The overwhelming majority of the Jewish people accepted the other spies’ conclusions, threatening to kill Caleb and Joshua for differing. Since the people demonstrated that they lacked the faith in G‑d necessary to enable them to conquer and live in the Land of Israel, G‑d informed Moses that this generation would have to die in the desert. Only the next generation would enter the Promised Land.
To Learn from Miracles
אִם יִרְאוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי לַאֲבֹתָם וגו': (במדבר יד:כג)
[G‑d told Moses, “All those . . . who did not listen to My voice] will not see the land that I swore to their fathers.” Numbers 14:23

The generation of the Exodus did not work hard enough to learn from the Divine miracles they witnessed. They therefore remained subject to their “slave mentality,” the assumption that reality is enslaved to the laws of nature, and that G‑d is unwilling or incapable of overriding them whenever He chooses. The spies and their followers therefore forfeited the privilege of entering the Promised Land, for in order to remain true to our Divine mission while leading material lives, we need to believe that this is indeed possible.

We, too, should take care to recognize the implications of all the Divine miracles we have witnessed, both throughout Jewish history and in our own personal lives. Only then will we be capable of fulfilling our Divine mission of making the world into G‑d’s home. In this merit, we will experience our miraculous return to the Promised Land, led by the Messiah in the final Redemption.1