An early entrance... delayed
God intended them to take the Holy Land at this moment, but fear means that their entry into the Promised Land will be delayed.. by 40 years!
Numbers 13:17–20The Lexham English Bible
Moses sent them to explore the land of Canaan, and he said to them, “Go up like this to the Negev, and go up into the hill country, and you will see what the land is like and if the people who inhabit it are strong or weak, or whether they are few or many, and whether the land that they are inhabiting is good or bad, and whether the cities they are inhabiting are camps or fortifications, and whether the land is fertile or lean, and whether there are trees on it or not.