Was the generation that grumbled & rebelled merely refused entry into the Promised Land, or did they also lose their salvation?

Question

Deuteronomy 1:30-46
34 “Then the Lord heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and took an oath, saying, 35 ‘Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and to his sons I will give the land on which he has set foot, because he has followed the Lord fully.’ 37 The Lord was angry with me also on your account, saying, ‘Not even you shall enter there. 38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter there; encourage him, for he will cause Israel to inherit it. 39 Moreover, your little ones who you said would become a prey, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall possess it. 40 But as for you, turn around and set out for the wilderness by the way to the [c]Red Sea.’

Numbers 32:11-13
11 ‘None of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob; for they did not follow Me fully, 12 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have followed the Lord fully.’ 13 So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of the Lord was destroyed.

Psalm 95:7-11
7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His [a]pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, [b]if you would hear His voice, ... 9 “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. ... 11 “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”

Deuteronomy 1:30-46 and Numbers 32:11-13 seemed to suggest that The Lord was angry at the particular Israelite generation's grumbling, disobedience, and rebelliousness, and therefore, would not allow them to enter the actual physical promised land for Israel. However, Deuteronomy 1:30-46 and Numbers 32:11-13 does not seem to suggest that the aforementioned Israelite generation's lost their salvation.

However, Psalm 95:7-11 mentions that "shall not enter into My rest.” which seems to suggest that the aforementioned Israelite generation's also lost their salvation.

Therefore, based on all the above Bible scripture verses, could we conclude that said Israelite generation lost their salvation and therefore was condemned to eternal damnation?

Answer 1

Exodus 31:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, 2“See, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 3And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of craftsmanship, 4to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze, 5 to cut gemstones for settings, and to carve wood, so that he may be a master of every craft.

6Moreover, I have selected Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, as his assistant.

I have also given skill to all the craftsmen, that they may fashion all that I have commanded you: 7the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the Testimony and the mercy seat upon it, and all the other furnishings of the tent— 8the table with its utensils, the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, the altar of incense, 9the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its stand— 10as well as the woven garments, both the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons to serve as priests, 11in addition to the anointing oil and fragrant incense for the Holy Place. They are to make them according to all that I have commanded you.”

Some of these craftsmen were likely to belong to that rebellious generation.

Mariam the prophetess belonged to that generation.

Was the generation that grumbled & rebelled merely refused entry into the Promised Land, or did they also lose their salvation?

They were refused entry into the Promised Land. Some of them will have eternal life.

Even before Joshua led the new generation into the Promised Land, God spoke in Leviticus 26 concerning the future exile:

44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the Lord their God. 45 But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’ ”

46 These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established at Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelites through Moses.

Here God struck a more conciliatory tone with that rebellious generation while many of them were still living.

Answer 2

First problem is ones understanding of ‘salvation’. In the Old Testament we see it comes down to being ‘seen’ as righteous. For their ( the children of Israel.) Father, Abraham, Righteousness came via ‘faith’, believing God. For the Israelites, due to their ‘stiff necked’ self righteousness, the Law was introduced, an alternative means to righteousness, obtained by covering their unrighteousness (Sin).

Despite repeatedly being asked to ‘obey’, the Israelites still muttered and complained, and questioned their God, and criticised Moses, Gods mediator.

EXODUS 17:2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”

So the point of this is to begin to outline how their salvation was obtained. Now when the Israelites were about to enter the promised land, they sent in the spies, and after hearing their reports, they cried out and demanded to go back to Egypt, and thus back ‘under’ the gods of the Egyptians. That is, they broke the first commandment - again. (First time via the golden calf.). And the Lords reaction was the same, both times, anger!. And the penalty for violating that Law was the same - death.

But, remember, this ‘sin’, like every ‘sin’ was ‘done in the flesh’, and the penalty is/was death (of the flesh). But, righteousness isn’t ‘in’ the flesh, and it’s this righteousness (or lack of) that determines ‘salvation’. So the fact that they ‘sinned’ in the flesh would not (necessarily) impact their salvation.

I mean, look at Lot - a righteous man - in Gods eyes, but certainly not in many peoples eyes. People look at what man does ‘in the flesh’, and judge that. In the same way, we shouldn’t look at what the Israelites ‘did in the flesh’ and judge that - which is where your Q is leading to.

So we can not conclude that they lost their ‘salvation’ because of what they did. (In the flesh).