Kesetiaan Tuhan dan Pemberontakan Israel di Padang Gurun

Abstract

The thing that many people conceiving is the negative perspective on the wilderness. When we hear the word “wilderness”, our mind are immediately caught up in a dry, arid, barren and scary place. No one would choose to live in this almost lifeless place. In Pentateuch particularly in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy we are told about the wilderness in which the Israelites was chosen by God to wander for a promised land around forty years.  It can be imagined that in the severe circumstance of the desert, the Israelites struggled to survive. On certain occasions the Israelites rebelled against God by allowing idolatry in their lives and complaining about the lack of food and drink. The rebellion of the Israelites in the wilderness, on the one hand, expressed their inability to remain faithful to the covenant that had been made with God on Mount Sinai. On the other hand, the same God who brought them out of Egypt remained faithful to His covenant to lead the Israelites to the promised land. At some point the wilderness witnessed Israel's rebellion against God, and God’s faithfulness to Israel as His chosen people. The desert also turned to be a school of faith for Israel to purify their faith and to learn how to observe Yahweh.