Moses, described in Numbers 12:3 as the most humble of men in all the earth, had a request for God.
“And I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, ‘O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand.
For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours?
Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’ ”
Deuteronomy 3:23-25
After decades of leading Israel through thick and thin, miracles and rebellion, he needed his feet to touch the land flowing with milk and honey.
God’s response? No dice. You can look, but you can’t enter.
“And the Lord said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again. Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan’ ” (Deuteronomy 3:26-27).
A crippling blow for a longsuffering leader, to be sure. But Moses knew this was his lot. Back when the Israelites made camp in the Desert of Zin, they demanded water. God told Moses to speak to the rock, and water would flow. Moses, irritated with Israel’s grumbling, let his pride guide his response. Each complaint poked at his insecurity.
If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord!
Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here?
Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!
Instead of speaking to the rock, he struck it, lashing out “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?”
Uh oh.
Notice the “we” language there? “We” meant Moses and Aaron. The underlying meaning was, You want to doubt me. I’ll show you how great I am!
Water gushed from the rock, but God didn’t stutter. He told Moses to speak to the rock, not strike it. Moses wanted to recapture some of the past magic, where God had told him to strike the rock at Horeb. Now in the Desert of Zin, he decided his way was better.
The Israelites doubted Moses. Moses doubted God. The vicious cycle had lasting consequences.
“And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them’ ” (Numbers 20:12).
To the average reader, this seems somewhat harsh. We want to say, “C’mon God, the man is as humble as it gets. And remember, these people really were testing his patience.”
But God wasn’t putting the crimps on Moses out of some sick pleasure. Moses represented the Law, and the Law requires perfection. No one can be made perfect through the Law, because it requires no sin. The Promised Land foreshadowed the New Covenant, which would be inherited through faith in Christ, not works or anyone’s own righteousness.
So what was left for Moses to do?
Sulk?
Spend his time stargazing on Mount Pisgah as the Promised Land stretched out before him?
Not a chance. What followed was Moses’ finest hour.
God gave Moses instructions on his successor. “But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go over at the head of this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see” (Deuteronomy 3:28).
Moses obeyed and then gave his finest series of sermons. The book of Deuteronomy are his “parting instructions” for Israel to take possession of the land, to obey God, and follow Joshua’s lead.
Moses’ actions after God said “no” revealed much about his character and humility. He set up a smooth transition so that Israel could enter the Promised Land.
Imagine if Moses had opted to be resentful, undermining Joshua and stealing the glory for himself. The Israelites surely would have splintered into different factions and Joshua would have had an even more difficult time taking possession of the Promised Land.
Moses did what every Godly leader must do: build a culture that outlasts you. He understood that his own death would create uncertainty within the Israelite ranks, so he took heed of God’s commands to strengthen Joshua.
It’s a timeless lesson for us all. We will not achieve everything we want to in our Christian lives, but we can master the art of the hand-off with the next generation. You can be the wise guide that steers them away from being products of their generation and instead be ones who call their generation to something better, which is an inheritance in Christ.
As fate—God’s sovereignty—would have it, Moses made a posthumous arrival in the promised land. When Jesus took Peter, James, and John up to a mountain, Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke with Jesus. Moses represented the Jewish Law and Elijah represented the prophets who foretold of Jesus birth. Together they completed the “hand-off” from old to new covenant. Jesus was the fulfillment of the old covenant and the ushering in of the new one.
Thousands of years beforehand, Moses chose humility instead of bitterness. Because of it, he is listed in the Hebrews 11 “hall of fame” for those who displayed great faith.
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