(1) By your reading of the chapters in Numbers, what would you say it is that leads to the wilderness generation’s condemnation? What is it that leads to Moses’?
Up to and including the account in Numbers, we repeatedly see the Israelites disobey, distrust, and complain about God’s plan for them. For some time, God, despite being angered by their distrust, begrudgingly satisfies their requests. Ultimately, when the Israelites respond to the report of Canaan (the promised land) with their own apprehension, God essentially decides that He’s had enough. He condemns them, revealing that no one that has treated Him with contempt may ever enter the promised land. Even Moses, who was chosen to lead the Israelites, is given condemnation. I suspect that this is due to his continual distrust in God’s plan, shown when he repeatedly asks God why he is chosen and ultimately when he questions God’s decision to forbid the Israelites from the promised land. Furthermore, it makes since that the one who will lead Israelites to the promised land be among the next generation of people, and not among the generation who has been banished from it.
(2) Given that the compilers of the Hebrew Bible could have ended the core unit of the OT in any place—e.g. after the conquest of the Land—why is it, do you think, that they closed the Pentateuch (i.e. the first unit of the Bible that is comprised of the first five books) with the death of Moses?
The Pentateuch likely closes with the death of Moses as a way to separate everything that takes place before entering the promised land and everything that takes place after. With the death of Moses, the generation that had distrusted and disobeyed God is replaced with the new, led by Joshua. In a way, the promised land shares parallels with the Garden of Eden in the creation story. In each case, the people of God are given land, which is promised to be good, and are given command to follow His rules, such that they may remain in His communion. As such, it is a new beginning for the Israelites.
(3) How might the closing passage of Deuteronomy 34 guide our reading of all that takes place in the book of Joshua? What does the text really mean to say about the events of his generation?
The closing passage in Deuteronomy mainly exists to show the passing of the torch from Moses to Joshua. With Joshua at the helm, the Israelites may now enter and take control of the promised land, ultimately completing what Moses and his generation set out to achieve.
jrundle 
The first portion of your response highlights God’s balance of justice and mercy. Like you said, God lets the Israelites “get away” with disobedience, distrust, and ungratefulness, which exhibits his merciful side. However, when God sees that the Israelites are ignorant enough to show a lack of faith toward the finality of God’s plan, he decides it is time to bring down the hammer of justice.
You definitely had a more optimistic take on the closing of the Pentateuch than I did, but I like that you focused on a “new beginning” for the Israelites rather than the somewhat depressing end.
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I agree that the continued choice of disobedience among Israelites is what leads to their condemnation. Given their unwillingness to listen to God and their complaints of His commands, God finally establishes that they will not be able to enter communion with Him. Your thoughts on the relation of the Promised Land to Eden are compelling. It makes sense that humans need to move on after another failure to secure the land of God. Maybe this explains why Moses must die before reaching the Promised Land. He may be a prominent figure on the Old Testament that led his people from slavery in Egypt, but he failed to lead his people in obedience to God. Perhaps, in God’s eyes this kept Moses from being able to enjoy the Promised Land.
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I find your comment about Moses’ death interesting. Your comparison with Eden is compelling, Israel is promised a land to settle in. In a certain way this story can be considered as one of the recurrent “deaths and resurrections” that appear in the Old Testament. In a way, with Moses’ death, he has accomplished his mission, he has suffered for the common good, and know Israel resurrects, leaded by their new leader, and can continue their long trek to the promised land.
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I agree with you that the final passage in Deuteronomy does exists to show the exchange of leadership from Moses to Joshua which is representative of a new direction in the journey of the Israelites. However, I also thing that it serves as an ending to a type of close companionship with God that the Israelite people had through Moses and his death marks the end of that. They are, yes, allowed to enter the promise land now but at what cost is also the question. What did Moses being the last prophet who God knew face to face signify for the Israelites and what does it mean about their connection with God, “, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,”
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