🔢WEB · Numbers 27:13
What does Numbers 27:13 mean?
"When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered;"
— Numbers 27:13 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
If he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers.
If his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his kinsman who is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it. This shall be a statute and ordinance for the children of Israel, as Yahweh commanded Moses.’”
Yahweh said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel.
When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered;
because in the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin, to honor me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)
Moses spoke to Yahweh, saying,
“Let Yahweh, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation,
Explanation
Numbers 27:13 records God's words to Moses after allowing him to view the Promised Land from a distance. In plain language, God is telling Moses that once he has looked upon the land of Canaan, he too will die, just as his brother Aaron had already died. The phrase "gathered to your people" is a gentle, ancient way of speaking of death, suggesting a reunion with one's ancestors rather than mere extinction.
The context is critical to understanding this verse. Numbers is traditionally attributed to Moses, recording Israel's forty years of wilderness wandering. By this point in the narrative, the generation that had left Egypt was passing away, and Israel stood on the edge of the Jordan River, ready to enter Canaan. Earlier in Numbers 20, Moses and Aaron had disobeyed God at the waters of Meribah, striking the rock in anger rather than speaking to it as God commanded, and displaying a lack of trust in God's holiness before the people. Because of this act of disobedience, God had already declared that neither Moses nor Aaron would enter the Promised Land themselves. Aaron had died on Mount Hor, and now God informs Moses that his own death is imminent as well. God has just instructed Moses to climb Mount Abarim to view the land from afar—a bittersweet privilege granted to the man who had led Israel for forty years but who would not cross over.
Theologically, this verse underscores the seriousness with which God treats sin, even among his most faithful and chosen leaders. Moses was extraordinary—called "fa
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