ellauri164.html on line 483: Moses is one of the most prominent figures in the Old Testament. While Abraham is called the “Father of the Faithful” and the recipient of God’s unconditional covenant of grace to His people, Moses was the man chosen to bring redemption to His people. God specifically chose Moses to lead the Israelites from captivity in Egypt to salvation in the Promised Land. Moses is also recognized as the mediator of the Old Covenant and is commonly referred to as the giver of the Law. Finally, Moses is the principal author of the Pentateuch, the foundational books of the entire Bible. Moses’ role in the Old Testament is a type and shadow of the role Jesus plays in the New Testament. As such, his life is definitely worth examining.
ellauri164.html on line 487: In Exodus 2, we see Moses’ mother attempting to save her child by placing him in a basket and putting it into the Nile. The basket was eventually found by Pharaoh’s daughter, and she adopted him as her own and raised him in the palace of the pharaoh himself. As Moses grew into adulthood, he began to empathize with the plight of his people, and upon witnessing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, Moses intervened and killed the Egyptian. But that was not a sin because the guy was just an Egyptian. In another incident, Moses attempted to intervene in a dispute between two Hebrews, but one of the Hebrews rebuked Moses and sarcastically commented, “Are you going to kill me as you did the Egyptian?” (Exodus 2:14). Realizing that his criminal act was made known, Moses fled to the land of Midian where he again intervened—this time rescuing the daughters of Jethro from some bandits. In gratitude, Jethro (also called Reuel) granted his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage (Exodus 2:15–21). Moses lived in Midian for about forty years.
ellauri164.html on line 489: The next major incident in Moses’ life was his encounter with God at the burning bush (Exodus 3—4), where God called Moses to be the savior of His people. Despite his initial excuses and outright request that God send someone else, Moses agreed to obey God. God promised to send Aaron, Moses’ brother, along with him. The rest of the story is fairly well known. Moses and his brother, Aaron, go to Pharaoh in God’s name and demand that he let the people go to worship their God. Pharaoh stubbornly refuses, and ten plagues of God’s judgment fall upon the people and the land, the final plague being the slaying of the firstborn. Prior to this final plague, God commands Moses to institute the Passover, which is commemorative of God’s saving act in redeeming His people from bondage in Egypt.
ellauri164.html on line 495: The book of Deuteronomy shows Moses giving several sermon-type speeches to the people, reminding them of God’s saving power and faithfulness. He gives the second reading of the Law (Deuteronomy 5) and prepares this generation of Israelites to receive the promises of God. Moses himself is prohibited from entering the land because of his sin at Meribah (Numbers 20:10-13). At the end of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses’ death is recorded (Deuteronomy 34). He climbed Mount Nebo and is allowed to look upon the Promised Land. Moses was 120 years old when he died, and the Bible records that his “eye was undimmed and his vigor unabated” (Deuteronomy 34:7). The Lord Himself buried Moses (Deuteronomy 34:5–6), and Joshua took over as leader of the people (Deuteronomy 34:9). Deuteronomy 34:10–12 says, " Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel."
ellauri164.html on line 497: The above is only a brief sketch of Moses’ life and does not talk about his interactions with God, the manner in which he led the people, some of the specific ways in which he foreshadowed Jesus Christ, his centrality to the Jewish faith, his appearance at Jesus’ transfiguration, and other details. But it does give us some framework of the man. He is somewhat recalcitrant, to put it mildly.
ellauri164.html on line 498: So, now, what can we learn from Moses’ life? Moses’ life is generally broken down into three 40-year periods. The first is his life in the court of Pharaoh. As the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, Moses would have had all the perks and privileges of a prince of Egypt. He was instructed “in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds” (Acts 7:22). As the plight of the Hebrews began to disturb his soul, Moses took it upon himself to be the savior of his people. As Stephen says before the Jewish ruling council, “[Moses] supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand” (Acts 7:25). From this incident, we learn that Moses was a man of action as well as a man possessed of a hot temper and prone to rash actions. Did God want to save His people? Yes. Did God want to use Moses as His chosen instrument of salvation? Yes. But Moses, whether or not he was truly cognizant of his role in the salvation of the Hebrew people, acted rashly and impetuously. He tried to do in his timing what God wanted done in His timing. The lesson for us is obvious: we must be acutely aware of not only doing God’s will, but doing God’s will in His timing, not ours. As is the case with so many other biblical examples, when we attempt to do God’s will in our timing, we make a bigger mess than originally existed.
