(The History of Ancient Israel)
After mourning horribly, the night before, the rebellious Israelites let sink in what they had done: they had betrayed their God even when their future home was right in front of them, now they were going to be cursed to die a horrible death with no homeland never to set foot or even see or be buried in this land. Because of this, Israel changes their mind about conquering the promise land after God had banned them from ever entering the promised land; during that night of crying they repented from the way they had acted: they were now ready to fight for God against these nations so they got up early In the morning and got Israel’s army together to go to war against these giant (both figuratively and literately) Canaanite nations of the hill country and headed for the highest him at the beginning of the country:
They were finally ready to obey their God, they meet Moses on their way and told him they were sorry for sinning but were now ready to obey God:
Numbers 14:40-45
“Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, ‘Now we are ready to go up to the land the Lord promised. Surely we have sinned!’”
God then told Moses to tell them to not do this; their war would no work and they would be killed because he would no longer help them fight these nations:
Deuteronomy 1:42
"...the Lord said to...[Moses]... 'Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’' [1]”
Israel had a change of mind…but it was too late:
So, Moses went and told them it was too late for that; they had originally rejected that offer and God was going to punish them for their rejection so it was too late to obey God's orders; they would never conquer these nations because God was done with them as a wicked generation and thus, he was not going to help them in this war! They were now disobeying God’s punishment for them to turn back into the wilderness, and if they rejected to give up and turn back these nations would Definity defeat them now!
Numbers 14:40-45
“But Moses said, ‘Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? This will not succeed! Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, for the Amalekites and the Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the Lord, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword (killed).’”
But the once again, they refused to obey Moses (and God) because they were deceived into thinking God would still help them and still thought they would win, and went up to the highest hill (without Moses and the ark of the covenant: both symbolizing God being with them) before all these Canaanite nations and charged at them to fight them:
Numbers 14:44
“Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord’s covenant moved from the camp.”
Once the nations of the Amalekites and local Canaanite nations saw these foreigners trying to attack them, they got their army together and fought them and, like Moses said, ended up beating Israel’s army and killed some in the army and chased Israel’s army a very long way before they gave up and they ran off:
Numbers 14:45
“Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.”
After the failed Battle, it seems the elders who were sent by God to explore Canaan; specially the 10 elders who discouraged their Israelite followers to not fight these native nations, were cursed by God for discouraging Israel with their authority, with a horrible disease that they seemed to have gotten sick by the very next day:
Numbers 14:36-37
“...the men Moses had sent to explore the land, …[the]…men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck…[with]…a plague before the Lord.”
After the painful and humiliating defeat, they realized the hard way God was not going to help them fight and those that didn’t die in the war came back to camp where Moses was and began to cry to God in sorrow of accepting their fate, but God in anger ignored them; so, they stayed in Kadesh crying and Mouring for quite a while:
Deuteronomy 1:45-46
"[Israel] came back and wept[ed] before the Lord, but he paid no attention to [them] weeping and turned a deaf ear to [them]. And so [they] stayed in Kadesh many days...[1]"
Most likely, during this time the 10 sick elders with the horrible disease died from this horrible disease as a curse for their discouragement:
Once they got through Mouring, they got back in the marching orders God gave them, and God (with Moses) led them back into the wilderness to live the rest of their lives in banishment with no true land of their own.
After they obeyed and going back into the wilderness to camp God began to speak to Moses about more laws in the Temple once again:
He talked to Moses about the laws sacrificing when they did get settle down in the promise land (covered in more detail in in Numbers 15:1-31)
While wandering, someone began to collect wood (which is work) on the sabbath: he seen working on the Sabbath by some Israelites and those that caught him brought him to Moses and they put him in custody while he asked God what to do about the sabbath breaker:
Numbers 15:32-34
“While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. “
God then told Moses this sabbath breaker had to die for disobeying him and desecrating his holy day he was to be taken outside the camp to stone him to death:
Numbers 15:35
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.’”
So Moses told Israel what God commanded, so they took the sabbath breaker outside the camp and stoned him to kill him:
Numbers 15:36
“So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.”
After this event, God wanted Israel to have a constant reminder of his holy laws (especially his holy Ten Commandments) so they would never forget them and thus break them like they promised not to do:
Numbers 15:37-41
“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations (beginning with this one and continuing for all their future descendants) to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.’’ ”
So, Moses told all of Israel to wear tassels with blue cords as a constant reminder of all his laws he told them obey, and Israel obeyed, and all Israelites made and wore these tassels of reminding around their necks.
After a while of leading them though the wilderness the Israelites began to get once again angry at the terrible situation they were in; they got angry at how they would never live in the promised land ;some even got angry at Moses and Aaron believing it was their fault they were taken away from that wonderful land to never see it again; and some even questioned Aaron’s authority to be high priest and thought, after all they had seen, they also could serve God and high priest because all of Israel was holy to God.
