A New Generation Prepares to Enter the Promised Land

The second half of the book of Numbers jumps forward to the end of the 40-year wilderness period. The 2nd generation of Israelites was encamped in Moab, just across the Jordan River on the east side of the Promised Land. They were now poised to enter and take possession of the great land promised to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3). Yet, in the events recorded here we learn that the 2nd generation, like the first, had wayward hearts and continued the pattern of disobeying God. Only the faithfulness of God would carry these people over the border into the Land of Promise.