Based on Numbers 11, 13-14, and 25, it seems that God condemns the wilderness generation because they do not believe in his power or his ability to bring them to the true “land of milk and honey.” In Numbers 14, the people claim that they wish they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness because they think God has deceived them: They received reports of strong and powerful enemy descendants that dwell there, and they are afraid that they will die and their wives and children will be taken. Additionally, in Numbers 11, those who desire meat are killed in a plague. It is their selfishness that God condemns. Moses is condemned because he questions the Lord’s power, decisions, and requires the Lord to distribute the Spirit to others. In Numbers 11, Moses, questions if God could actually bring meat to the men for a month, to which God replies, “Is the Lord’s arm too short?” (11:23). The distribution of the Spirit from Moses seems to show the Lord that in some ways, he is not fit to be an elect. He dies then, but it is unclear if he resurrects as the elects do.
I think that the Old Testament ends with Moses’ death for two reasons. One harsher reason is because Moses can be interpreted as a kind of martyr or Christ figure, as he is dying because of the sins the Israelites have committed. In Deuteronomy 4:22, he says, “I will die in this land; I will not cross the Jordan; but you are about to cross over and take possession of that good land,” but then goes on to remind the people not to forget the covenant with God. This leads to the second reason the OT ends with Moses’, which is that in the end of Deuteronomy, he lays every ground rule that God has set. It is essentially a rule book for the people to follow. The authors structured it in this way so that the takeaway is at the end.
The end of Deuteronomy 34 says that after Moses, there would be no prophets who knew the Lord face to face. This translates onto Joshua, who is similar to Moses, but without the same connection to God. God is with Joshua in Joshua 1-5, commanding him to do certain things and command others, but Joshua never responds to God as Moses did. He does what he is told without and pushback. This could be seen as a more pure generation of people, as they mainly follow the rules that Moses spoke without complaint.
Macy's Theology Blog 
I like how you say that God condemns their selfishness. I also like how you described Moses’ death as both a sacrifice and a foundation for the next generation of Israelites. Do you think it was necessary for Moses to die early in order to convey God’s message?
LikeLike
I liked your connection between the Israelites’ complaints and their selfishness, both of which God condemns. I didn’t originally make that connection. Do you think this theme will recur as we read through more of the Old Testament?
LikeLike
I think it is interesting how you state that Moses is not fit to be an elect. In many of the stories, the questioning of God’s trust is part of the journey of fully coming to communion with God. Do you think his literal death is connected with this ‘death’ of his full attention in God? Is there something we can learn from this about the human connection with God?
LikeLike
I think it’s interesting how you said that Moses may not be fit to be the elect in certain ways, as marked by his death but lack of a clear resurrection. Do you think that Joshua could be interpreted as a sort of resurrection for Moses, as the two are very similar and serve very similar purposes?
LikeLike
You have an interesting take about Moses being a martyr considering that we wasn’t necessarily killed in name of God. Do you think God’s anger with him had to do with his lonely death and doing it in front of the Jordan?
LikeLike