What was the destiny of the Exodus generation?

Into what eternal destiny did the millions of people of the Exodus generation pass?  We know explicitly that God condemned them all to die in the wilderness prior to entering the promised land, due to their unbelief.  Can we be as confident about their eternal destiny?  Does the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews want these considerations to be brought before our eyes, and into our thoughts, as he bases an extended hortatorical (that is, exhorting) section on exactly their example?  Does the impact of the example depend upon the answers we give to the questions we have asked?

It is easy to multiply questions, as well as shallow answers.  Let us together think deeply about this topic, since the author of scripture, and by implication the divine inspiring Spirit, considered it to be so important that they dwelt on it in an extended passage.  What we must not do is to pass by without letting the impact of the section work its intended fruit in our lives.

I'm really not all that into this Exodus stuff.

One of our small groups will present their researches into this subject.  We will specifically see what the group has to say before your more-or-less esteemed moderator interjects his two cents into the discussion.  (Well, actually, it may be more like two quarters or even dollars.)

It is so valuable to develop the habit of posing questions to the Biblical text.  There is so much depth there, just waiting to be plumbed (plummed? meringued?).  If we just float around on the surface of scripture, we will never sample the riches and nutrition in the ecosystem down below.  (This last sentence serves as an example of a seriously mixed metaphor for you home-schooling mothers.)

We pride ourselves on not going too deep in this church!

Just to whet your appetite, here is a link to an excellent sermon on this generation by none other than the redoubtable Spurgeon ["The Census of Israel"].  This sermon represents a fine example of creativity, motivated by a census of Britain then underway.  As always, you can pick up any ten of Spurgeon's sermons, and you will conclude that nine of them are better than any others you have ever read.