You want to know why Moses did not enter the promised land? Repeatedly, from the deliverance of Egypt to the borders of Canaan, we are told that the anger of the Lord was kindled against the disobedience, idolatry, and adultery of his people, and often we are allowed to see Moses throw himself face down on the ground and intercede for this people that God has entrusted to you. But also on several occasions, during this long pilgrimage through the desert, the text tells us that Moses’ anger was kindled against the people of God. Here we explain the reasons why Moses did not enter the promised land.
Reasons why Moses did not enter the promised land
One of these wraths occurs after Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights in the presence of the Lord on Mount Sinai, listening to God establish his covenant, his law, and his commandments for the people on whom he sits. “God sends Moses because he sees Israel fall into sin and in his anger he wants to exterminate the children of Israel. Moses implores God to forgive the people, but when he goes down and finds himself in front of Israel, and sees the calf and the dances, his anger is kindled (Former 32).
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Again, imagine the scene…
Moses is so angry that he throws to the ground and breaks the stone tablets that contain the laws of the Lord written with the very finger of God. And yet, at no time is it written that God reproaches Moses for having thrown and broken these tablets. No, a few chapters later, God told him:
- “Cut two stone tablets like the first, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first one you broke” (Exodus 34.1). Not a single complaint!!!!
Similarly, in the few other accounts of Moses’ wrath (Exodus 11, 16 and 32, Leviticus 10, Numbers 16 and 31), at no time did God reproach Moses. Why? The reason is very simple. Whenever Moses got angry (or flared up with anger) with Pharaoh, the people of Israel or any part of the people, was for disobedience or rebellion towards God and / or his prescriptions.
Moses did not enter the promised land because of his anger.
And yet, in Numbers 12.3 we are told that Moses was a very meek (or humble) man, more than any human being on the face of the earth. This quality of Moses is revealed to us when his sister and brother, Miriam and Aaron, challenge his authority and his privileged position as God’s interlocutor.
More than two years had passed since the people had left Egypt (Numbers 10:11). Miriam and Aaron had witnessed Moses’ special relationship with God. Despite their respective roles (Miriam was a prophetess and Aaron was Moses’ right-hand man with Pharaoh, later appointed high priest by God), they envy Moses and whisper behind his back.
Moses said nothing. Did you know what his brother and sister said about him? The reason given for his silence is surprising: “Moses was a very meek (or humble) man, more than any human being on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12.3).
Moses’ anger does not burn against his brother and sister. It is the Eternal who takes care of matters and takes the defense of Moses to legitimize his place as leader.
Moses did not enter the promised land – how should we act?
Here we have a great lesson to learn from Moses. He understood and learned that the Glory of the Lord is more important than his own glory!
However, we know that Moses was unable to enter the promised land due to his disobedience to God at some point in his leadership. In the desert of Zin, the people are thirsty (Numbers 20) and murmur once more against Moses and against God. God calls Moses and Aaron and tells Moses to take the rod and speak to the rock that it will give water. In fact, Moïse is addressing the people, but some anomalies emerge from his speech:
- “Is it from this rock that us Will it take you out of the water?” “. Since the beginning of the exile, we witness a kind of pattern in the relationships between God, Moses, and the people of Israel. When Moses addresses the people on behalf of God, he usually begins his speech with “This is what the Lord says…”, but this time he does not once say the name of the Lord, who is still the one who ordered the water. to get off the rock.
- Moses disobeyed and struck the rock twice with his staff instead of speaking to him as the Lord had told him.
- Moses calls the people rebellious. In light of Psalm 106.32-33, Moses is overwhelmed by bitterness towards this people who hasten to dispute God’s benefits and becomes angry. In his anger, he expresses himself thoughtlessly and is therefore rebellious against God.
God punishes Aaron and Moses immediately at the end of this episode because, with their attitude, they dishonored God. Moses is not wrong to disapprove of the rebellious attitude of the people, but his anger here seems to be guided by his own weariness at the repeated failures of this people, and not by a desire to see the Lord recognized in everything. . That He is and made for the people of him so quick to murmur.
God punishes Moses for his disobedience just like he punishes the people of Israel. The Lord is fair and he is no exception!
Moses acknowledges his fault, pleads his case before God, but God does not give up (Deuteronomy 3.23-27, 32.48-52). However, in his grace, God himself shows him the promised land from Mount Nebo and takes care of Moses until his death, being the one who buried him (Deuteronomy 34: 1-6).
