Wrapping Up the Wilderness Wanderings (Numbers 34-36)

The rest of Numbers is more instruction and guidance for how the people should live in the land. Namely, where the borders will be, how the land should be distributed between the tribes, and the ways in which they will maintain those divisions. The Levite tribe will not have a portion of the land but will live throughout the land in cities designated to them, six of which will serve as cities of refuge for people who accidentally kill. Murder is always punishable by death, but people guilty of manslaughter can escape that consequence. However, not without repercussions.

This portion of the Pentateuch has seen the passage of over 40 years. At the beginning of the book, the people had just been rescued from slavery and were heading back to the land promised to Abraham. By the end, that entire generation had died as a result of their rebellion, and a new generation was poised to continue God’s plan. Where the old generation had been saved out of the blue, and had always grumbled, complained, and rebelled against what God had planned for them, this new generation seems to respect God’s authority and trust His plans more. Instead of complaining and rebelling, they approach Moses with requests and ideas for compromise. How will this new attitude serve them as they are poised to enter the land?

We will need to sit through the sermons of Moses in Deuteronomy before we find out…