Psalm 106:24

Psalm 106:24, in plain English

When the Israelites finally reached the Promised Land—the beautiful, fruitful land God had promised them—they despised it and didn't believe God could actually give it to them. They looked at what God offered and said no thanks.

Why it's here

This is the moment at Kadesh Barnea when the twelve spies returned from scouting Canaan. Ten of them brought a report focused on how strong and scary the inhabitants were, and the people refused to enter. They had everything—God's presence, His protection, His promise—and they couldn't believe it would actually work out. It's an almost incomprehensible rejection of God's gift.

Who's speaking

The psalmist, marveling at the people's stubborn disbelief.

Where it sits in the story

Unbelief keeps people out of God's blessings just as surely as locked doors keep people out of houses. This becomes one of the clearest warnings in Scripture about the power of doubt to paralyze faith.

The scholarly reading

Israel rejected the Promised Land itself—not merely its occupants—because they lacked faith in God's promise to give it to them, revealing unbelief at the deepest level.

Language and setting

This references Numbers 13-14, the reconnaissance mission where the spies report the land's fortified cities and giants, causing the people to weep and wish to return to Egypt. The Hebrew מָאַס (maas—despised) suggests active rejection, not mere hesitation; they treated God's promised inheritance as worthless. The phrase 'pleasant land' (אֶרֶץ חֶמְדָה—eretz chemda) echoes Deuteronomic language celebrating Canaan's fertility and beauty as evidence of divine favor.

Voice

The psalmist, construing the wilderness complaints as rooted in faithlessness rather than fear, thus making them sins of the will rather than emotional responses.

Significance

This moment—when Israel's fear overcame their trust—became the defining generational sin; it is why an entire generation died in the wilderness, unable to enter the land. This becomes the paradigm case of unbelief (ἀπιστία—apisita in the Septuagint) throughout Hebrews 3-4.

22wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.

23So He said He would destroy them— had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them.

24They despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise.

25They grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the LORD.

26So He raised His hand and swore to cast them down in the wilderness,

Read all of Psalm 106 — The other side of Psalm 105. Israel's history retold through the lens of rebellion — yet God saved them again and again for His name's sake.