The Wilderness
Summary
No food, no water, no shelter—harsh wilderness land brings suffering and turns living things back into dust. But God also meets people there, and wilderness stories in the Bible show people experiencing divine love and provision as God guides and protects them. Individuals and entire nations are transformed in the wilderness, as they learn to trust God’s instruction and receive life as a gift that only God can give. Watch this animated video for a visual overview of this theme.
The Big Picture
Foundation Story
In the exodus story, God rescues Israel out of slavery to bring them into a new home: a garden-land full of abundance. But instead of leading them directly there, God takes Israel the long way—through a harsh, dry wilderness.
Why would God intentionally lead them into a barren desert? To understand, it helps to zoom out and consider the beginning of the biblical story. In Genesis 2, the land is at first a lifeless, empty space. But then, God causes water to spring up from the ground and nourish a garden in Eden.
God creates humanity outside the garden, forming them from the dust of the wilderness, and then he places humans in the garden—their intended home. In the garden, their lives are good and connected with God’s own life, but to stay there, the humans must listen to God’s voice.
But God’s voice is not alone in the garden. A snakey deceiver convinces the humans to distrust God. They stop listening to God’s voice, which cuts them off from life with God in the garden. So they’re sent back to the wilderness, where death will return them to dust.
Practicing the Garden Life
Throughout the Bible, many characters end up in the wilderness for different reasons. Sometimes it’s due to their own decisions, like when Moses murders an Egyptian and flees to the land of Midian. But other times it’s the result of other people’s bad decisions, like in the story of Hagar, who suffers abuse and is cast out into the desert.
Whatever the cause, God often meets with people in the wilderness to protect them and provide for their needs. In the wilderness, Hagar encounters God, who gives a blessing for her family that will last through the generations. And in the wilderness, God speaks to Moses from a burning bush, preparing him to liberate his people from slavery.
Then, when Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt, he takes them on a long journey through the wilderness instead of the short route straight to the land of promise. They haven’t yet learned to trust God with their lives, and so God leads them through a time of testing and preparation.
The wilderness is harsh, but God stays with Israel, leading them toward freedom. By providing enough food for each day, but not more, God teaches them to depend on him for their daily nourishment. In fact, the key to surviving in the wilderness is to listen to God’s voice, just like in Eden’s garden. So the wilderness can be a place to practice being garden people.
An Endless Cycle?
For Israel, transformation comes slowly, and the day-to-day challenges around food and water often overwhelm them with fear and anger toward both Moses and God. Instead of listening to God, many even plead for a return to slavery in Egypt. As a result, a whole generation dies in the wilderness.
When the next generation—raised and formed in the wilderness—is ready to enter the garden land, the people initially trust in God. But soon they imagine that the land’s goodness comes from their own wisdom, or as a gift from other gods. In the beautiful land of promise, they forget God, embrace idolatry, and turn to violent injustices so cruel that they ultimately end up exiled back into the wilderness.
The story feels pessimistic. Humans fail in the garden and in the wilderness. But God stays committed to bringing humanity back into the garden. He meets with humans in the wilderness once more, but this time in a new way.
Following Jesus Through the Wilderness
Jesus spends 40 days without food in the wilderness, replaying the 40 years of his people’s wilderness wanderings. The snakey deceiver tempts him to stop trusting God and to seize life and power on his own terms. But where previous wilderness wanderers have failed, Jesus succeeds by trusting his Father, listening to God’s voice alone.
And then Jesus goes around announcing the arrival of God’s life-giving Kingdom. He provides for people living through their own kinds of wildernesses by healing and feeding them. And he calls people to follow him and listen to his voice and to share his garden gifts with others.
After his death and resurrection, Jesus opens a way into the future garden-land. But we aren’t there yet. In a sense, we’re still exiled in the harsh, dangerous wilderness. Just as Israel once traveled with God toward a promised land, humanity now journeys through its own wilderness toward that further end in sight—God’s promised Kingdom. And God is with us every step of the way, providing, protecting, and teaching us how to be garden people right now.
Dive Deeper
So far we’ve just skimmed the surface. Explore these studies to take a deeper dive into how this theme contributes to the whole story of the Bible.
Read
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. 5 Now no shrub of the field was yet on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living person. 8 The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God caused every tree to grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there as well. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out with his hand, and take fruit also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
Consider
The Bible opens with an image of the earth as a watery wilderness. Genesis 1:2 describes the world’s initial state with the Hebrew phrase tohu vavohu, meaning “wild and waste” (BibleProject Translation), which biblical authors also use to describe the wilderness (Deut. 32:10, Jer. 4:23-26). This language links the formless world at the beginning of creation to the image of a lifeless desert. But then, God turns chaos to order, forming a cosmos of beauty and purpose. And he fills it with light, vegetation, and living creatures—signs of fruitfulness and flourishing.
