10:11–22:1 This section begins with the Lord’s guidance of the people immediately to the area of Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran (10:12; 12:16; 13:3, 26), the camp from which they would begin the conquest. Instead of the promised victory, the spies’ gloomy report created a rebellion that affected the entire nation, except for Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb. The Lord pronounced judgment on the whole first generation who were counted in the census, and told them to leave Kadesh and turn back toward Sinai.

In view of this judgment, the laws and results of the meager history following in chs. 15–19 are striking for two reasons: (a) after the judgment the Lord immediately told Israel how to serve Him in the Land of Promise (ch. 15), a clear indication that they would eventually go there as promised; and (b) for the whole period of the wilderness judgment we are given only two events (which were actually one connected incident): Korah’s rebellion and the budding of Aaron’s rod.

The events in chs. 20; 21 are clearly transitional, beginning with the return to Kadesh, a hint that the conquest was on again. The victory over the king of Arad also signaled the change as the place of victory was named “Hormah,” “destruction” (21:3), in contrast to the tragic defeat in ch. 14.