ellauri164.html on line 500: Moses needed time to grow and mature and learn to be meek and eat humble pie before God, and this brings us to the next chapter in Moses’ life, his 40 years in the land of Midian. During this time, Moses learned the simple life of a shepherd, a husband, and a father. God took an impulsive and hot-tempered young man and began the process of molding and shaping him into the perfect instrument for God to use. What can we learn from this time in his life? If the first lesson is to wait on God’s timing, the second lesson is to not be idle while we wait on God’s timing. While the Bible doesn’t spend a lot of time on the details of this part of Moses’ life, it’s not as if Moses were sitting idly by waiting for God’s call. He spent the better part of 40 years learning the ways of a shepherd and supporting and raising a family. These are not trivial things! While we might long for the “mountain top” experiences with God, 99 percent of our lives is lived in the valley doing the mundane, day-to-day things that make up a life. We need to be living for God “in the valley” before He will enlist us into the battle. It is often in the seemingly trivial things of life that God trains and prepares us for His call in the next season.
ellauri164.html on line 504: The third and final chapter in Moses’ life is the chapter that Scripture spends the most time chronicling, namely, his role in the redemption of Israel. Several lessons can be gleaned from this chapter of Moses’ life as well. First is how to be an effective leader of people. Moses essentially had responsibility over two million Hebrew refugees. When things began to wear on him, his father-in-law, Jethro Tull, suggested that he delegate responsibility to other faithful men, a lesson that many people in authority over others need to learn (Exodus 18). We also see a man who was dependent on the grace of God to help with his task. Moses was continually pleading on behalf of the people before God. If only all people in authority would petition God on behalf of those over whom they are in charge! Moses was keenly aware of the necessity of God’s presence and even requested to see God’s glory (Exodus 33). Moses knew that, apart from God, the exodus would be meaningless. It was God who made the Israelites distinct, and they needed Him most. Moses’ life also teaches us the lesson that there are certain sins that will continue to haunt us throughout our lives. The same hot temper that got Moses into trouble in Egypt also got him into trouble during the wilderness wanderings. In the aforementioned incident at Meribah, Moses struck the rock in anger in order to provide water for the people. However, he didn’t give God the glory, nor did he follow God’s precise commands. Because of this, God forbade him from entering the Promised Land. In a similar manner, we all succumb to certain besetting sins which plague us all our days, sins that require us to be on constant alert.
ellauri164.html on line 506: These are just a handful of practical lessons that we can learn from Moses’ life. However, if we look at Moses’ life in light of the overall panoply of Scripture, we see larger theological truths that fit into the story of redemption. In chapter 11 the author of Hebrews uses Moses as an example of faith. We learn that it was by faith that Moses refused the glories of Pharaoh’s palace to identify with the plight of his people. The writer of Hebrews says, “[Moses] considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt” (Hebrews 11:26). Moses’ life was one of faith, and we know that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Likewise, it is by faith that we, looking forward to heavenly riches, can endure temporal hardships in this lifetime (2 Corinthians 4:17–18).