Genesis 2 repeats this pattern but begins with a different image: a dry, barren wasteland without rain and with no one to cultivate the ground. From this desolate land, God forms the ’adam (“human”) from the dust and plants the garden of Eden—an abundant place of life and provision (Gen. 2:5-9). God then places the human in the garden “to work and to keep it” in partnership with him (Gen. 2:15, BibleProject Translation).
But humanity rejects God’s wisdom, instead choosing what’s right in their own eyes by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and bad (Gen. 3:1-6). They distrust God and ignore his instruction, shattering their life-giving partnership with him. So they must return to the place they were first formed—the dusty wilderness filled with thorns, where only hard toil will make the land produce food (Gen. 3:17-19, 23-24). This movement from wilderness to garden and from garden back to wilderness sets a pattern that echoes throughout the Bible.
Reflect
God transforms a barren wilderness into a fruitful garden, but humans choose to grasp at wisdom on their own terms, resulting in wilderness exile. How do the opening chapters of Genesis invite us to see creation not as something to control or exploit, but as a gift to be received through trust and partnership with God?
Read
16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him a child, but she had an Egyptian slave woman whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please have relations with my slave woman; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 And so after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. 4 Then he had relations with Hagar, and she conceived; and when Hagar became aware that she had conceived, her mistress was insignificant in her sight. 5 So Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I put my slave woman into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was insignificant in her sight. May the Lord judge between you and me.” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your slave woman is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.
7 Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s slave woman, from where have you come, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” 9 So the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.” 10 The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” 11 The angel of the Lord said to her further,
“Behold, you are pregnant,
And you will give birth to a son;
And you shall name him Ishmael,
Because the Lord has heard your affliction.
12 “But he will be a wild donkey of a man;
His hand will be against everyone,
And everyone’s hand will be against him;
And he will live in defiance of all his brothers.”
13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees me”; for she said, “Have I even seen Him here and lived after He saw me?”
14 So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was used up, she left the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “May I not see the boy die!” And she sat opposite him, and raised her voice and wept. 17 God heard the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 And God was with the boy, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Consider
After God promises to give Abram and Sarai (later Abraham and Sarah) a son, Sarai remains infertile for years. So she and Abram try to fulfill the promise through their own wisdom, forcing Hagar, Sarai’s Egyptian slave, to bear Abram’s child.
But when Hagar becomes pregnant, Sarai oppresses her, sending Hagar fleeing into the wilderness for refuge. With nothing to eat and predators everywhere, this refuge is a dangerous place for a pregnant woman alone. So God meets Hagar in the wilderness and returns her to Abram’s household, promising to give her an expansive family through her son, Ishmael. God sees and hears Hagar in her distress when no one else does (see Gen. 16:11, 13).
Years later, after Sarah gives birth to Isaac (the son God originally promised), she commands Abraham to kick Hagar and Ishmael out of the house (Gen. 21:8-10). Again, Hagar is exiled into the wilderness with only a little food and water. As she sits, overcome with grief, while Ishmael lies dying of thirst, God hears the boy’s cries and meets with Hagar once again. After reaffirming his promise to her, God opens her eyes to see that he’s provided her with a well filled with water.
The wilderness, a place of danger and scarcity, is where Hagar encounters God’s loving care and provision. And God remains with her and her son, establishing a future for them as they make their home in the wilderness (Gen. 21:20).
Reflect
What does Hagar’s story reveal about the wilderness as a place where the unseen and unheard are seen, heard, and sustained by God?
Read
11 Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his fellow Hebrews and looked at their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his fellow Hebrews. 12 So he looked this way and that, and when he saw that there was no one around, he struck and killed the Egyptian, and hid his body in the sand. 13 Now he went out the next day, and behold, two Hebrews were fighting with each other; and he said to the offender, “Why are you striking your companion?” 14 But he said, “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and said, “Surely the matter has become known!”
15 When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.
16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. 18 When they came to their father Reuel, he said, “Why have you come back so soon today?” 19 They said, “An Egyptian saved us from the shepherds, and what is more, he even drew water for us and watered the flock.” 20 So he said to his daughters, “Where is he then? Why is it that you have left the man behind? Invite him to have something to eat.” 21 And Moses was willing to live with the man. And he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses. 22 Then she gave birth to a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”
23 Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage ascended to God. 24 So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 And God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.