How can it be useful to us that Moses did not enter the promised land?
Like Moses, God chose us and placed us where we are. He created us as we are with the character that is ours for his service. Our responsibility is to submit our will to God’s to allow him to mold us and enter into the good works he has prepared beforehand for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).
Unfortunately, just like Moses at Meribah, despite God’s transforming work at work and shaping our character, there are times we stumble when we decide to act on our own and by ourselves. But we belong to a merciful God who, just as he raised up and cared for Moses, wants to raise us up and take care of us.
God’s wrath against our sin, our disobedience and our rebellious attitude was directed once and for all at Jesus Christ, who agreed to suffer death in our place: the punishment destined for us!
May the Lord help us to act, like Moses, with meekness and humility when we are attacked in our person or in the legitimacy of our commitment, knowing that the Lord listens. On the other hand, that we can be firm and intransigent in the face of any disobedience, any rebellion and any slip of the people of which we are a part.
The real reason for the distance that Moses did not enter the promised land
The Bible teaches us that God said to Abraham: “I am God Almighty. He walks ahead of me and be honest. Walking in the face of God means that before you do anything, you should always make sure that it is in accordance with God’s will.
And God always cares to make known what his will is. From the moment that God has made his will known to you, he will no longer come and repeat it to you or insist that you do what he has told you to do.
It is not because God does not love you that he does not insist; God does not insist because he is a God of freedom. God created you free and would like you to be. You are free to lead your life as you want, you are free to do what you want: THIS IS CALLED FREE WILL. And because you are free to choose, then it will be easier for God to make you accept the consequences of your choice.
Moses did not enter the promised land by choice
When God chose Moses, he prepared him for years before sending him on a mission to Pharaoh. Here is a very important incident that God will use to help Moses understand something very important.
We read this in Exodus 4: 24-26: “During the journey, in a place where Moses spent the night, the Lord attacked him and wanted to kill him. Zipporah took a sharp stone, cut off her son’s foreskin, and threw it at Moses’ feet, saying, ‘You are my blood husband! And the Lord left him.
That’s when she said: Blood Groom! due to circumcision. “To fully understand what is happening here, we must go back to Genesis 17: 9-11: “God said to Abraham: My covenant you shall keep, you and your descendants after you, according to their generations.
This is my covenant, which you shall keep between you and me, and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. You will be circumcised; and it will be a sign of alliance between you and me”.
God chooses Moses
So even though God personally sent Moses on a mission, he will seek to kill him. After this incident from Exodus 4, one would expect Moses to understand the importance of circumcision and that he would understand that it is a very important thing for God to signify his covenant with someone.
But not! Later, at the time of drafting certain laws in the Sinai desert, after leaving Egypt, God will again command this to Moses: “The Lord spoke to Moses and said: Speak to the children of Israel and say: the woman conceives and gives birth to a boy, she shall be unclean seven days; she will be unclean as at the time of her menstrual indisposition. On the eighth day, the boy will be circumcised.” (Leviticus 12: 1-3 )
Beloved in the Lord, you will surely tell yourself that after all these repetitions from God to Moses about circumcision, Moses will understand and take seriously the problem of circumcision.
Moses did not enter the promised land – comparison with Joshua
But not! How do we know? The answer is in the book of Joshua. Let’s read together what God is going to say to Joshua after crossing the Jordan: “At that moment the Lord said to Joshua: Make yourself knives of stone and circumcise the children of Israel a second time. Joshua made stone knives and circumcised the children of Israel on Mount Aralot.
This is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. All the people that came out of Egypt, the males, all the men of war, had died in the desert, on the road, after they had left Egypt.
All these people that came out of Egypt were circumcised; but all the people who had been born in the desert on the journey after leaving Egypt had not been circumcised. ( Joshua 5:2-5 ).
Moses did not enter the promised land because of what he thought
What the hell was Moses thinking!! He was the leader of the children of Israel, and God had commanded him in Leviticus 12 to make sure that Jewish boys were circumcised. God even almost killed him for it in Exodus 4.
But he will let people do it in the desert, without teaching them the importance of circumcision. Just as some pastors do today with regard to jewelry ( exodus 33 ) and the clothes ( Deuteronomy 22 ).
It is true that the incident of water in Kades is added to this. But to closely compare the Kades incidents ( Numbers 20: 1-12 ) and Rephidim ( Exodus 17:1-7), we easily realize that it is out of exasperation that God…