ellauri164.html on line 508: As mentioned earlier, we also know that Moses’ life was typological of the life of Christ. Like Christ, Moses was the mediator of a covenant. Christ too was a little recalcitrant, so he got crucified. Again, the author of Hebrews goes to great lengths to demonstrate this point (cf. Hebrews 3; 8—10). The Apostle Paul also makes the same points in 2 Corinthians 3. The difference is that the covenant that Moses mediated was temporal and conditional, whereas the covenant that Christ mediates is eternal and unconditional. Like Christ, Moses provided redemption for his people. Moses delivered the people of Israel out of slavery and bondage in Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land of Canaan. Christ delivers His people out of bondage and slavery to sin and condemnation and brings them to the Promised Land of eternal life on a renewed earth, like Azrael in the forthcoming third season of His Dark Materials. Like Christ he returns to consummate the kingdom He inaugurated at His first coming. Like Christ, Moses was a prophet to his people. Moses spoke the very words of God to the Israelites just as Christ did (John 17:8). Moses predicted that the Lord would raise up another prophet like him from among the people (Deuteronomy 18:15). Jesus and the early church taught and believed that Moses was speaking of Jesus when he wrote those words (cf. John 5:46, Acts 3:22, 7:37). In so many ways, Moses’ life is a precursor to the life of Christ. As such, we can catch a glimpse of how God was working His plan of redemption in the lives of faithful people throughout human history. This gives us hope that, just as God saved His people and gave them rest through the actions of Moses, so, too, will God save us and give us an eternal Sabbath rest in Christ, both now and in the life to come. But don't get your hopes too high, you may not be among the chosen after all.
ellauri164.html on line 516: What Was Moses’ Sin?
ellauri164.html on line 518: At Thursday’s daily Mass (Thursday of the 18th week of the year) we Roman catholics read of the sin that excluded Moses from leading the people to the Promised Land. While there are some mysterious elements to it, one thing seems clear: the grumbling of the people got on Moses’ nerves. Indeed, grumbling often affects more than just the one doing the complaining. Through it, infectious negativity can be set loose. Even if only a small number are grousing, it can still incite discontent, anger, and/or fear in others. Yes, the people nearly wore him out. At a particularly low moment, when the people were complaining about the food, Moses lamented to God,
ellauri164.html on line 530: Many have pondered the precise nature of Moses’ sin and why the punishment for it was so severe. (Well, gosh, he was already 120, and what's the diff which side of the Jordan river he conks out. It's the same dry desert on either side.) A few different explanations have been posited:
ellauri164.html on line 533: 2. Moses exhibited sinful pride. Having assembled the people, Moses reviled them, saying, “Hear now, you rebels!” He then continued, perhaps pridefully, “Shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” Neither Moses nor Aaron can bring forth water, however; only God can do that. Some of the Fathers of the Church interpreted this not as pride on Moses’ part but rather as an indication of the wavering of his faith.
ellauri164.html on line 545: Cross-posted at the Catholic Standard: What Was Moses’ Sin?
ellauri164.html on line 588: Moses’ Unfaithfulness at Meribah (Numbers 20:2-13)
ellauri164.html on line 591: Moses’ moment of greatest failure came when the people of Israel resumed complaining, this time about food and water (Num. 20:1-5). Moses and Aaron decided to bring the complaint to the Lord, who commanded them to take their staff, and in the people’s presence command a rock to yield water enough for the people and their livestock (Num. 20:6-8). Moses did as the Lord instructed but added two flourishes of his own. First he rebuked the people, saying, “Listen, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” Then he struck the rock twice with his staff. Water poured out in abundance (Num. 20:9-11), but the Lord was extremely displeased with Moses and Aaron.
ellauri164.html on line 595: Scholarly arguments about the exact action Moses was punished for may be found in any of the general commentaries, but the text of Numbers 20:12 names the underlying offense directly, “You did not trust in me.” Moses’ leadership faltered in the crucial moment when he stopped trusting God and started acting on his own impulses.
ellauri164.html on line 597: Honoring God in leadership—as all Christian leaders in every sphere must attempt to do—is a terrifying responsibility. Whether we lead a business, a classroom, a relief organization, a household, or any other organization, we must be careful not to mistake our authority for God’s. What can we do to keep ourselves in obedience to God? Meeting regularly with an accountability (or “peer”) group, praying daily about the tasks of leadership, keeping a weekly Sabbath to rest in God’s presence, and seeking others’ perspective on God’s guidance are methods some leaders employ. Even so, the task of leading firmly while remaining wholly dependent on God is beyond human capability. If the most humble man on the face of the earth (Num. 12:3) could fail in this way, so can we. By God’s grace, even failures as great as Moses’ at Meribah, with disastrous consequences in this life, do not separate us from the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises. Moses did not enter the Promised Land, yet the New Testament declares him “faithful in all God’s house” and reminds us of the confidence that all in God’s house have in the fulfillment of our redemption in Christ (Heb. 3:2-6).
