Numbers 10:11-14:45, 17, 20-25, 33 – After spending time at Sinai, the Israelites finally set out toward the Promised Land, with God’s cloud leading the way. However, the people of Israel continuously groan and complain about all of their misfortunes and they incur the wrath of God as a result. A cycle starts to form where the Israelites complain against the leadership of Moses and Aaron and YHWH, then YHWH issues a punishment, followed by Israel’s mourning and repentance, and concluded by assumed forgiveness from YHWH until the cycle starts again. The degree of ingratitude and arrogance reaches high enough that their lack of faith in YHWH results in His declaration that no one but Joshua, Caleb, and the children will ever see the Promised Land. The Israelites are forced to wander in the wilderness for forty years until every person from the older generations has died. Not every event is negative, however, because the Israelites do find enough favor with God as to win military conquests in the lands of Ammon, Bashan, and Moab. …show more content…
Israel, who may have been one of many ‘Apiru peoples who struggled to claim land for their own, attributes its difficulties in reaching the Promised Land (Canaan) to the lack of faith in YHWH even though the text gives numerous references to His presence among the people in the Tent of Meeting and the Ark of the Covenant. It is only after Israel gains land on the eastern side of the Jordan River that they it seems to be in position for a military conquest of
The Assyrians were known to have a powerful, ruthless army. The army was the largest Middle East or Mediterranean fighting force that had ever been seen. It is believed that God himself promised the Israelites that if they disobeyed Him he would allow them to be taken up and carried away to foreign lands. His promise is explained in Isaiah 5:26-29. It reads, “He will whistle to them from the end of the earth; Surely they shall come with speed, swiftly. No one weary or stumble among them No one will slumber or sleep Nor will the belt on their loins be loosed, Nor the strap of their sandals be broken; Whose arrows are sharp, And all their bows bent; Their horses’ hooves will seem like flint, And their wheels like whirlwind. Their roaring will be like a lion, They will roar like young lions; Yes, they will roar And lay hold of the prey; They will carry it away safely, And no one will deliver.” Israel’s rebellion angered God and it led to war with the invincible Assyrians. The Northern Kingdom of Israel was wiped out.
Moses spends forty years following the instructions of God throughout Exodus. However, in Numbers, God tells him to speak to the rock and it will bring them water. Instead of speaking to the rock, he strikes it with his staff, like he did previously in Exodus. When he does not directly follow the instructions he was given, God responds by saying, “‘Because you were not faithful to me in showing forth my sanctity before the Israelites, you shall not lead this community into the land I will give them,’” (Numbers 20:12). Moses ends up being able to see the Promised Land, but never being able to set foot inside
The story of the state of Israel began with a man named Abraham, and a promise that God made to him. God told him to leave his homeland, promising Abraham and his descendants a new home in the land of Canaan, known as present day Israel(Rich, 1). Abraham was a firm believer in God, and decided to carry out his commands, since he knew God would be able to fulfill His promise to him. It was here, that God gave Abraham a unique homeland for his descendents to form a model nation. In the Torah, The Land of Israel was claimed to be the only place on the earth where the Jewish people could create the model nation(Spiro, 1). Jews desired to fulfill God’s plan to create the model nation, forming a strong connection between the land and the people for all eternity. Nonetheless, the Jews have not always been in political control of Israel; foreign nations had always been attacking the land...
Studying the Old Testament is not as straightforward as some may think. Being able to recall stories of the Bible does not necessarily mean you have a thorough grasp on the history of Israel and the surrounding nations. Some people read and discuss the Bible without a solid understanding of the history and social issues that were going on at the time. Being able to relate to the stories in the Bible and struggle with some of the same problems faced by the people in the Bible gives you a greater appreciation for the works in the Bible. I feel that having a firm understanding of all the related history of Israel gives a student of the Old Testament a far greater understanding of why these stories are in the Bible and what was meant to be learned from them. In this paper I give brief, yet significant, explanations of the Old Testament from the death of King David to the Maccabean revolt.
