Why Does the Pentateuch End With Moses Not Entering the Promised Land?

Discussion about the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, pseudepigrapha, Philo, Josephus, Talmud, Dead Sea Scrolls, archaeology, etc.
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Secret Alias
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Why Does the Pentateuch End With Moses Not Entering the Promised Land?

Post by Secret Alias »

Some possibilities:

1. the Pentateuch was based on historical fact.

Unlikely. I am inclined to suppose that the author(s) could have written an ending where Moses conquers Canaan but didn't. So why not?

2. Joshua needed to be conqueror

This would suppose that something like the Book of Joshua was already imagined by the author(s). Not sure if that was the case although Joshua seems to be prepared for something, even Moses's albeit inferior replacement (110 years to 120 years).

3. the author(s) themselves lived in a time where the restoration of "Israel" was not yet complete or would likely not be complete in their lifetime or that of their subjects. As such the generation of Moses were made not to see the realization of their dream.

Yes I suppose something like that.
austendw
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Re: Why Does the Pentateuch End With Moses Not Entering the Promised Land?

Post by austendw »

Try this for size -

Zev I Farber's essay: Moses the Transjordanian Prophet

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.15650/h ... .2019.0121

ABSTRACT: The Pentateuch contains more than one explanation for why Moses is buried in the Transjordan. This demonstrates both that the tradition is ancient and that later biblical authors had a problem with it. When we attempt to trace the contours of this ancient tradition, we find a Moses who was a local leader and holy man among the Reubenites and is credited with the conquest of their territory. A YHWH temple stood in the area of his tomb. Over time, as Cisjordan became the dominant area for Israel, and the Transjordan lost its legitimacy, attempts to explain the anomaly that the greatest Israelite leader in history is buried outside Israel proper needed to be explained. This is the origin of the narrative concerning Moses's sin.
austendw
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Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2014 11:10 pm

Re: Why Does the Pentateuch End With Moses Not Entering the Promised Land?

Post by austendw »

Secret Alias wrote: Thu Feb 16, 2023 4:28 am I am inclined to suppose that the author(s) could have written an ending where Moses conquers Canaan but didn't. So why not?
Arguably, they did, and it's there for us to see in Deuteronomy 2:24-25, 32-36 in which God gives Sihon's land in transjordan to Moses to take "possession". Vv 26-30, a later supplementary passage, tries to override that tradition by suggesting that possession was never the aim and only happened because Sihon refused to let them "pass through" on their way to the "real" Promised Land. But vv 24-25 suggest quite differently - the Promised Land begins at the River Arnon. So, when Moses died on Nebo, or Pisgah, or whereever, he had already arrived and at least partially conquered the land.
24 'Rise up, take your journey, and go over the valley of the Arnon; behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to take possession, and contend with him in battle. 25 This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.'
26 "So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon the king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying,
27 'Let me pass through your land; I will go only by the road, I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the left. 28 You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink; only let me pass through on foot, 29 as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I go over the Jordan into the land which YHWH our God gives to us.'
30 But Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for YHWH your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand, as at this day.
31 And YHWH said to me, 'Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you; begin to take possession, that you may occupy his land.'
(NB: resumptive repetition)
32 And Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. 33 And YHWH our God gave him over to us; and we defeated him and his sons and all his people. 34 And we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed every city, men, women, and children; we left none remaining; 35 only the cattle we took as spoil for ourselves, with the booty of the cities which we captured. 36 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was not a city too high for us; YHWH our God gave all into our hands.
Secret Alias
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Re: Why Does the Pentateuch End With Moses Not Entering the Promised Land?

Post by Secret Alias »

Deuteronomy is secondary. Literally.
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