ellauri164.html on line 641: Numbers 20:12. Despite Moses’ error, water poured from the rock. God still provided abundantly for the children of Israel even though Moses had disobeyed Him. God did not withhold His blessing from His people because of their leader’s sin. God did hold Moses accountable though (Numbers 20:12).
ellauri164.html on line 673: Most of us have been taught that Moses’s sin was hitting a rock to obtain water when God told him just to speak to it. Others say Moses’s sin was that he took credit for obtaining water from the rock when it was really God who performed the miracle.
ellauri164.html on line 675: However, God did not say either of these actions was the problem, nor did Moses believe these were the problem. In fact, nowhere does the text say Moses’s sin was striking the rock instead of speaking to it or taking credit for the miracle.
ellauri164.html on line 676: What did God say Moses’s sin was?
ellauri164.html on line 677: God said Moses’s sin was a failure to trust:
ellauri164.html on line 692: How did Moses’s faith falter and what did the people have to do with it?
ellauri164.html on line 711: So, how does this connect back to Moses being barred from entering the Promised Land? Because the people were unfaithful and so difficult to lead, Moses’s own faith suffered. This caused him to lose confidence that God could develop the Israelites into a faithful covenant people who were meant to be a nation of priests and a means of blessing the nations.
ellauri164.html on line 715: If there is any doubt this was Moses’s problem, this verse removes it: “because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel.” (Deut. 32:51 ESV)
ellauri164.html on line 717: Conclusion: Moses’s sin wasn’t striking the rock as such when he was told to speak to it; his sin was losing faith in God’s ability to use the Israelites for anything positive. This is why God could say that Moses didn’t trust in Him and is also why Moses could say God was angry with him on account of the people.
ellauri164.html on line 719: God expects and requires His people to trust Him. Trust is easy when everything is going well. Our faith matters most when things are going wrong and we don’t understand why. During these bad times will we trust in God or not? Moses’s trust in God temporarily faltered and it cost him the Promised Land.
ellauri164.html on line 800: It is one of the most mysterious stories in the Old Testament: the story of Moses’ great sin. It is mysterious because, as we see it, the sin seems so minor. We shall see if we can decipher it.
ellauri164.html on line 867: There are few characters that play a larger part in the story of the Bible than Moses. He is the human protagonist of four Old Testament books and is consistently held up in both the OT and NT as a shining example of faith in the promises of God. The law that he delivered to the people of Israel serves as the foundation of the nation of Israel, and is lauded by Jesus as a testament that would not pass until “heaven and earth pass away…[and] all is accomplished.” One of the great tragic moments of the Bible is where Moses is denied entrance to the Promised Land for his sin at the Rock of Meribah; after faithfully leading Israel for forty years, Moses strikes a rock instead of speaking to it and is condemned to die before living in the Promised Land. On its surface, this might seem unfair to Moses. One mess-up and God gives him this great punishment? How many times had Israel failed in their journey and at Mt. Sinai, and God had spared their lives and allowed them to keep going? Yet His most faithful servant is barred over this one, seemingly insignificant event? If we take a closer look at the text, however, we see why Moses’ failure was such a stark one. While it doesn’t diminish the tragic nature of the event, it does shed light on why God takes such a drastic step to respond.