Following the creation story of the book of Genesis is the book of Exodus. In Genesis, God promised Abraham a “great nation from which all nations of the earth will be blessed (Gen 12:1-3)” and in Exodus God completes this promise through the creation of the holy nation, Israel. Exodus tells the story of the God who rescued his people out of Egypt because of the promise he had made to Abraham. God calls to Moses to complete his promise. God’s call to Moses is not only important because he liberates the Israelites but also because God reveals His name(s) along with His true Nature. God calls upon Moses and tells him that He’s back to help the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and that Moses is to lead them. God then gives him full instructions on what to tell the Pharaoh and, more importantly, the Israelites, who are promised, land “flowing with milk and honey”.
In the Poem "The Bunch of Grapes", George Herbert uses the story of the Israelites in the wilderness during their Exodus, to illustrate Christian progress. Additionally, through this poem, Herbert also compares his or the speaker's discontent in life that has a strong connection with the Old Testament versus the comfort that the New Testament has to offer. In the Book of Numbers, Moses, wandering with the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Sin, decided to send spies through the Desert of Paran into the Promised Land of Canaan. The spies are to see how fertile the ground is, how fortified the cities are, and how strong the people are. " And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: And see the land, what it is, and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad" (Numbers, Ch. 13, Lines 17-19.
This was the Hebrew mass departure from Egypt. Moses the messenger of God came to lead the Hebrews to becoming a nation and uplifting there believe in Yahweh, the one God. The hieroglyphics detailed events of this era but not one of them referred specifically to the Israelites and Egypt. The Israelites returned to Canaan to rejoin the other Hebrews that stayed behind and did not join in the journey to Egypt. In the 722 B.C. many Hebrew were deported to the different parts of Assyrian empire. The Hebrew that was in a sense deported were dubbed the name ten lost tribes, and lost their identities as the people who had made a covenant with God. The Hebrew vied God as being One, Sovereign, Transcendent, Good, and Loving. They believed in devoting themselves to God and harming no one.
In the Bible we find that God does not allow Moses and Aaron to lead the people, just as they are about to proceed to conquer the Promised Land (Num 20:1-13). Denial of entry into the Promised Land could be an obvious expression of God’s anger. Because in Numbers 20:12 we read, “But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” What did they do or say that warranted such a harsh verdict? What was their sin?
15 For all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your seed like the dust of the earth; so that if one man can count the dust of the earth then your seed also can be counted. 17 Get up, go around in the land to its length and its width, because I will give it to you.” 18 And Abram took his tent and came and lived among the oaks of Mamre which are at Hebron; and he built an altar to YHWH there.”
As I read through our assigned chapters this week, I couldn 't help but think about what could have been. What if the nation of Israel (and Judah later on) would have truly followed after God? What if they would have submitted to His divine kingship, instead of the fallacious leadings of men? What if the children of the Lord would have "inclined their hearts" to His words, and not devoted themselves to forbidden idolatry? Time and time again, the choosen nation of Israel turned from God and His words. As a result, they wound themselves up into a whole multitude of issues. In their sin, they were consistently raided, enslaved, and butchered by other nations. If only they would have devoted their hearts, souls, and strength to God, they would have had rest in a peaceful land. The Israelites can serve as a great example to us that God 's way is alsways best, not matter how things appear to us.
The land of Canaan where the Canaanites dwelt was the land promised by God to the Israelite people. Canaan was the name of a large and prosperous country which coincides roughly to present- day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel. In some passages in the Bible, the Canaanite people were specifically referred to as the people of the lowlands and plains of Canaan. In other Bible passages, Canaanites is used in a broader way to refer to all the inhabitants of the land, including the Hivites, Girgashites, Jebusites, Hittites, and Perizzites (Judges 1:9,10).
The Apostle Paul speaks of the journey of Israel in 1 Corinthians 10:11: "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." Paul clearly states that the
Surveying the Old Testament reveals the theme of God’s faithfulness to his people. In light of this understanding, the restoration of the Israelites prophesized in the Old Testament is essentially the fulfillment of every covenant with God. This perspective relates to the work of Christ and encourages any follower of God to trust in his faithfulness.
Not all Jewish communities continued on their faith with YHWH. Before the exile, many communities began to scatter all over the Middle East, Egypt and Babylon; however, the exile...
The following paper examines a close reading of the figure of Moses in Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy with respect to the issue of why he is barred from entering the Promised Land of Canaan as well as in the Quran. Moreover, after considering the stories and character of Moses in these respective texts, I will then analyze the two accounts in order to examine their similarities and differences.