Words of Warning and Encouragement
to the Wilderness Generation
33:50 to 36:13
The Promised Land has been Isra’el’s goal throughout the book of Numbers. It is only fitting, therefore, that the last section of the book deals specifically with the settlement of Canaan. These last four chapters round out the book. Chapter 33, with its “travel log” (to see link click Gc – Isra’el’s Travel Log), and final blessing and warning, serves as a climax of the book. The prospects for conquest and the warning of failure were just as real for the Wilderness Generation as it was for their parents. Chapters 34, 35, and 36 are appendages to the book of Numbers. Its theological climax comes at 33:54 when ADONAI declares: You will inherit the land by lot according to your tribes. You are to give more land to the larger tribes and less to the smaller ones. Wherever the lot falls to any particular person, that will be his property. You will inherit according to the tribes of your ancestors. The message was this: The Land is before you for the taking; but do not behave like your fathers and mothers did. Instead, move on in faith to occupy the Land God is offering you. You are responsible for the decisions you are about to make. And just remember that ADONAI has time . . . and the wilderness has no shortage of sand to accommodate your remains. If you behave like your parents did, Ha’Shem can wait for your children or your children’s children to act courageously and to respond in faithful action. Just before entering the Promised Land, Moshe gave his final speech (see the commentary on Deuteronomy Fa – The Warnings of the Covenant).
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