3 Now Moses was pasturing the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not being consumed. 3 So Moses said, “I must turn aside and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burning up!” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And He said, “I am the God of your father— the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Consider
Centuries after Abraham, his descendants are enslaved in Egypt, and the Egyptian Pharaoh orders the death of every Hebrew baby boy (Exod. 1:22). Moses is born during that time, but he is rescued from death and raised in Egypt’s royal court (Exod. 2:1-10). As an adult, Moses defends an enslaved Israelite by murdering an Egyptian slave master. But when his actions are exposed, Moses flees for his life into the wilderness of Midian.
Unlike Hagar, who is exiled because of others’ wrongdoing (Gen. 21:9-14), Moses ends up in the wilderness because of his own violent actions. But the wilderness becomes a place of refuge for him as he finds shelter with a Midianite priest, marries his daughter Zipporah, and tends to the family’s livestock.
Years later, while shepherding flocks on a wilderness mountain, Moses sees a burning bush that somehow stays intact—it’s not being burned up. From its fire, God speaks to Moses, telling him that he has seen Israel’s suffering in Egypt and instructing him to return to Egypt and lead Israel out of slavery and into freedom.
For Moses, the wilderness becomes a place of God’s calling and promise. And God also declares that Moses will bring the Israelites back to that same mountain (Mount Horeb, later called Mount Sinai), so that they too can worship God in the wilderness (Exod. 3:12).
Reflect
How does Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush echo Hagar’s experience in the wilderness? What might these stories reveal about the wilderness as a place where God meets with people, cares for them, and calls them into a new future?
Another Relevant Scripture Reference
Read
16 Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. 2 But the whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The sons of Israel said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’ s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread until we were full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this entire assembly with hunger!”
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, so that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “At evening you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt; 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, for He hears your grumblings against the Lord; and what are we, that you grumble against us?”
8 And Moses said, “This will happen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning; for the Lord hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the Lord.”
9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, ‘Come forward before the Lord, for He has heard your grumblings.’” 10 And it came about, as Aaron spoke to the entire congregation of the sons of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “I have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel; speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”
13 So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground. 15 When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone gather as much as he will eat; you shall take an omer apiece according to the number of people each of you has in his tent.’” 17 The sons of Israel did so, and some gathered much and some little. 18 When they measured it by the omer, the one who had gathered much did not have too much, and the one who had gathered little did not have too little; everyone gathered as much as he would eat. 19 Moses said to them, “No one is to leave any of it until morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank; and Moses was angry with them.
Consider
God sets Israel free from slavery in Egypt, but he immediately leads them into a place without food, water, or shelter. They’re forced to wonder: What kind of rescue is this? Yes, slavery was awful, but the wilderness feels like a death sentence. But God doesn’t let them die or abandon them there. He’s testing Israel, showing them his loyal love and inviting them to see their world differently—to see him as their sole source of life.
As they travel from Egypt to Mount Sinai, the Israelites face three major tests arranged in a symmetrical pattern:
- A: Lack of water (Exod. 15:22-27)
- B: Lack of food (Exod. 16:1-36)
- A’: Lack of water (Exod. 17:1-7)
In each episode, Israel grumbles against Moses (Exod. 15:24, 16:2-3, 17:3), doubting God’s ability to keep them alive in the wilderness. But each time God provides what they need. The repetition emphasizes the key idea that God is transforming terrified slaves into free people who trust that everything needed for life comes from him alone.
In the central story, the Israelites complain about having no food, so God sends manna, a mysterious bread from heaven that covers the ground each morning. This daily bread nourishes the Israelites for 40 years, until they enter the promised land and start eating from its produce (see Josh. 5:12).
While manna brings life, it also presents a challenging test to see whether the people will listen to God’s voice. God instructs them to never collect more than what they need for one day, except on the sixth day, when they should gather twice as much so they don’t need to work on the seventh day, the Sabbath (Exod. 16:19, 22-26). Some ignore God’s words by collecting more than needed, but their stockpiles quickly rot into maggot food (Exod. 16:20). Others search for manna on the Sabbath, against God’s instruction, but they find nothing (Exod. 16:27).
Later, after God makes a covenant agreement with Israel at Mount Sinai, the pattern continues with a series of seven wilderness testing episodes (see Num. 11-21). God is trying to teach the Israelites that good, ongoing life will not come about by thinking and acting on their own. He wants them to be free, which involves relying on God’s provision and trusting in his faithfulness.
