Additionally, He designs the new faith to be embraced by a younger generation, one not yet set in their ways. The principles and practices of this new order could be ingrained in them as if they were learned with their mother’s milk, while those rooted in the old ways would be challenging to alter. The Lord affirms the necessity of this choice to Moses twice, at Sinai and Kadesh-Barnea. It is particularly during a time when Moses is passionately interceding for the people that their cruelty becomes evident.
He leads them to Kadesh-Barnea, at the threshold of the Promised Land, intending to showcase the land and encourage the young generation through the promise of abundant blessings tempered by the challenges of claiming it. This display serves to instill fear in the older generation, ultimately weakening their desire to enter the land and compelling them to endure a burdensome delay in the wilderness for 37 years in silence.
After such preparation, the Lord permits them to return to their usual routines, allowing them to acclimate to the new laws and grow spiritually under their guidance. We see how rituals can cultivate a moral and religious consciousness and how a civil order rooted in a healthy fear of divine judgment can draw one closer to God. Those who submit to this order naturally see their spirits expand and develop, increasingly demanding scope for their expressions—all rituals and regulations, thus becoming familiar and integral to their lives. Consequently, it is reasonable to anticipate that after 37 years, the laws of Israel would be embraced not merely as external obligations but as internal commitments, as if they were deeply ingrained in their consciences.
THEOSIS