understand the present and so illumine the future was fundamental to Israel’s communal life, and the same continues to be true for the church. A second key theme focuses on the nature of leadership. The reference to Moses and allusion to Aaron stress the point that all human leaders, no matter how great, will at times fail. Indeed, although Moses had accused the people of being rebels at Meribah (Num 20:10), the reality is that he and Aaron had rebelled against God there. Neither, therefore, had