History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week - John N. Andrews

I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to
accomplish my anger against them in the
wilderness. Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand,
and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not
be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose
sight I brought them forth. I lifted up mine hand
unto them also in the wilderness, that I would
scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them
through the countries; because they had not
executed my judgments, but had despised my
statutes, and had polluted my Sabbaths, and their
eyes were after their father's idols."
Thus it appears that the younger generation,
which God spared when he excluded their fathers
from the land of promise, did, like their fathers,
transgress God's law, pollute his Sabbath, and
cleave to idolatry. God did not see fit to exclude
them from the land of Canaan, but he did lift up his
hand to them in the wilderness, that he would give
them up to dispersion among their enemies after
they had entered the land of promise. Thus it is
seen that the Hebrews while in the wilderness laid
the foundation for their subsequent dispersion from
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