Arresting The Kadesh Barnea Syndrome

Moses’ Error at Kadesh

1 Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there and was buried there.

2 Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. 3 And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! 4 Why have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here? 5 And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.” 6 So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them.

7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” 9 So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him.

10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.

12 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

13 This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them.

Passage Through Edom Refused

14 Now Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom. “Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardship that has befallen us, 15 how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we dwelt in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers. 16 When we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and sent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. 17 Please let us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; we will go along the King’s Highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.’”

18 Then Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword.”

19 So the children of Israel said to him, “We will go by the Highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, then I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.”

20 Then he said, “You shall not pass through.” So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel turned away from him.

The children of Israel received liberty, came out from Egypt and journeyed through the wilderness till they came to Mount Sinai.

The next place where they journeyed to is a place called Kadesh Barnea (kay' dehssh-bahr nee' uh). The name means “consecrated.” This is the wilderness where the Hebrews stayed for most of thirty-eight years after leaving Mount Sinai and before entering the Promised Land. The Old Testament locates it between the Wilderness of Paran and the Wilderness of Zin (Numbers 13:3-21, Numbers 13:26).

Moses sent out the twelve spies into Canaan from Kadesh-Barnea (Numbers 13:3-21, Numbers 13:26). Joshua 14: 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in. When the 10 spies brought the evil report, the people complained against God. This resulted in them moving around the wilderness of Kadesh for 38 years until a generation had died.

The Hebrews also attempted their abortive southern penetration into Canaan from there (Numbers 13:26; Numbers 14:40-45). Kadesh-Barnea is mentioned the site where Abraham fought the Amalekites (Genesis 14:7) and as the southern border of the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:3). At Kadesh-Barnea, the Israelites were at the verge of breaking through but couldn’t make it for thirty-eight years. Deuteronomy 1:28