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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

WILDERNESS WANDERINGS*

When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they spent some 40 years wandering in the wildernesses of the Sinai Peninsula and the Negev. Then they moved on to conquer the Promised Land. The most significant events in this period are described in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.

According to the Bible, their experiences during these hard years in the desert molded the various tribes of former Egyptian slaves into a nation. In Sinai they became one people with one God and one national goal, the conquest of Canaan.

Numbers 33:38 and Deuteronomy 1:3 describe the wilderness wanderings as lasting 40 years. Though 40 is sometimes used in the Bible as a large round number, the exactness of many of the dates in these narratives implies it should be taken literally. However, it is hard to know when this period began and ended.

According to 1 Kings 6:1, Solomon started to build the temple 480 years after the Israelites left Egypt. The building of the temple began about 960 BC, which would mean the exodus must have taken place about 1440 BC and the conquest about 1400 BC. However, contemporary scholars generally date the exodus and conquest more than a century later (1290–1250 BC) on the grounds that this agrees with archaeological discoveries. But as yet, convincing proof for either position is lacking. Within the 40-year period of wanderings, there are full details of the first year and a half spent in the desert, from the exodus to the return of the spies (Ex 12–Nm 14), and of the final year or so that involved the conquest of Transjordan (Nm 20–Dt 34). Little is known of the intervening years when the tribes camped in the desert near such oases as Kadesh-barnea. The episodes described in Numbers 15–17 presumably date from this little-known period.

The Israelites Wander in the Wilderness