ellauri164.html on line 873: We would expect the pattern to repeat here. The people have rebelled, so the next part would be God’s wrath and threats of destruction. Instead, however, God merely grants their request for water. No mention of sin or possible annihilation, just grace in providing for Israel’s needs. The fact that this cycle we’ve come to expect changes is designed to highlight an important event; the oddity of the text “awakens us from our narrative slumber,” as one commentator puts it, and forces us to pay attention closely to what’s occurring. Why would God not threaten destruction? To answer that, we have to remember a key aspect of God’s character: He does not change. Hebrews 13:8 says He is the same yesterday and today and forever, “without variation or shifting shadow,” (James 1:17). The purpose of the threats of destruction, and Moses/Aaron’s intercession, was not to actually change God’s mind. God knew exactly what was going to happen in all these instances. God’s threats on Israel are spoken to Moses so that Moses will intercede. They are tests of Moses’ (and Aaron’s) character, just as God’s conversation with Abraham over the fates of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18) was about testing Abraham’s character rather than the doomed cities. Yet here, in Numbers 20, God does not follow the pattern. Why?
ellauri164.html on line 875: This gets us back to the question of what, exactly, Moses’ sin was. Many commentators focus on the physical actions that Moses took in verses 9-11. Some say Moses sin was striking the rock rather than speaking to it, but Moses was told to take the staff of God. Exodus 17:5-6 had Moses striking the rock to cause water to come out of the rock (in fact, it’s actually the same rock of Meribah!), so it’s possible to read an inference that the staff was to be used to strike the rock. Some commentators see Moses’ harsh words for Israel as the sin, or perhaps that he speaks to the people rather than speaking to the rock. Regardless of which of these views, they don’t account for what the text itself says: Numbers 20:12 makes it clear that the sin of Moses and Aaron was “…you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel.” Indeed, focusing on Moses’ actions of striking the rock or speaking harshly makes it seem doubly unfair to Aaron, who had neither spoken nor struck the rock.
ellauri164.html on line 877: The reading that makes more sense is to focus on the breaking of the pattern established to this point. Moses’ harsh words toward the Israelites reveal his emotions in this moment; he classifies Israel as “rebels” rather than the chosen people, and his rhetorical question seems to imply that he does not view Israel as worthy of God’s grace any longer. This is the real failure of Moses in this moment: he’s lost his faith in God to fulfill His promises to these people. Israel is a nation of rebels outside of grace, outside of God’s ability to make a great nation, outside of the promises that God has given. It seems nearly forty years of dealing with this people has finally broken Moses, and he is so overwhelmed in this moment that he has lost faith. From God’s perspective, Moses has lost faith in the Lord to overcome Israel’s faithlessness. Moses has not believed in God, and has not treated Yahweh as the Holy God who is able to overcome the weakness of His people. Indeed, this is exactly what Numbers 20:12 says was Moses’ sin! He (and Aaron!) did not believe God and did not treat Yahweh as holy in that moment. God did offer Moses the opportunity to intercede for the people (and thus broke the pattern) because He knew that Moses did not have faith in Him.
ellauri164.html on line 879: This interpretation is solidified by Moses’ words about this event in the Book of Deuteronomy. Three times in the first four chapters of Deuteronomy, Moses says that he is not able to enter the Promised Land because of Israel. At first glance, again, this might seem an unfair charge. Moses had caused his own exclusion, hadn’t he? Why is he accusing the generation after the event in Numbers 20 of being the cause of his failure? If we look at these three mentions, we see a few important facts. In the first instance, Deuteronomy 1:37, Moses is recounting the failure of Israel when they listened to the 10 spies’ negative report and how God forbade that generation from entering the Promised Land, and he then says “The Lord was angry with me also on your account, saying, ‘Not even you shall enter there.’” Moses associates his inability to enter the Promised Land with Israel’s rebellion and unfaithfulness, but he also seems to be lumping the people’s refusal to enter the land (Numbers 13-14) with his own sin in Numbers 20. This is not Moses forgetting the chronology of these two events, but rather indicating that they are closely associate with one another.
ellauri164.html on line 883: The third mention is in Deuteronomy 4:21-23, where Moses has moved past the historical recounting and is now warning Israel of the danger of idolatry. He says ““Now the Lord was angry with me on your account, and swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. For I will die in this land, I shall not cross the Jordan, but you shall cross and take possession of this good land. So watch yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you.” Now Moses uses his own tragic story as an illustration on the importance of avoiding idolatry in the Promised Land. So Moses’ failure to enter the Promised Land was related to the continuous rebellion of Israel, and was an illustration of the dangers of violating the covenant promises.
