After a year at Mount Sinai, the Jewish people pack up their portable sanctuary and come to the borders of the Land of Israel. They should have entered the land at this point, but the people came to Moses and said, "Wait a minute, let's scout out the land first before we enter. So they select 12 "scouts" or "spies" -- one from each of the 12 tribes -- and send them in to do reconnaissance work.

So what was the terrible mistake of the spies? ... These 12 spies spend 40 days scouting out the land and they come back with a huge cluster of grapes saying, "You all see the size of these grapes? You should see the size of some of the people who eat them. They are giants! No way can we beat them. We may as well go back to Egypt..... Only two of the spies dissent from this report: Joshua ben Nun, who is Moses' chief student, and Caleb ben Yefuna from the tribe of Judah.

But the people accept the majority report of the spies. The people break down in tears at the news and refuse to budge. Moses is horrified and God is very angry. ... God tells the Jews that because they displayed this lack of faith after He had brought them so far, they are doomed to wander in the desert for 40 years (One year for every day they spied out the land) until the entire adult male population (except for the Levites who did not listen to the spies) had died off

THE DEATH OF MOSES

Near the end of the 40 years of wandering, they find themselves -- as they did a number of times before-- without water. And as they did a number of times before, they are complaining..... God tells Moses to speak to the rock and water will flow.

(A humorous story illustrating this point is told about a meeting between former US President Harry Truman and the future Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir. Truman was bemoaning the difficulties of leadership and remarked, "You have no idea what it is to be a president of a country of 200 million people." To which Meir responded, "You have no idea of what is to be a prime minister of a country of 2 million prime ministers.")

So after 40 years of trying to lead this stubborn nation, Moses loses his temper for one moment. "You rebels!" he shouts. And instead of speaking to the rock as he was commanded to do, he hits it. And God says to Moses, "Because you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of the Children of Israel, you're not going to go into the Land of Israel with the Jewish people." (Num. 20:12)

Moses now prepares the people for their entry into the Promised Land. The last of the Five Books of Moses is his farewell address to the people.....Prior to his death, Moshe completes the writing of the first Torah scroll. In addition, he writes another twelve scrolls which were given one to each of the twelve tribes. The thirteenth was placed in the Ark of the Covenant and eventually deposited in the Holy of Holies in the Temple. This last scroll, which was occasionally removed from the Ark, served as the proof text for future scrolls to insure the accuracy of transmission of the text of the Law. Having delivered this final message, Moses dies and is buried on Mount Nebo somewhere across the mountains in Jordan. We are deliberately not told where it is, so nobody will worship his grave

BALAAM

Balaam, who had a great reputation, far and wide, as one who could either bless or curse individuals and even nations. Balak sent word to the elders of his neighbors, the Midianites, and they and the elders of Moab journeyed to the home of Balaam. These "top leaders" took "the rewards of divination," or "money in their hands." (Numbers 22:7)

When the elders arrived and explained that they wanted him to go with them and curse Israel, that they might be able to "drive them out of the land," Balaam asked them to spend the night. During the night God appeared unto Balaam and said: "Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not the curse the people: for they are blessed." (v. 13) Early the next morning Balaam gave the elders of Moab and Midian his answer, one that did not please them: "The Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you." The details are not given, but evidently Balaam was hankering after the silver and gold the elders had offered him. Yet, he did not go with them at that time. Then King Balak sent more honorable princes! They were to promise Balaam very great honor, and would do for him whatever he wished, if only he would curse Israel. When the new group arrived and made their offer, regardless of what he may have truly felt, he said to them: "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more." If he had "sent the princes packing" at once, the outcome for him might have been different. Instead, he urged them to stay overnight, and he would see what the Lord would instruct him to do.

Seeing the attitude of Balaam, the Lord allowed him to go with the princes, yet His "anger was kindled because he went." (v. 22) Then it was that the angel of the Lord stood in the way, his sword drawn, and the animal Balaam was riding on was enabled by the Lord to see the angel, even if Balaam did not! That is remarkable, of course, and it is even more remarkable that after another incident, in which the animal, passing through a narrow place, fell down under Balaam, and was beaten as a result, it was enabled to speak words of rebuke to her owner. Balaam then "said unto the angel of the Lord, I have sinned . . . I will get me back again." Now that he was on his way, however, it was the Lord's will for him to go with the princes, not to curse Israel, but to bless Israel. "How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied? (23:8)

By this time King Balak had enough, or too much, of Balaam, for it was all blessing, and no cursing of Israel, but he tried one last time, to gain his desire against the Lord's people. This time Balaam had a great vision of the future happiness of Israel, which give a beautiful prophecy of the coming kingdom of Christ. The vision ends with these words: "He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee." ... Shortly after this Balaam is permitted to have a further glimpse into the future concerning the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. "I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel . . . and Israel shall do valiantly." (vv. 17-18)