"Moses Looking Over Jordan" contemporary figurative painting

To see a close-up view, click here.

This painting is in the hills down south around Vicksburg, where the Delta ends, looking west over the River into the flat lands of Louisiana.  There's a lot of kudzu on the hills.

After the plagues in Egypt, Moses led the Children of Israel out into the wilderness.  He had been charged by the Lord to lead them across the desert and into the Promised Land.  The Lord provided food and water along the way, but there was much suffering in the wilderness, and the Israelites began to murmur against God and Moses.  Several times there were outright rebellions, and the Lord sent poisonous serpents and diseases and earthquakes to punish the people.  Each time, Moses had to intercede on behalf of the Israelites and beg God to forgive them.  By this time, Moses was very old and tired, and he hadn't wanted to be a prophet anyway, but it seemed to go on an on.  The Lord would command the people to move onward,  there would be complaining or disobedience, then disaster followed by a miracle worked by Moses.  At one point, the Lord was so angry that he had the people turn from the vary borders of the Promised Land and head back out into the desert.  He told Moses that this generation of the Israelites would never enter the Land of Canaan because they were not worthy.  Instead, they would wander in the desert for years until the last of that generation was dead, and only their children would be allowed to enter. 

Finally after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, all the old generation passed away except for Moses, and the Israelites finally returned to the edge of the Land of Canaan.  But the Lord told Moses that he would not be allowed to go with the Israelites across the River Jordan into the Promised Land.  Instead, he would die in the wilderness like all the rest of the old generation.  This was very heavy for Moses, so he begged the Lord to let him at least see the Promised Land before he died.  The Lord finally agreed to let Moses climb to the top of a hill and look across the River Jordan, but that was all.

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