Reflect
When you think about your need for food, would you rather have enough to last for a while or only have enough for one day at a time? How might God’s instructions for Israel to collect only enough food for one day (except on the sixth day) have formed the Israelites to think and live?
More Relevant Scripture References
Read
8 “All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, so that you may live and increase, and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers. 2 And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, in order to humble you, putting you to the test, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 And He humbled you and let you go hungry, and fed you with the manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, in order to make you understand that man shall not live on bread alone, but man shall live on everything that comes out of the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5 So you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. 6 Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of streams of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land where you will eat food without shortage, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.
11 “Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His commandments, His ordinances, and His statutes which I am commanding you today; 12 otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, and you build good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and your flocks increase, and your silver and gold increase, and everything that you have increases, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 15 He who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions, and its thirsty ground where there was no water; He who brought water for you out of the rock of flint. 16 In the wilderness it was He who fed you manna which your fathers did not know, in order to humble you and in order to put you to the test, to do good for you in the end. 17 Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ 18 But you are to remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, in order to confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 And it shall come about, if you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and serve and worship them, I testify against you today that you will certainly perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord eliminates from you, so you shall perish, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.
Consider
When God first leads the Israelites out of Egypt, he does not take them directly to the promised land. By taking a direct route, they would walk for approximately 1-2 weeks, then face immediate war and likely run straight back to Egypt. So instead, God leads them by a longer route through the wilderness (Exod. 13:17-18). On this journey, he wants to transform them from an enslaved people driven by fear into a free people driven by confidence in God’s love and his faithfulness to preserve life.
In Deuteronomy 8, as Moses addresses Israel before he dies, he reminds everyone that the wilderness hunger they faced was not a random hardship but part of God’s design to teach them. By guiding them into a place of extreme need and then meeting them there to provide for them, God revealed that true life depends on trusting his words enough to follow his instruction.
The wilderness becomes a training ground for life with God, shaping the Israelites into a people who trust God’s voice rather than relying on their own strength. As they prepare to enter the garden-like abundance of the promised land, Moses warns them: Prosperity can lead to forgetfulness. Once they are well fed and comfortable, they might forget the one who rescued them from slavery, provided for them in the wilderness, and led them into the promised land, attributing their success to their own actions.
Moses wants the people to remember that every good gift ultimately comes from God’s hand. The wilderness tests do not harm them; they transform them into a people who can enjoy God’s garden-style gift of abundance because they have come to see and trust the true source of true life.
Reflect
How does Israel’s wilderness journey reveal that true life is found not in abundance itself, but in trusting the one who provides it?
Another Relevant Scripture Reference
Read
6 Now it came about, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand. 7 When it was reported to Saul that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, “God has handed him over to me, for he shut himself in by entering a city with double gates and bars.” 8 So Saul summoned all the people for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men. 9 But David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; so he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.” 10 Then David said, “Lord God of Israel, Your servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account. 11 Will the citizens of Keilah hand me over to him? Will Saul come down just as Your servant has heard? Lord God of Israel, please, tell Your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.” 12 Then David said, “Will the citizens of Keilah hand me and my men over to Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will hand you over.” 13 Then David and his men, about six hundred, rose up and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When it was reported to Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the pursuit. 14 David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul searched for him every day, but God did not hand him over to him.
24 Now when Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, it was reported to him, saying, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to search for David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Mountain Goats. 3 And he came to the sheepfolds on the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the inner recesses of the cave. 4 Then David’s men said to him, “Behold, this is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold; I am about to hand your enemy over to you, and you shall do to him as it seems good to you.’” Then David got up and cut off the edge of Saul’s robe secretly. 5 But it came about afterward that David’s conscience bothered him because he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe. 6 So he said to his men, “Far be it from me because of the Lord that I would do this thing to my lord, the Lord’ s anointed, to reach out with my hand against him, since he is the Lord’ s anointed.” 7 And David rebuked his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. And Saul got up, left the cave, and went on his way.
Consider
Young David first captures national attention by defeating the Philistine giant warrior Goliath (1 Sam. 17), and his continued military success wins him the people’s admiration. But David’s popularity threatens King Saul, and after Saul hears songs praising David above himself (1 Sam. 18:6-16), he starts hunting David to kill him. David flees, and the wilderness provides safety.
Ironically, the prophet Samuel has already anointed David as Israel’s next king (1 Sam. 16:13)—the throne is rightfully his. Yet he makes no attempt to take it with violence. In the wilderness, he learns to entrust his future to God.
