenced to die in the wilderness during the next forty years.

The children of the rebellious adults would live to see the Promised Land but not until the oldest of them was 59 years old. They would be made to suffer for the sins of their parents. When the 40 year punishment was almost concluded, God told the younger generation that they could choose to be blessed or cursed. It was their choice, just like it had been with their parents.