In Numbers 14:43, Moses says to the Israelites, “‘Because you have turned away from the Lord, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.’” This is the basis of their condemnation. Because the ‘wilderness generation’ has lost their trust in the Lord, they must be condemned by him. If the purpose of these books and this journey is reconciliation between the Israelites and the Lord, then there must be a certain level of trust. Without that trust, the covenant cannot be entered into, and the reconciliation cannot be achieved. Moses’s condemnation stems from theirs. At this moment, he has failed in his job as a facilitator for reconciliation, and is therefore condemned.
Moses’s death is inevitable. For one thing, he is tainted from the events that happened at the end of Numbers. In Deuteronomy 5:26, the Israelites say “For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived?” implying that Moses must die because of his direct dealings with the Lord. God tells him that he will not be able to cross the Jordan into the promised land. But why end the Pentatauch with this event? In some ways, this is the logical conclusion to this unit of the Bible. Moses is the last of the great prophets that dealt so closely with God, so his death concludes this series of men and therefore this unit of the Bible. Also, at this point, God has given his instructions to the Israelites (through Moses). This “phase” of the covenant/ reconciliation is done and it is time to move on to the next.
The end of Deuteronomy makes comments about how no prophet since Moses has dealt so directly with God (“Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face” Deuteronomy 34:10). These comments show how broken the human relationship with God is at this point. It casts a ‘shadow of doubt’ over the book of Joshua, showing the inevitability of his people (and the people directly after him) to stray from the Lord (especially without a strong leader, as shown in Judges 2).
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I think it’s interesting that you say Moses’ death was inevitable. Do you think that it’s fair that God tasked Moses to have such a prominent role in bringing Israel to their promised land, but then doesn’t allow him to set foot in it? And what do you think the relationship between Moses and Joshua is?
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I agree that the “phase” of the covenant seems to be over with God’s instructions that Moses relays to the people. I’m curious about your interpretation that his death was inevitable. Does this mean that God always knew that the people’s sins would tarnish him and set him up to fail for the greater good?
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I liked how you pointed out that the covenant can’t be fulfilled without a certain level of trust between God and the Israelites. Do think this level of trust has been present at all through the narrative so far? Do you think it will ever be met?
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I like how you included the first quote because it really does do a good job justifying their condemnation. I agree with your statements about trust and think this is an important topic of this story and the issue even arises in people’s relationships with God today. Obviously all of their anger, urged Moses to question God as well. Do you think this explains anything about the human character? The one who had the greatest relationship with God still came to questioning him as well.
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I like your point that Moses was condemned because he failed to permanently reconcile the Israelites, and I wonder if there was any more he could have actually done to change them forever. You mention Deuteronomy as the logical ending, but what difference does Joshua have from Moses that makes this a significant ending point?
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