- Two things that happened in Numbers was that the Israelites constantly complained of their liberation and almost wished for them to be back in slavery with the Egyptians, against the plans of the Lord (in general acting very ungrateful). They continue to lament about how they would have been better off if they had died in the wilderness or in Egypt, being completely ungrateful to their freedom(and even considering going back to Egypt). The Lord even expresses his displeasure with the misgivings of the Israelites and considers striking them all down and leaving Moses to forge a better people. He then vows that no one who has treated him with contempt shall ever see the land that he has promised. At ever turn the Israelites defy the Lord, as is seen in the incident with the Moab people. Moses’s condemnation comes because he too slighted the Lord by striking the rock twice in anger with his staff when the Lord had said before that anyone he treated him with contempt shall not enter the land he promised.
- The death of Moses is to serve as a turning point in the Pentateuch. The first 5 books of the Old Testament are in a way a story of how mankind(and now specifically the people of Israel) is constantly falling further away from the Lord. By the end of the Pentateuch, the people of Israel finally are numerous enough and witnesses to the power of the Lord and know what they have to do to stay in his good favor. Its in a way like the flood, a new generation willing to worship the Lord in a new land, but they are finally now numerous enough to carry out the Lord’s command to Noah(be fruitful and multiply).
- Even though Joshua serves as a replacement for Moses, Deuteronomy 34 remarks that no prophet since Moses has known the Lord face to face or been as great as he. Though Joshua listens to the Lord, he does not know the Lord like Moses does and it seems that he acts more out of the results the Lord will give him than out of actual faith in the Lord(or at least not as much faith as Moses had). When the Lord approached Moses, the Lord’s powers were up to much more doubt than to the Israelites after they had left Egypt and witnessed the extent of the Lord’s powers firsthand. In a way, Moses was one of the first to truly believe in the Lord of his generation while the rest of the people were still enslaved in Egypt.
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Patrick Hines's Foundations of Theology Blog 