ellauri164.html on line 918: May the Lord help us not only to understand this truth about Moses’ sin alone, but also possess the true facts of the Bible in every aspect, which comes as a result of prayerful study of His Word, remains my wish and prayer. AMEN.
ellauri164.html on line 923: Moses’ sin occurred in the final years of his life. After faithfully leading Israel out of Egypt, and after their rebellion in the matter of the 12 spies, he also faithfully led them during the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Yet near the very end of that wandering, in a moment of anger and a lapse of judgment, Moses sinned, and God recorded that it led Him to refuse to allow Moses to enter the promised land. It is difficult to imagine the anguish and remorse Moses must have felt when God revealed this punishment. His failure to give God the proper respect and reverence, though provoked by the wicked rebellion and faithless murmurings of Israel, was a public sin and God chose to publicly and openly punish him for it.
ellauri164.html on line 933: Did Moses realize immediately what he had done? At some point after this event, “the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.’” Their conduct had publicly displayed a lack faith, reverence and respect. God determined that this needed an equally public punishment. The punishment for this sin was grievous. God gave to them a punishment so similar to the one given to all Israel at Kadesh that it was a heart-breaking moment for Moses. Both he and Aaron would die in the wilderness and not be allowed to enter the promised land. What a bitter pill for Moses to swallow. Like David with Bathsheba, God forgave the sin, but did not remove the consequences. The consequences for Moses’ momentary lapse in reverence and respect under the terrible emotion of anger was to be barred from entrance into the promised land.
ellauri164.html on line 967: Another difference is this: in the earlier story, Moses pleaded for help from God; here, Moses does not say a word. God reacts directly to the people’s complaints. Another bit of evidence that this crisis is unlike other crises is that the word test, which is used in other stories of complaint, does not appear here. These differences signal to us that this story is different from the first one—and therefore Moses’s reaction should be different.
ellauri164.html on line 973: In this very short story we see a second framework: the phrase “before the eyes” emphasizes both the importance of what the Israelites witness, and the logical nature of Moses’s punishment. Why is it so important that Moses speak “before the eyes of the Israelites”? To answer that, we need to recall their past.
ellauri164.html on line 979: What God wants the people to see is that Moses speaks in performing the miracle at the rock. It is a potentially powerful transitional moment in which Moses’s publicly perceived action would be speech. What he would say would become part of the people’s religious consciousness—part of the repeated narrative of the people—a way of adducing to God a caring relationship with God’s people, and conveying that care to the people. We can imagine the speech Moses might give, performing the quintessential task of a prophet, in bringing God and the people closer together. Instead, he calls them “rebels,” distancing the people from himself and, by association, from God; disdaining their legitimate needs; and losing the opportunity to attribute the provision of water to God.
ellauri189.html on line 797: People who kept the religion of Moses and Israel (what is called now Judaism) all along. They are Bene Israel because non-Israelis who married them, accepted the religion too, and Moses taught Bene Israel that if someone accepts that religion and goes through a certain process (called Giyur in Hebrew), he becomes an Israeli himself (Moses’ own wife, Sipora, was actually a convert).
ellauri189.html on line 815: First, being Israelis is a source of pride. It means you are the children of Prophet Yaakov. It means you were the first to believe in the one and only God, more that 1500 years before the Arabs. Your ancestors prayed to the one and only God while the Arabs were complete pagans, bowing to all sorts of idols who don’t have power over anything. It is also very likely that other prophets are your forefathers. For example, it is very likely you are descendants of Prophet Moses himself if you are Lewani. Your great great… great grandfather might have been Moses’ best student – prophet Yehoshua if you are Afridi, etc. Your ancestors saw with their eyes what God did to Egypt – stuff that no other nation but the Egyptians themselves have witnessed. They heard God talking to them on Mount Sinai, etc.
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