Although the plan was to leave Egypt and inhibit the holy land, God declares that the current generation will not inherit Cannan, even Moses. In Numbers 14, God asks Moses why the people of Israel still spurn him and have no faith in him despite His numerous signs that He has performed. They show no faith, and God wants to wipe out the entire population but Moses’ pleading shows God that He should be merciful despite the generation’s ignorance of His power and glory. God declares in Deuteronomy 28:46, that the people “did not heed the Lord your God and keep the commandments and laws that He enjoined upon you.” It was Moses’ job to speak to the people and to let them know who God is and why they should follow him. By them not being faithful and not obeying the commandments, Moses has failed at his job as well. Moses is allowed to view the promised land from a distance, but not enter. When he dies, he does so “at the command of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 34:6). He is an obedient servant to his death. However, his job has been fulfilled. He led the people out of Egypt and into the wilderness. His death symbolizes a new chapter, as God never meant for him to enter the land for it was assigned to his offspring. Although it is unfortunate that Moses never enters the promised land, he dies following God’s orders assuring that he will find peace with the Lord.
After the death of Moses, God commands Joshua to lead the Israelites across the Jordan river into the promised land. This alludes to God’s command to Moses in Leviticus to lead the Israelites out of Egypt into the wilderness. The end of Deuteronomy reveals that “never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses– whom the Lord singled out, face to face.” However, it also writes how Joshua will be the new Moses and the Israelites will heed him. This acts as a guide to show us that Joshua will lead them into the promised land and help the Israelities. However, there is the shadow that he will never be able to fully enter into the divine presence as Moses got close to. The first generation was truly the Chosen generation, and now things will never be as they once were, especially in terms of their relationship with God.
Emma Danes's Theology Blog 
Emma, I really enjoyed this post! You make a really interesting point when describing why Moses died before entering the Promised Land. God entrusted this land to Moses’ offspring and the descendants onward, not to Moses himself. I had never thought of it that way! Do you think, though, that if Moses knew he would never actually make it into the Promised Land that he would have worked as hard to get his people through the wilderness and into Canaan? Awesome job!
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Emma,
This is a really thoughtful analysis of the readings for today. All of the points you brought up were intriguing, especially your comparison between Moses being called upon to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and Joshua being called upon to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. I do wonder, however, doesn’t Moses’ task seem much more daunting and difficult than Joshua’s considering leading the people to the Promised Land wouldn’t be all that difficult to do once picking up from where Moses left off?
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