They complained and some even questioned Moses and Aarons authority from God, in response to all this God got very angry at them and begin to curse them with supernatural disasters and horrible diseases as punishment that ended up killing even more Israelites (and helped to kill the rebellious adult population off faster)
(for more detail see Numbers 16 and Numbers 17)
During this time (possibly spanning years of wandering) Israel came into the Desert of Zin and were led to stay in a place there called Kadesh in the first month of some year (if not the next year):
Numbers 20:1
“In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh.”
Israel saw there was nothing to drink, once again, in this wasteland and got angry and complained to Moses as why he and God brought them from their nice home in Egypt to die out in this horrible place with no produce to eat!
Numbers 20:2-5
“Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, ‘If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!’”
Once again, they were complaining to God indirectly, so Moses and Aaron went to the front of the temple and fell down on their faces in sadness that Israel was once again making God angry with their complaining in their punishment:
Numbers 20:6
“Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown,…”
God’s Prescence began to manifest and he told them what to do to get water for Israel and their animals: he was to take a staff and speak to a rock nearby and strike it once with the holy staff and water would miraculously come out of the rock for Israel to drink.
Numbers 20:6-8
“...and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord said to Moses, ‘Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.’”
So, Moses got the staff and both him and Aaron gathered all of Israel around a rock nearby.
Numbers 20:9-10
“So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock…”
As Moses to the rock, he then spoke to Israel about how rebellious and horribly they had treated their God, even in punishment:
Numbers 20:10
“...and Moses said to them, ‘Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?’”
But instead of speaking to the rock and only striking it once, because he was soo angry and so tired of dealing with all these rebellious Israelites, he struck the rock two times in anger instead of just once:
But water still came out and all of Israel and their cattle came to drink the massive amounts of water coming out of the rock;
Numbers 20:11-13
“Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.”
But God was now angry at Moses; and told Moses and Aaron that for their disobedience to not exactly follow his direction they too would no longer get to enter into Canaan but would too die in the wilderness for disobeying him for hitting the rock twice instead of once!
Numbers 20:12
“But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.’ ”
For their sin they would never see Canaan as well and thus this area was now called Meribah (Hebrew for ‘quarreling’) because Israel complained to God and Moses and Aaron disobeyed God.
Numbers 20:13
“These were the waters of Meribah,[quarreling] where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord…”
During their stay in Meribah, Moses’s and Aaron’s sister Miriam died, and they had to bury her in the desert and leave her as a part of the punishment on Israel:
Numbers 20:1
“…at the Desert of Zin,…There Miriam died and was buried.”
The oldest sibling of Moses and Aaron finally died; this woman of God, who as a child got to save her youngest brother and helped lead Israel out of Egypt with her brothers 40 years after that finally died; and Aaron and Moses had to move on and leave her there in the Desert of Zin; she would never get to see the glorious promise land in this life (for more info on death and what happens in the next life check out 'the truth of Death and heaven and hell').
The community moved eventually to base of Mount Hor near the border of Edom:
Numbers 20:22
“The whole Israelite community set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor…near the border of Edom,…“
While they camp at the base of Mount Hor God told Moses and Aaron that Aaron was about to die;
he too would never get to see the glorious, promised land in this life; he was going to die out here in the wildness and be buried here:
Numbers 20:23-24
“…the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Aaron will be gathered to his people (die). He will not enter the land I give the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah.’”
But since he was the official priest of Israel, it was time to officially pass on the priesthood to his son who would inherit it: which was Eleazar the Aaronite; God commanded them to get his son and go up the mountain and remove his priest clothes and put them on his son: to symbolize passing on the official priesthood to Eleazar then he would die on top of the mountain and be buried at the base of this mountain here:
Numbers 20:25-26
“…Get Aaron and his son Eleazar and take them up Mount Hor. Remove Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar, for Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will die there.”
Moses was now going to lose his brother; and his last sibling here that had helped him all these years: So, they did as God told them too; they got Eleazar and went up the mountain and took Aaron's priest clothes off and put them on Eleazar.
Numbers 20:27-28
“Moses did as the Lord commanded: They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar.”
After that Aaron died; a great man of God who helped his brother Moses on his mission from God; Moses and his son came down the mountain and told the rest of Israel Aaron, their priest, was dead so they stayed there and had a funeral to cry for his death for a whole month:
Numbers 20:28-29
“...And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, all the Israelites mourned for him thirty days.”
So, after this, many decades passed as Israel was lead through the wilderness; eventually 38 years had passed and all the Israelite men (and possibly women: thus, the entire generation) had finally all died and were buried in this baren wilderness as God cursed them to do:
Deuteronomy 2:14-15
“Thirty-eight years passed…By then, that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. The Lord’s hand was against them until he had completely eliminated them from the camp.[1]”
At this time, the former rebellious generation was pretty much all dead, and their children (that is those Israelites under 20 years old 38 years ago) had now grown up in this barren wilderness and had children of their own, as shepherds as a part of the curse.