There, David follows God’s guidance (1 Sam. 23:10-13) and twice refuses to kill Saul when given perfect opportunities—first when Saul is alone and vulnerable (relieving himself in a cave) and then while he’s sleeping (1 Sam. 24:1-7, 26:1-12). The first scene portrays David in a stealth ambush position. But rather than cutting Saul down, David cuts fabric off the corner of Saul’s robe, and even that strikes his heart with guilt. He expresses regret for raising his hand against the Lord’s anointed (1 Sam. 24:4-6).
As a setting, the wilderness recalls Israel long ago grumbling against God after he brought them out of Egypt. But in the same place, this new king, David, learns what the wilderness often teaches—deep, sincere trust in God. He does not manipulate or wield power to secure God’s blessing; he waits on God to provide it when and how God intends. David’s self-restraint and strong trust in God distinguish him as a leader after God’s own heart (see 1 Sam. 13:14).
Reflect
God could have made David king immediately after his anointing, but instead, David spends years in the wilderness as a fugitive. How does this season of waiting and testing prepare David for ruling as king?
Another Relevant Scripture Reference
Read
23 I looked at the earth, and behold, it was a formless and desolate emptiness;
And to the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
And all the hills jolted back and forth.
25 I looked, and behold, there was no human,
And all the birds of the sky had fled.
26 I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness,
And all its cities were pulled down
Before the Lord, before His fierce anger.
14 “Therefore, behold, I am going to persuade her,
Bring her into the wilderness,
And speak kindly to her.
15 “Then I will give her her vineyards from there,
And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope.
And she will respond there as in the days of her youth,
As in the day when she went up from the land of Egypt.
16 “And it will come about on that day,” declares the Lord,
“That you will call Me my husband
And no longer call Me my Baal.
17 “For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth,
So that they will no longer be mentioned by their names.
18 “On that day I will also make a covenant for them
With the animals of the field,
The birds of the sky,
And the crawling things of the ground.
And I will eliminate the bow, the sword, and war from the land,
And will let them lie down in safety.
19 “I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice,
In favor and in compassion,
20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.
Then you will know the Lord.
3 Indeed, the Lord will comfort Zion;
He will comfort all her ruins.
And He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
Thanksgiving and the sound of a melody.
Consider
When Israel turns away from God by repeatedly breaking their covenant agreement—embracing other gods and adopting social systems that exploit and oppress the poor—God sends prophets who challenge them to turn back to him. The prophets also deliver fierce warnings, declaring that Israel's freedom and flourishing in the garden-like promised land will turn to dust if they continue doing what’s right in their own eyes rather than trusting God’s instruction.
The prophet Jeremiah has a vision in which the “fruitful land” of Judah turns into a “wilderness” (Jer. 4:26). Like the watery wasteland in Genesis 1:2, it becomes “formless and desolate emptiness (Hebrew: tohu vavohu)” (Jer. 4:23).
However, the wilderness also brings reconciliation. God declares through the prophet Hosea that as he once wooed Israel into a marriage-like relationship in the wilderness (see Exod. 19-24), now he will do so again. Then the people will be faithful to him, no longer turning away to other gods or oppressing people.
God also promises to restore the promised land by transforming it from a wilderness wasteland back into a garden-like land of abundance and joy (Isa. 51:3). So Israel’s story doesn’t end in the wilderness. The prophets look forward to a future return to a new Eden-like promised land.
Reflect
How does God use the wilderness as a place to restore his relationship with his people?
More Relevant Scripture References
Read
4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after He had fasted for forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil *took Him along into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and he *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written:
‘He will give His angels orders concerning You’;
and‘On thei r hands they will lift You up,
So that You do not strike Your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written: ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”8 Again, the devil *took Him along to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; 9 and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus *said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and mserve Him only.’” 11 Then the devil *left Him; and behold, angels came and began to serve Him.
Consider
After passing through the waters of baptism in the Jordan River, Jesus follows the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days. This echoes the story of ancient Israel, who once passed through the Red Sea’s waters before following God into the wilderness for 40 years.
Surrounded by rocks and dust, Jesus is “tested” (or “tempted,” Greek: peirazo) by a mysterious deceiver called “the Devil” (Greek: diabolos, also called “the Satan/adversary,” Matt. 4:1). When God tested the Israelites during their time in the wilderness, he was working for their good, helping them develop strong, life-giving trust in him. But the Satan works to harm Jesus with three traps disguised as tests, each aimed at luring Jesus to doubt and turn away from the Father.
