Moses prevailed with God to spare the people, but because of their arrogance and unbelief the Lord could not go with them to work in a miraculous manner in their behalf. Therefore in His divine mercy He bade them adopt the safest course and turn back into the wilderness toward the Red Sea. He also decreed that, as a punishment for their rebellion, all the adults who left Egypt, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, should be forever excluded from Canaan. They had utterly failed to keep their promise of obedience to God, and this released Him from the covenant that they had so repeatedly violated. He promised that their children should possess the goodly land, but declared that their own bodies should be buried in the wilderness. And the ten unfaithful spies, whose evil report had caused Israel to murmur and rebel, were destroyed by the power of God before the eyes of the people. {4T 152.3}

Moses fik overtalt Gud til at skåne folket, men på grund af deres hovmod og vantro kunne Herren ikke gå med til at udføre mirakler for deres skyld. Derfor bad han i sin guddommelige barmhjertighed om at gå den sikreste vej og vende tilbage til ørkenen mod det Røde hav. Som straf for deres oprør, (153) dekreterede han at alle voksne som forlod Ægypten, undtagen Kaleb og Josva, skulle udelukkes fra Kanaan for evigt. De havde tydeligvis ikke holdt deres løfte om lydighed mod Gud og dette løste Gud fra pagten som de gentagende gange havde overtrådt. Han lovede at deres børn skulle have det prægtige land, men erklærede at deres egne legemer ville blive begravet i ørkenen. Og de ti upålidelige spejdere, hvis onde beretninger havde fået Israel til at knurre og gøre oprør, blev udslettet af Guds kraft for øjnene af folket.