1:32-33 - In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.

In the end, Moses' exhortation came to naught. "You did not trust Yahweh" sums up GenA's stubborn disposition.

There is grievous irony in the concluding predication about this God whom GenA refused to trust. In v22 they wanted the scouts to go ahead of them in order to search out the land and to chart the course for them to follow. The Hebrew verb used in this verse for their "searching out" is chapar, a verb not used anywhere else in the Old Testament to describe the scout's exploration. The verb always used in Num 13-14 to describe the scouts' mission is tur. The God who is depicted here as haholek lipnekem, "the one who is walking ahead of you" does so in order "to search out (tur) places for you to camp and to show you the way you should walk." By switching the verbs Moses in fact stresses that Yahweh was Israel's true scout and guide; He was true to His task and truthful in His ways and they ignored Him.1

Additionally, Moses describes the manner of Yahweh's "going ahead of you" as "in fire by night and in a cloud by day." It was, in fact, impossible for Israel to miss. Their vacillation in the light of Yahweh's faithfulness as the God who walked with her all the way made her unbelief utterly inexcusable.

The suggestion to send in the scouts may have been a good idea. The land proved as good as it had been promised. Good ideas and bountiful prospect and resources, however, do not translate into great endings if they are not possessed by a people already rooted in conviction and emboldened in commitment. These qualities GenA lacked. With the retelling of this event GenB is confronted anew with the demanding question whether they possess that trust in Yahweh that alone can secure for them the promise of God that their parents failed to realize. Would they let all the coming and going so replete in the recall, and that was the defining feature of their life in the last forty years, be resolved by choosing now to walk with the God who walks with them?

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