At Mount Sinai, Jehovah assembled the Israelites after their departure from Egypt, gave them his laws through Moses, and organized them into a nation. After that they could have entered the Promised Land within a short time, but they did not. Why? Despite all that Jehovah had done for them, they failed to exercise faith and they rebelled against Moses, whom God had appointed to lead them. Choosing to believe a bad report about Canaan, the Israelites longed to be taken back to Egypt! (Nu 14:1-4) This brought Jehovah’s swift judgment: Forty years would pass before the nation would enter the Promised Land. By then, the faithless members of that generation would have died off.