February 20

The wilderness generation is condemned because of their disobedience of the laws God gave them to honor. The Israelites worshipped false idols and practiced rituals, like eating forbidden foods, that God explicitly commanded them not to. They also did not willingly or immediately obey God when Moses told the Israelites to leave Egypt as God wanted them to. Because the Israelites were not completely reverent and obedient, worshipping God for the many blessings He gave them, they were ultimately condemned. If they had trusted that God commanded all these tasks for a reason, they would have possible continued to thrive in the Holy Land. I do not think God “condemns” Moses; I think he brings Moses’s end because he has served his purpose to God. Although he is timid at first, He accepts God’s command to bring His people to the “land flowing with milk and honey,” or the Promised Land that they are destined to reign. Moses trusted in God and bravely lead His people, giving them the ten commandments and bringing the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and closer to the Promised Land. Moses tries to help God’s people maintain their relationship to God as best he can. Moses is one of the greatest prophets in the Bible, but his service to God could not last forever, so God brings Moses’s time to an end and passes his trust on to Joshua, the next in line. The Pentateuch ends with Moses’s death as a respectful closing to his life and the beginning of a new literal and symbolic chapter for God’s people. Joshua finishes what Moses started, leading the people to the Promised Land, and starts a new time among God’s people, one meant to be free of the disobedience and sins committed by the wilderness generation.