jacob became the leader of israel following moses death.
who became the leader of israel following moses death?
jacob
then moses said: "perhaps i must die only because the time has come for joshua to enter upon his office as the leader of israel. if joshua shall now become the leader, i will treat him as my teacher and will serve him, if only i may stay alive." moses then began to serve joshua and give him the honor due to a master from his pupil. he continued to do this for thirty-seven days, from the first of shevat to the seventh of adar. on the latter day he conducted joshua to the tent of the assembly. but when he saw joshua go in while he himself had to remain outside, he became jealous, and said that it was a hundred times better to die than to suffer once such pangs of jealousy. then the treasures of wisdom were taken away from moses and given to joshua. a heavenly voice was heard to say, "learn from joshua!" joshua delivered a speech of which moses understood nothing. then, when the people asked that moses should complete the torah, he replied, "i do not know how to answer you," and tottered and fell. he then said: "lord of the world, until now i desired to live; but now i am willing to die." as the angel of death was afraid to take his soul, god himself, accompanied by gabriel, michael, and zagziel, the former teacher of moses, descended to get it. moses blessed the people, begged their forgiveness for any injuries he might have done them, and took leave of them with the assurance that he would see them again at the resurrection of the dead.
moses in rabbinic literature
according to mendenhall, the covenant was not just an idea, but actually a historical event. this event was the formation of the covenant community. wandering the desert, the clans left egypt following moses. these people were all of different backgrounds, containing no status in any social community. with all these circumstances they formed their own community by a covenant whose texts turned into the decalogue. the israelites did not bind themselves to moses as their leader though and moses was not a part of the covenant. moses was just seen as a historical figure of some type sent as a messenger. the israelites followed the form of the suzerainty treaty, a particular type of covenant common in the near east and were bound to obey stipulations that were set by yahweh, not moses.
mosaic covenant