original_query: What is the significance of the Israelites remaining in the wilderness for forty years?
query: What is the significance of the Israelites remaining in the wilderness for forty years according to the Exodus narrative?
answer: According to the Exodus narrative, the Israelites remained in the wilderness for forty years because they refused to enter Canaan after the twelve spies falsely reported that the land was full of giants.  Yahweh decreed that the generation that left Egypt would die in the wilderness before they could enter the Promised Land.