Moses recounted saying, "'You were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God'" (Dt 1:26). They "gathered together against" (Nu 14:35) and grumbled against (:27) God. They "turned back from following" (:43), did not listen to his voice (:22), and spurned (:11) God. "The Lord said to Moses,. . . 'How long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?'" (13:11). God said "'they are a people who err in their heart, and they do not know My ways'" (Ps 95:10). Moses said, "'You did not trust the Lord your God'" (Dt 1:32).
Joshua and Caleb were optimistic. Caleb said "'we will certainly overcome it'" (Nu 13:30) because "'the Lord is with us'" (14:9). He said that God "'will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes'" (Dt 1:30). God said, "'My servant Caleb . . . has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully'" (Nu 14:24). Caleb said "'do not fear'" (:9), but the people said, "'Our brethren have made our hearts melt'" (Dt 1:28). They did not know God "and said, 'Because the Lord hates us . . . [he will] deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us'" (:27). But Moses knew better saying, "'the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you'" (4:31).
Jesus encountered the same problem. The religious authorities observed, "'This man is performing many signs. If we let him go like this, all men will believe in Him'" (Jn 11:47-48). Jesus tried to deal with their unbelief saying, "'But if I do them, though you do not believe in Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father'" (10:38). "Though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him" (12:37). Jesus asked, "'When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?'" (Lk 18:8). Israel "failed to enter [the Promised Land] because of disobedience" (Heb 4:6). "The word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard" (:2). "They were not able to enter because of unbelief" (3:18). Therefore "let us hold fast our confession" (4:14) because "we who have believed enter that rest" (:3).