As is well known, Israel’s trip from Mount Sinai to the Promised Land took an additional 38 years, a total of 40 years from their expulsion from Egypt. The immediate and stated reason for the delay was to purge the nation of the adults older than 20 years. That generation had been acculturated to lives of slavery and were perhaps too familiar with Egyptian religious practices as well. As such they were unable to accept the responsibility of confronting the inhabitants of Caanan.

Then the men who had gone up with him (Caleb) said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” (Nu 13:31-33)

In the face of this, God simply decided that the Exodus generation had gone as far as it was able along the path from slavery to freedom. Physically, they had not been slaves for over two years; mentally they could not make the jump to freedom. Certainly, God could have repeated the plagues that He had used against Egypt and destroyed the Canaanite nations, leaving the land empty for the Israelites to occupy. That He did not do that bespeaks His attitude. Slaves need to be liberated; free men are expected to take responsibility and conquer.

There are several things of note here. The first is the environment that God chose to facilitate the teaching of liberty. In the wilderness, as mentioned previously, Israel had no choice but to rely upon God for both her food and water. This was brought up earlier in the context of trust. Israel was expected to learn that God was trustworthy in contrast to pagan gods who were capricious. Similarly, the distances involved meant that Israel had to stay together as there was no possibility of leaving the wilderness without perishing of hunger or thirst.

Perhaps equally important was the absence of civilization. When God called Abram, he was in Ur which was a major Sumarian city in Mesopotamia. He went from Ur to Haran where he stayed until his father died.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Ge 12:1-3)

Note here that God asked Abram to sever all ties to the civilization in which he was raised. Thus, from Haran, he became a nomad traveling south to Canaan. Similar to the interval between Jacob’s descent into Egypt and the Exodus, Scripture does not record any conversation with humanity during the interval between Noah and Abram. When He wanted to reestablish direct communication, He chose to do so with a nomad. Between the Flood and the call of Abram, the only vignette recorded in Scripture where God directly intervened in human affairs is the Tower of Babel. This perhaps sheds some light on God’s opinion of human civilization.  Similarly, after hundreds of years of settlement and slavery, when God wanted to teach liberty, He extracted Israel from civilization and made them nomads again.

To understand why that is important, consider the case of Elijah as recorded in First Kings. That Elijah was God’s agent in dealing with Israel is abundantly clear. He declared that there would be no rain or dew until he said so. There was then a three and a half year drought. In the process of ending that drought, he called down fire from heaven in a display of God’s power as against the impotence of Baal. (1 Kings 18:20 – 46) Yet when God wanted to actually speak with Elijah, He took him a forty-day journey into the wilderness to Mount Horeb. The conversation is recorded in First Kings.

There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. 16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Ki 19:9-18)

Note that this conversation forms a chiasm, the center of which is God’s demonstration that He wants to speak with Elijah quietly and not in dramatic displays of His power. Note also that the tone was conversational.

This vignette is illustrative of God’s method of teaching liberty to Israel’s wilderness generation. God is fully capable of being dramatic with displays of His power, yet such would be destructive of His purpose. Coerced obedience by frequent displays of dramatic power is simply not the same as a relationship of love and respect. In order to give that relationship a chance to develop, He removed the distractions inherent in city life; a competing government, conversations with pagans, the stress of earning a living, etc. The prophet Hosea encapsulates this succinctly. Speaking of Israel:

Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. (Ho 2:14-17)

Getting away from the distractions of civilization is also an impulse that leads to monasticism. A great many of the world’s religions have such a tradition of being alone or with a group of like-minded individuals for a life of prayer and contemplation. While such a life might be beneficial to the individuals involved, it has limited benefit to society as a whole and does not feature in Scripture. The Biblical project is to engage with the world and bring it to God, not flee from the world into a place of personal holiness. That is why the nomadic periods in the life of Israel are of a finite duration.

To give Israel the best possible chance of staying focused on God once they left the wilderness, he gave them several tools. First, He centralized the place of sacrifice. (Dt 12) Since they would be scattered throughout the land, they could slaughter animals for food in their own towns, but actual sacrifices had to be performed in the Tabernacle or the Temple. Since most of the sacrifices were voluntary, and so a person might never feel the need to bring one, He also gave them Feasts of Ascent. (Dt 16) Three times every year all of the adult males were to assemble at the Tabernacle or the Temple. These events were structured as massive celebrations so that they would be eagerly anticipated instead of being seen as a burden. Finally, there was the Sabbath. Once a week all Israel was to stop all worldly pursuits and focus on God.

As can be seen from the history of Israel as recorded in Scripture, the corrosive effect of the world eventually drew them away from God and into idol worship. When that happened, God sent judges and prophets to bring them back. Eventually that also failed and He sent them into exile.