First, he tempts Jesus to miraculously transform rocks into bread. By this point, Jesus hasn’t eaten for 40 days, so he’s ravenously hungry. But following the Satan’s instruction would mean trusting himself for food, rather than the Father, repeating the same distrust behind Israel’s grumbling in the wilderness (see Exod. 16:1-3). Jesus repels the temptation by relying on the Father alone.
Then, the Satan manipulates the meaning of a biblical psalm (see Ps. 91:11-12) to persuade Jesus to jump off a high place and see if the Father will save him. But doing so would repeat the Israelites’ prior mistake of testing God in the wilderness (see Exod. 17:2; Num. 14:20-23). Jesus resists again, refusing to “test” (Greek: ekpeirazo) his Father’s faithfulness (Matt. 4:7).
Finally, the Satan offers Jesus a shortcut to kingship in exchange for his allegiance. But Jesus rejects the offer because he serves only God the Father—in contrast to his ancestors, who worshiped a golden calf idol in the wilderness (see Exod. 32:1-6).
In each test, Jesus listens to God’s voice speaking through the Scriptures, countering the Satan by quoting words from Moses about faithfulness to God alone (see Deut. 6:13, 16; 8:3). So Jesus passes the tests, avoiding the Satan’s traps and showing himself to be a true Israelite—one who listens to God and follows his instruction.
Reflect
In what ways does Jesus’ testing in the wilderness resemble or differ from the Israelites’ earlier experience in the wilderness?
Another Relevant Scripture Reference
Read
30 The apostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. 31 And He *said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a little while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) 32 And they went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.
33 The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. 35 And when it was already late, His disciples came up to Him and said, “This place is secluded and it is already late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they *said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread, and give it to them to eat?” 38 But He *said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they *said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 And He ordered them all to recline by groups on the green grass. 40 They reclined in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He gave them to the disciples again and again to set before them; and He divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied; 43 and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces of bread, and of the fish. 44 There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.
48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down out of heaven, so that anyone may eat from it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I will give for the life of the world also is My flesh.”
Consider
When Jesus teaches a large crowd in the wilderness, people grow hungry as the day wears on. After thanking God, Jesus miraculously turns five loaves of bread and two fish into a feast large enough to feed 5,000 men (not including all the women and children). This miracle, or sign act, points to ancient Israel’s experience in the wilderness when God provided bread from the sky, called “manna,” to nourish a crowd of hungry travelers (see Exod. 16).
During the exodus journey, God provided abundant bread for Israel’s 12 tribes; now Jesus provides abundant bread until the crowd is satisfied, and even more—to the point that 12 baskets of leftovers remain (Mark 6:42-43).
However, the crowd soon starts murmuring, demanding another miraculous sign from Jesus and appealing to God’s provision of manna for their ancestors (John 6:30-31). So Jesus says that he, himself, is “the bread of life” that has come down from heaven (John 6:35, 48).
In other words, Jesus points to the human need for food in order to make a bigger point: The nourishment needed for a true and everlasting life comes only from God. Jesus shocks the people by telling them to eat his flesh and drink his blood (John 6:53-58). He’s using a metaphor to invite them to trust in him—to “eat” Jesus’s flesh is to receive his life and take it into their own life.
But Jesus’ followers do not understand the metaphor, and they grumble against him (see John 6:61), just as the Israelites grumbled against God and Moses in the wilderness (see Exod. 16:2-3; 17:3; Num. 11:1).
By multiplying the loaves and fish with little more than his word, Jesus reveals God’s infinite ability to provide abundantly for human need, while he also signals the deeper truth he wants to convey: Everything needed for true life is found through trusting in and following him.
Reflect
According to Jesus, why do humans need more than bread alone? What is most necessary for true life?
More Relevant Scripture References
Read
7 For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you will hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,
As on the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9 “When your fathers put Me to the test,
They tested Me, though they had seen My work.
10 “For forty years I was disgusted with that generation,
And said they are a people who err in their heart,
And they do not know My ways.
11 “Therefore I swore in My anger,
They certainly shall not enter My rest.”
12 Take care, brothers and sisters, that there will not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called “today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we keep the beginning of our commitment firm until the end, 15 while it is said,
“Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts, as nwhen they provoked Me.”
16 For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
4 Therefore, we must fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also did; but the word they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united with those who listened with faith. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said,
“As I swore in My anger,
They certainly shall not enter My rest,”
although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this passage, “They certainly shall not enter My rest.” 6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who previously had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 He again sets a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before,“Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. 9 Consequently, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Therefore let’s make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience.
