![]() ![]() was unable to convince his generation about the importance of the Land of Israel. The question arises why Moses, who was able to convince Israel to leave Egypt, march through the desert, accept the yoke of the Torah, reject the Golden Calf, build the Tabernacle, etc. They had never been slaves had never known the taskmaster’s whip. It is the children of the generation that left Egypt who will take on the task of nation-building. That honor and opportunity would be given to the next generation. And Moses was powerless to tell the people to reject the negative report.Ī mood of wild depression overwhelmed Israel and God informed them that they would not enter the Promised Land. They eventually backed up their report with personal agendas, woeful predictions and demagogic pronouncements. Instead they returned with a report about the land and its inhabitants whose negative parts overwhelmed the positive statements they uttered ( Numbers 13:27-29). He undoubtedly had unquestioned trust in their piety and wisdom, and expected them to return with an enthusiastic assessment of the Land of Israel. With the most positive of intentions, Moses commissioned twelve leaders to spy out the land God had promised ( Numbers 13:1-16). Amalek was defeated by Joshua and Moses, but the mere fact that such an attack occurred so soon after the events of the exodus had a disheartening effect upon the people. Even when God performed miracles to take care of those needs their mood of foreboding and pessimism was not easily dispelled.Īnd this mood was heightened by the sudden unprovoked attack of Amalek ( Exodus 17:8). However, almost immediately, the people of Israel, faced with the problems of the real world, turned sullen and rebellious.įood, water and shelter were all lacking. Its wildest dreams of success and achievement had been fulfilled and realized. The exultation of Israel at seeing its hated oppressors destroyed at its feet knew no bounds. Victories and triumphs inevitably are followed by letdowns, frustrations and disappointments. However, its lessons were absorbed and translated into Jewish individual and public life, and thus have proven to be of eternal value. The desert was a harsh learning place for the Jewish people. Positions of power take their toll on their holders. It is striking that many of the great men named at the beginning of Numbers are no longer there at the end of the book. It is full of character sketches and descriptions of people who by their actions changed the course of Jewish history, not only in the desert of Sinai but for all times as well. The fourth book of the Torah, The Book of Numbers, is devoted to the narrative of the experiences of the Jewish people during their 40-year sojourn in the wilderness of Sinai. It is a book designed to address humanity’s achievements and foibles, grandeur and pettiness, and great capacity to do good and be evil. Its narrative is never restricted to dry facts alone, but comes to reveal the human factors and the psychological/spiritual import of events. The Torah is not intended as a history book. The 40 years in the desert was both harsh and necessary for the Jewish people to become who they would be
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