These are not the same people that left Egypt, that fled from slavery under Pharaoh. They are people who have lived in the desert most of their lives. People who were only children in Egypt where their parents had to slave all day making bricks. Instead of slavery, all they have known is wandering, and provision, of course. They have made it through forty years in the desert, they still have their cattle and livestock, and they have become a multitude to be reckoned with.
They camp in the Desert of Zin at Kadesh, and it is time for the younger generation to rise up and take the place of their elders. The older generation is dying off. They bury Miriam and Eleazar is prepared to become the High Priest in place of his father, Aaron. But the new generation is still grumbling. They make Moses so mad with their complaining about no water, that he strikes the rock twice and loses his chance to accompany them into the land.
Moses must be getting so tired. The Edomites refuse to let them pass through their land, so they have to find another way around. In the meantime, he accompanies his older brother, Aaron to the top of Mount Hor where he removes Aaron's priestly garments and places them on Eleazar and then watches Aaron die. Moses has spent the last forty years of his life leading a rebellious people on a journey of less than a hundred miles.
Even after they witness the defeat of the Canaanite King of Arad, they're still complaining and Moses has to make a bronze snake on a pole to save them from the venomous snakes. Nothing has been easy. And now, the people who live on the border of the land promised to Abraham and his descendants, refuse to let them pass through. What an ignominious end to Moses' life. Does he still sing the Song of Miriam? There are still battles to be fought and kings to be conquered, but because God still goes with them, they will be victorious.
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