The Wilderness of Zin
Scripture first
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The spies return to Kadesh in of Paran with the cluster of , and the nation faces its choice.
Kadesh-barnea, on the southern edge of Canaan, was Israel's base for most of years. From there the spies went up; there the nation refused to enter; there, decades later, Moses struck the rock and forfeited entry himself.
The desert basin south of Canaan around Kadesh-barnea, where the spies' report was heard and the generation was turned back.
- the wilderness of Zin, Kadesh-barnea, Meribah
- The region of Ein Qudeirat, north Sinai · Egypt, Israel
Kadesh was an oasis at the 's edge with the promised hills visible to the north. The tragedy of Numbers 13-14 is geographical as much as spiritual: they could see the land and turned back into the sand.
- Numbers 13:21-26 The spies return to Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran with the cluster of grapes, and the nation faces its choice.
- Numbers 20:1 Miriam dies at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin
- Numbers 20:7-13 Moses strikes the rock; the waters of Meribah
- Numbers 14:32-35 The forty years' sentence pronounced
What we know
Certain
- Kadesh-barnea's role as the wilderness base is stated across Numbers and Deuteronomy.
Probable
- Ein Qudeirat, the largest oasis of northern Sinai, is the most widely accepted site.