However, this new generation was now loyal and very obedient to God as a result of this punishment; after the last Israelite man of this former generation finally died 38 years later, God then told Moses (who was now around 117 years old) they were to now move into Moabite territory:
Deuteronomy 2:16-18
“Now when the last of these fighting men among the people had died, the Lord said to…[Moses], ‘Today you are to pass by the region of Moab at Ar.’[1]”
The reason he wanted them to enter Moabite/Amakalite territory was because God was going to let this new generation get a head start on conquering the promised land by first conquering part of the Jordan area (the land to the east of the Jordan river) before letting them conquer the ‘core’ of the promised land (to the west of the Jordan river: Canaan):
Deuternomy 2:31
“The Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to deliver…[this]…country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess…[this] land.’[1]”
So Moses (and God) led Israel to finally enter part of the Promise land and fight against some of the native nations: Including the main land of the Amorites and some of the Canaanites and killed their kings/people or ran them out; this next generation had then finally conquered the first parts of the promised land: they also finally had some land of their own to live in and didn’t have to wander around in the no-man’s wilderness anymore!
For the next 2 years Israel stayed in the valley of Jordan right next to the Jordan river: waiting to invade the mainland (or ‘core’) of Canaan/the promised land when the 40-year curse finally came to an end.
God then told Moses to prepare for his assistant Joshua to get ready to lead Israel when he died soon: so he Got Joshua and anointed him as the next leader of Israel to finish leading them into the promise land to finally inherit it:
Numbers 27:8
“So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership, and lay your hand on him….Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him….At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out,…’”
So he got his servant Joshua and let him stand in front of all of Israel to commission him as the next leader to led Israel to conquer the promised land:
Numbers 27:22-23
“Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the Lord instructed through Moses.”
At the very end of the fortieth-year punishment (the last of the two months in the 40th year since the punishment) Moses then prepared the next generation to be led by Joshua into finally conquering Canaan/the rest of the promised land to Israel: God told him to recount the story of their parents being led by him and their sin that lead them up to this point in time as well as to go over all the laws he had commanded Israel to follow in this covenant and to finally ask them to keep their covenant with their God like their parents agreed to at Mt. Horeb.
So, Moses gathered all of Israel together and gave them this speech:
Deuteronomy 1:1-3
“...Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan…In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month…, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them.”
And finally told them to be a faithful people to their God like their parents promised to do (but most did not):
Deuteronomy 4:1-10
“Now, Israel,…See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, …and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget…or let them fade from your heart (mind) as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb (when God personally made his covenant with them about 41 years ago),…”
After he made this speech, God told him he was about to die so he was to go up to the nearby Mt. Nebo in Moab so he could show Moses the entire ‘core’ of the promised land since he would not be allowed to ever see it in person in this life for his disobedience to him:
Deuteronomy 32:48-52
“On that same day the Lord told Moses, ‘Go up…Mount Nebo in Moab,…and view Canaan,…There on the mountain that you have climbed you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people. This is because both of you broke faith with me in…Meribah Kadesh…Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land…”
So Moses left the camp and went to Moab and climbed the mountain; once he reached the top he could see the other side of the Jordan into the ‘core’ of Canaan; and then God showed him the rest of this land; he could see the beauty and wounder of this glorious land their ancestors lived in!
Deuteronomy 34:1-4
“Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land…all the land…as far as the Mediterranean Sea,...Then the Lord said to him, ‘This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said,
(Referring to what he said to their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob recorded in Genesis)
‘I will give it to your descendants.’
I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.’ ”
Right after showing him the entire land Moses, this great man of God who though he would end up and an assimilate foreigner in Midian with his wife and kids, not only was he the chosen Israelite that helped saved his people, but led them for over 40 years and even help fight for them to have the covenant with their God they messed up; because he obeyed what God told him to do, Israel was now all free from Egypt and now truly a people united under their God in his ways. Not only that but God had done amazing miracles never before seen in any nation on Earth through him just like he promised him and had a relationship with him closer than even Abraham Issac and even Israel did.
This great man of God after completing his life mission, finally died on the mountain at 120 years old:
Deuteronomy 34:5
“And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said….[he was]… a hundred and twenty years old when he died,…”
Since no one seemed to have been with Moses when he died God himself came and took his body of his beloved servant and buried him in a valley in Moab nearby:
Deuteronomy 34:6
“He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor…”
When Israel heard Moses had died on top of the mountain (most likely by God) they were very upset their lifelong leader was dead and mourned for him for a month:
Deuteronomy 34:8-11
“The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days,…no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do…no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.”
After this great man of God died, Israel as a people would never be the same as God intended; they had been directly contacted by their God through him and now knew they were under his covenant to obey his commands; this new Generation was very loyal to God and as a result of their loyalty God was about to let them conquer the core of the promised land under their new leader Joshua in less than a month (coming soon).
(Back to the History of Ancient Israel)
Sources:
[1]
(Note:
God did not directly speak in the verses above nor are they just the narrator talking as the coloring of the verses would suggest; this is actually from Moses's speech to Israel recounting what had happened to them so far and adding in extra details that are not mentioned directly in the other book that recorded the events originally (that is: Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers) BUT like all things he told and did: these extra events and what God/he spoke actually did happen, so the author has taken liberty to write parts of his speech as if they are narrated to go along with the timeframe of these events).