– Numbers 11; 13-14; 25: As we read earlier in Genesis, obedience and trust in God is key. Humans, though God-like in the sense that they can make judgements, misplace their judgments. In Numbers, we see this when the Israelites think they are being wise in wanting to avoid the Promised Land therefore also avoiding the strong current residents. However, their judgment is misplaced: rather, they prevent their whole generation from entering a type of paradise promised to them. Not only do they misorder their judgement, they illustrate their lack of trust in God and his power. They feared the current residents in the promised land more than they feared God even after seeing his work in Egypt. Even more insulting, they wish to be put back into slavery, undoing all the good God did for his chosen people. There yet another offense, maybe the worse one: the most important commandment God gave the Israelites only so recently was to love your God. Yet, they start worshipping a god Baal. While the Israelites faults are prominent, Moses is also condemned. Moses also undermined God’s authority and usurped it with his own judgment when he changed God’s punishing command. This, a sign that he sees himself as wiser than God. Because of these grievous faults, it seems God feels that the Israelites have to suffer death (a whole generation dying) before they can receive the gift of resurrection (entrance into the Promised Land).
– Deuteronomy 1–6; 27–34
Keeping with the overarching theme of death and resurrection in the Pentateuch, it seems only natural that the Pentateuch ends with a death looking forward to the resurrection. This parallels our expectation and hope waiting for the resurrection. But while we look forward to the resurrection, entering the Promised Land in this situation, Moses also draws us to the past with his song relaying the history of the Israelites. This indicates that we the reader should learn from the past to prepare for the future with God. By ending it with Moses’s warning song and death, it is indicating that we, the reader, should, before looking to the future (reading about the Promised Land), learn and understand the past (the earlier passage of the Penateuch).
– Joshua 1–5 AND Judges 2
Although it seemed a sad ending to Deuteronomy when Moses died, Joshua is a resurrection of Moses and his obedience. Joshua, like Moses, is given the authority to guide the Israelites. There are many obvious parallels: just as Moses guided the Israelites over the Red Sea, Joshua guides them over the Jordan River. However, Moses was much more a direct mediator with God having than Joshua who never directly communicated with God. Just as Joshua was a form of resurrection, these new Israelites are somewhat resurrected as they promise this time to follow Joshua and God’s commands. However, just as predicted in Moses’ song, the Israelites continue their past habits of disobeying/distrusting God, being punished, re-entering into God’s trust only to return to disobedience again. The Israelites are cyclical people and the events of this generation is a reflection of their past and the importance of their history and memories in their relationship with God. If they had looked to the past–specifically kept their fear and trust in God through their memory of the events of Egypt–they would avoid many of their problems through their journey and arrival to the Promised Land
Ciara Fitter's Blog 
I enjoyed how you connected the death of Moses to the overall theme of death and resurrection. What better emphasis on this concept than to end the Pentateuch with a death and start the next part of the Hebrew Bible with rebirth/resurrection. I also think you make an excellent point about the “cyclical” actions of the Israelites, shown through the parallel of Moses and Joshua that does not perfectly match up. Each generation goes through the same storyline, never quite learning from the past.
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I really enjoyed the organization of this post. I think you hit every key element of the Israelites’ and Moses’ disobedience as well as added great interpretation to Moses’ death and Joshua’s new role. I agree that Moses’ death not only completes the theme of “death and resurrection” that we’ve seen throughout the Pentateuch but that it also urges us to recall the past as to not repeat mistakes. With this in mind, how do you think Joshua as the new leader could have used this to help better the new generation?
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I think you organized your points well and made clear what you were answering. I like how you point out the parallels of Joshua and Moses and how they are similar. I also like how you made connections of rebirth for the elect.
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I really enjoyed reading your response because I also recognized the theme of death and resurrection in our readings, but we found them in slightly different places. I thought your perspective was really interesting and that the lens of looking to the future was a really good way of interpreting the story.
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