Consider
When God led the Israelites through the wilderness after freeing them from slavery in Egypt, he was taking them toward the promised land for lives of abundance and peaceful rest. But along the way, wilderness hardships like lack of food and water drove many to become hard-hearted and bitter toward God.
Psalm 95:7-11 reflects on that journey, and the New Testament author of the book of Hebrews quotes from this psalm to deliver a sharp warning: Jesus’ followers facing hardships like those of the Israelites in the wilderness must learn from their mistakes.
The Israelite generation first liberated from Egyptian enslavement often complained against God and Moses (see Exod. 16:2-3, 17:3). And when they made it to the edge of the promised land, they discovered fearsome warriors and refused to enter, abandoning trust in God. So God allowed them to remain in the wilderness, and neither they nor Moses entered God’s rest (Num. 13:1-14:45, 20:1-13).
Their children did enter the promised land under Joshua’s leadership. But even though God “gave them rest” from their enemies (Josh. 21:44), they still did not experience the fullness of God’s rest, the kind of rest established during the seventh day of creation (Heb. 4:8-10; see Gen. 2:2-3).
So the author of Hebrews challenges people to seek God’s deep Sabbath rest that began at the original creation and will be fulfilled in the new creation. Jesus is a new Joshua (in Greek, both names are Iesous), leading people into the ultimate Sabbath rest by teaching a way of total trust in God—relying fully on God for both provision and protection. This kind of trust drives out fear and allows for listening with soft hearts to embrace Jesus’ ways of justice and love so that we can enter God’s rest today.
Reflect
What can we learn from Israel’s journey in the wilderness to help us enter the deep, true rest God offers?
Another Relevant Scripture Reference
Frequently Asked Questions
The wilderness is a complex topic, and you probably still have questions. Here are some of the ones we hear most often.
After God rescues Israel from enslavement in Egypt, he leads them into the wilderness for two years to form them into a people who depend solely on him (Exod. 13:17-18). But they end up wandering in the wilderness for 40 years because they refuse to trust God.
God initially leads the Israelites from Egypt to Mount Sinai, where he makes an agreement (covenant) with them and instructs them to build a tabernacle so that he can live in their midst (Exod. 19-40). When they leave Mount Sinai, two years after their exodus from Egypt (see Num. 10:11-12), the promised land is only an 11-day journey away (Deut. 1:2).
But Israelite spies scout the promised land for 40 days and return to report that the whole place is teeming with ferocious warriors (Num. 13:26-29). The news sparks fear and angry complaining as the Israelites accuse God of leading them there just to die. They refuse to enter the land and even devise plans to return to Egypt—the brutal slave world they recently escaped after 430 years of bondage (Num. 14:3-4; see Exod. 12:40).
Having forgotten how God rescued them from mighty Egyptian warriors before (Exod. 14-15), they cannot see how God could (or would) rescue them from Canaanite warriors now. So they trust neither God’s ability to protect them, nor God’s original promise to provide peaceful rest in the promised land.
God forgives their distrust but grants their desire: this generation will not enter the promised land, he says. Instead, they will remain in the wilderness one year for every day spent spying out the promised land—a total of 40 years—until that whole generation dies out. Then God says he will bring their children into the promised land (Num. 14:26-35).
So Israel wanders around in the wilderness for an additional 38 years, until the 40 years are complete (Deut. 2:14). Throughout the extended sojourn, they experience many tests that intend to strengthen their trust in God as their true protector and provider. And ultimately, God fulfills his promise and brings the second generation into the land (Josh. 21:43-45).
In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, the words “wilderness” and “desert” are often used interchangeably to translate a constellation of Hebrew words, the most common being midbar, which appears 270 times.
While in English, the word “desert” often describes empty sand dunes, that is not necessarily what the Hebrew midbar has in mind. The midbar refers to uncultivated, desolate land (see Job 38:25-27), but it often has some vegetation, even enough to become grazing grounds for livestock (see Exod. 3:1; 1 Sam. 17:28).
Still, the midbar is a place of scarcity and danger. Lack of food and sparse water sources (Gen. 21:14-16; Exod. 15:22-17:7), plus poisonous critters like snakes and scorpions (Deut. 8:15) threaten those who wander in the midbar.
Other Hebrew words used as synonyms for midbar—like ‘aravah and tsiyyah—emphasize the dryness of the land (see Jer. 2:6), while words like kharev and yeshimon evoke an uninhabited wasteland (see Ps. 107:4; Jer. 33:10).
In the Bible, the generation of Israelites who are freed from Egyptian slavery later die in the wilderness because of their lack of trust in God.
