When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, there is the sound of war in the camp. Joshua is waiting for Moses at the mountain's base — he has not participated in the golden calf celebration and cannot identify what he is hearing. His military interpretation is understandable but incorrect. Joshua's presence at this moment is significant: the man who will lead Israel into the land is also present at the community's most spectacular failure. The leader who inherits Moses' mission will inherit a people whose capacity for catastrophic defection has been demonstrated in the most vivid possible terms.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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