1:37-40 - Because of you the Lord became angry with me also and said, "You shall not enter it, either. But your assistant,1 Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it. And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad— they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea."

Not exempted from the ban, however, is Moses: "even with me Yahweh became angry." The adjective, 'anep, is less severe than qatsap used in v34. Moses explains Yahweh's displeasure with him as being "on your account." The phrase, however, explains little of what Moses had in mind. The depiction of the rebellion at Kadesh Barnea recorded in Num.13-14 tells us nothing that would have excluded him from the land (for more on this, see Moses' Denial from the Land).

Whatever might be the actual relationship between the people's rebellion and his exclusion, Moses is not to be classed with those of the "evil generation," for his ban is nuanced in interesting ways.2 Of the three verbs of locomotion used so frequently in the previous unit, only one (bo', 'enter') is used—three times—in this unit. Twice it predicates, positively, the fate of Joshua (v38) and the children of the disobedient Israelites (i.e., GenB, v39); they will "enter the land." It is also the verb used, negatively, of Moses; he "shall not enter it" (v37). Moses may not enter it but, in contrast to that evil generation, he would see it, and the book of Deuteronomy will conclude with him viewing the vast expanse of the land from Mount Nebo with the divine consolation, "I have let you see it with your own eyes" (34:4).

In contrast to Moses's exclusion Joshua shall enter the land, because his divinely appointed task lies still ahead; again Yahweh's decision is emphatic—"he, he will enter it" (v38). Joshua is the other faithful scout and of him it could also be said that "he is full of following Yahweh." Of him, however, it is not said. The fact that Moses is commanded to give him his encouragement and support "because he will lead Israel to inherit" the land is honour enough.

And finally, there is the next generation, GenB, the children whom the banned GenA thought would become fodder for their enemies, and who were too young to know "good from evil" (v39)—"It is they, they will enter it." That parents should care for their children is not only entirely legitimate, it is commanded in the laws. God, nevertheless, does not tolerate parental concerns becoming justification for unbelief. Yahweh's decision to show Himself true to His promise is stressed in the certainty of the children's future in the land by the three short clauses each beginning with forms of the 3rd pl. pronoun hem and containing words ending with the ha (â) sound in reference to the land: 1) "they (hemmâ) will enter it (shammâ)," 2) "to them (lahem) I will give ('ettenennâ)" and 3) "and they (wehem) will take possession of it (yirashuâ)."3

After the detour into Yahweh's decision regarding the various individuals and the children, Moses returns now to Yahweh's concluding command to GenA; "as for you, turn around and set out (pana . . . nasa' ) towards the desert along the route to the Red Sea." The verb-pair pana . . . nasa' used here and in v7 (where it is translated "break camp and advance into the hill-country of the Amorites"), serves thus to frame the two ends of this recounting of Israel's tragic journey into disobedience, and underlines the completeness of the reversal of GenA's fortune. The specific geographical detail, "towards the desert along the route to the Reed Sea" adds a poignant dimension to this frame; not only would they not see the Promised Land, they were turned in the very direction from which they had come. They were shut out and turned back. Sin does that. The moment we let sin hitch a ride in our life, it will lock the car in the reverse gear. Unless grace interferes.

The older members of GenB to whom this recall is addressed are, of course, the "children who do not yet know good from evil" mentioned in the account. A short while after hearing this address they, with the children born to them since, would venture into the very land their parents had refused to capture. Thirty-eight years would not have lessened the threat of the giants that inhabited the land. It must have tempted them at a time like this to think that they could live happily on the Transjordan soil they now possess; why risk their children's future?4 They may not grumble as their parents did, but it would have been rebellion still to forego the promises of God, even if love for their children was the justification. On the plains of Moab GenB stands at the molten moment of decision just as their parents once did at Kadesh Barnea. Here, on the plains of Moab they needed to be reminded that sin always take us backwards, never forward.5

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