Editor’s note: For one division of the story into sources, see TABS Editors, "Unscrambling the Scout Story with the Documentary Hypothesis," TheTorah (2014). When the pillar would stop over the Tabernacle, the Israelites would stop in the wilderness and remain in one place. In the eyes of YHWH God, idol worship (worshipping other gods) was akin to adultery in His Marriage Covenant with Israel. [7] On the textual relationship between Deuteronomy 1–2 and the non-Priestly account in Numbers see in, Gili Kugler, When God Wanted to Destroy the Chosen People: Biblical Traditions and Theology on the Move, BZAW 515 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2019), 82–92. This angered YHWH. window.location.replace(""); Most people who have a relationship with Jesus Christ will tell you that it is in the wilderness of life,  when life is at it’s most difficult, that they find God. They’ve just been brought through the Red Sea and saved by miracle after miracle, than a month into the wilderness they decide that they want to go back to Egypt. Many Biblical prophecies have already been fulfilled, many are yet to be fulfilled. Idolatry = Spiritual adultery, unfaithfulness in marriage. There were 3 tribes on each side (North/south/East/West)… surrounding the Tabernacle, 12 Tribes total, forming a CROSS! Did you know that about 30% of the Bible is Prophecy? Her book, When God Wanted to Destroy the Chosen People: Biblical Traditions and Theology on the Move, was published in 2019 by De Gruyter. [6] But the verse means exactly what it says: Moses is making a covenant with the people who have left Egypt, wandered in the wilderness, and would now enter the land without him. After the Israelites had received the PASSOVER, God lead the them out of Egypt (slavery) and into the wilderness, intending to bring them into the promised land. Often, Biblical prophecies have multiple fulfillments (they are fulfilled more than once) because the Bible is the Living Word of God. Desert quail (17-24) Numbers 12:1–11.Why Did Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses? 2, chap. In this “marriage Covenant”, God told Israel that if they obeyed Him, they would be blessed beyond measure, but if they disobeyed, and followed after “foreign gods/idols”, then they would be cursed. it’s where the Israelites came to know God. Israel willingly entered into this Covenant, and basically, they became “married” to YHWH in the wilderness. When we receive Jesus into our hearts, HE gives us His Holy Spirit, who acts like the Pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud. Moses told the Israelites that they were not worthy to inherit the land, and would wander the wilderness for forty years until the generation who had refused to enter Canaan had died, so that it would be their children who would possess the land. In the last plague, the firstborn of Israel could have died, but Israel demonstrated saving faith in that they believed and obeyed the gospel of their Passover, and so, they were passed over by the wrath of God. [1] These verses are from the Priestly strand of the account of the scouts. This is a famed type of Christ for New Testament believers, and to them it was their gospel. [Note: Joseph Dillow's view is that most of the Israelites in the wilderness were saved and going to heaven but he acknowledges that "some may not have been saved." They were hungry. God’s provisions included all the necessary sustenance (both food and water) Israel would need during their 40 year sojourn through the wilderness. Israel’s whole existence is a physical representation of an even more significant spiritual truth. A seven-year famine was responsible for God’s chosen people ending up in Egypt. This interpretation is common to the rabbinic attitude: “In every generation a person must regard himself as though he personally had gone out of Egypt.” Mishnah, Pesachim 10.5, famously cited in the Passover Haggadah. In the desert, the children of Israel experienced hunger as Exodus 16:2-3 explains, and in that hunger, again they revolted and murmured: “And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. In the wilderness, the Israelites built a “golden calf” to worship. During this time, God Almighty did draw close to them. [5] Jeffrey Tigay, Deuteronomy, JPS Commentary (Philadelphia: JPS, 1996) 46. Never did God face greater … When the spies saw the immense size of the inhabitants of that land (giants/nephilim), only 2 spies BELIEVED that YHWH could defeat these beings (Joshua and Caleb).