2/20

The readings toward the end of the Pentateuch place a specific emphasis complete faith in God. In the chapters from Numbers, we see the Israelites lack faith in God multiple times to the point of questioning why they even left Egypt in the first place. They grow restless and complain about the manna they have been given to eat from God and they complain about the Promised Land as they first arrive. Even Moses finds himself lacking total trust in God at times, such as in Numbers 11 when he questions why God even put him in charge and “put the burden of all these people” on him. This lack of faith is the reason why the Israelites and even Moses must die before entering the Promised Land. The Promised Land was promised to God’s people, but one cannot be one of God’s people while having doubts about God. That is why it must be a new generation of Israelites that enter into the Promised Land, led by Joshua. This is also the reason why the Pentateuch ends with the death of Moses rather than with the Israelites entering the Promised Land. The compilers of the Hebrew bible wanted to emphasize complete trust in God and by showing that even Moses, one of God’s most loyal servants, having slight hesitation at times was enough to prevent his entrance into the Promised Land successfully emphasizes this theme. This ending to Deuteronomy helps guide our reading of the next book of Joshua. The final paragraph in the chapter says, “…no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,” showing that Moses had come the closest to entering into perfect union with God. This has been the entire goal of leading the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, to begin our journey towards achieving that “Eden-like” relationship that was lost in Genesis. Even Moses was’t able to reach that perfect relationship and Joshua and all those to come after Moses will also fall short. Yet they persist in working towards this goal and even though they aren’t perfect, God continues to guide us towards this relationship, which is the lesson the compilers of the Hebrew bible want to display