JOE TUNON

STORY 4: The Desert Journey (Leviticus, Deuteronomy)

Now it should have taken Moses and the Israelites a few weeks to go from Egypt to Canaan, but it ends up taking them 40 years! Wandering through the wilderness of mostly desert, Moses relays to them more of God’s laws. One of them is that instead of the ancient practice of sacrificing firstborn sons, the tribe of Moses’ brother Aaron are to be priests who sacrifice animals as a substitute for the firstborn. Some of the animals they are to burn are the same animals used in the worship of other gods. God is making a point, and we’re even told “the odor was pleasing to God”! There were about 600 laws altogether, too many for anyone to realistically keep, so they are also told to take a goat, symbolically put the people’s sins on its back and send it into the wilderness to take their sins away (This is where the word “scapegoat” comes from). In the wilderness the people encounter disease, hunger, heat, wild animals, and foreign attackers, until after 40 years of this, they finally reach their promised land. Moses would die before entering and appoints Joshua as his successor, leaving them 2 strong warnings from God before entering. First, since the Canaanites living there are still sacrificing children, when the tribes of Israel take their land, they are to take no prisoners. This was the "curse" of destruction. Second, he told them “Whatever you do, don’t marry the foreign women!” (reason being, you go to bed with the women, and before you know it, you’re in bed with their gods too, so to speak). So after 40 years, the wandering tribes of Israel finally reach their promised land. It was about time!