The climactic moment that seals their fate comes at the center of seven episodes where the Israelites grumble against God and Moses in Numbers 11-21. God sends 12 spies to scout the promised land (Num. 13-14) while Israel is encamped at its border. When they return, 10 terrified spies report about how strong the Canaanites are, infecting the Israelites with fear and compelling them to refuse to enter the land (Num. 13:26-14:4). So God says they will remain in the wilderness until they all die out (Num. 14:26-35).
Only two survivors of the original enslaved generation of Israelites are able to enter the land—Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunnah. Of the 12 spies sent to scout out the territory, Joshua and Caleb are the only two who encourage Israel to trust in God (Num. 14:6-9).
Some may be familiar with Joshua’s story (see The Book of Joshua to learn more), but the fact that Caleb is not an Israelite often gets overlooked. Caleb is called a Kenizzite (see Num. 32:12), which means he belongs to one of the Canaanite people groups (see Gen. 15:19). His crucial role in this story reveals that God partners with people who will trust in him, no matter their background or heritage.
God provided manna—a flake-like substance described as “bread from heaven” (Exod. 16:4)—to feed the Israelites during their time in the wilderness. Manna appeared daily with the morning dew, was white like coriander seed, tasted like honey wafers, and sustained the Israelites for 40 years in the wilderness (Exod. 16:13-14; Exod. 16:31; Exod. 16:35).
The name “manna” comes from the Hebrew word man, which means “What is it?” (Exod. 16:15; Exod. 16:31). Along with quail and water (Exod. 16:13; Exod. 17:1-7; Num. 11:31-32), this mysterious bread demonstrates God’s ability to provide for Israel as they journey through the wilderness.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus himself becomes the food God provides to nourish his people. In the wilderness, Jesus miraculously multiplies one small meal into a massive feast that feeds thousands (John 6:1-13). Soon after, the crowds pressure Jesus for another sign, reminding him that Moses once brought manna down from Heaven. Actually, says Jesus, it was not Moses but God who sent that bread, and now God sends the true “bread of life,” Jesus himself, to give and sustain life forever (John 6:30-35).
At the Last Supper, Jesus breaks bread and gives it to his disciples, declaring that it is his body given for humanity (Luke 22:19). And Christians regularly commemorate this event in the Eucharist (Communion), celebrating Jesus as the true life-giving bread for the world.
In the wilderness, John the Baptizer (or Baptist) preaches a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3). He calls people to turn away from ways of life that lead to harm and destruction and, instead, turn toward God’s ways of love and justice for all, especially those needing help (Luke 3:10-14). He explains that this message is urgent because God’s Kingdom is already drawing near (Matt. 3:2; Matt. 3:10).
John and his audience see God’s Kingdom as the ultimate blessing—salvation from all oppression and evil—and many assume that Abraham’s descendants will inherit this blessing simply because of their lineage. But John challenges that assumption, explaining that Abraham's true heirs are known by the fruitful way they live (Matt. 3:8-10; see Isa. 5:1-7). That fruit doesn’t result from family status but from personal choices to live faithfully with God and show justice, mercy, and love toward neighbors.
So John warns the people that their confidence rooted in ethnicity is misplaced (see Matt. 3:9). God chose Abraham not for privilege but for a purpose—so that his family would bless every family or nation on Earth (Gen. 12:2-3) by modeling what is “right and just” (Gen. 18:19). John’s preaching in the wilderness calls people to become humble, generous blessings to their neighbors as they receive God’s forgiveness and prepare to enter God’s Kingdom.
In the Bible, the “wilderness” (Hebrew: midbar) refers to uncultivated land with few inhabitants—the opposite of a city. While midbar can describe rural grazing lands (see Exod. 3:1; Gen. 36:24), it often refers to lifeless, barren regions. With a lack of resources and an abundance of venomous creatures like scorpions and snakes, the wilderness often threatens survival (Gen. 21:14-16; Exod. 16:1-3; Deut. 8:15) and becomes a place of testing whether people will depend on God.
Many biblical characters encounter God and experience transformation in the wilderness. God leads Israel through the wilderness for 40 years, preparing them for life in the promised land (Deut. 8:1-20). When David is fleeing Saul’s bloodthirsty rage, he finds refuge in the wilderness and learns to depend more and more on God (1 Sam. 20-28). And before beginning his mission, Jesus spends 40 days in the wilderness, experiencing suffering and temptation (Matt. 4:1-11). The harsh wilderness often challenges people to embrace total trust in God's presence, protection, and provision.