In Change is Coming, one of the most important crossroads in the history of the Israelites happened. They have been wandering in the wilderness of suffering, punishment, and death for 40 years. The left Kadesh-barnea, stayed some more days at the periphery of Mount Seir, then finally God said: “You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north” (Deut 2:3). With much excitement, the Israelites immediately obeyed, and in Deuteronomy chapter 2, we read that their journey to the promise land was quite glorious. They easily defeated Sihon king of Heshbon (2:24-37) and Og king of Bashan (3:1-9).
But
when we come to Deuteronomy 3:21-29, we read a very sad passage. Moses declares
to the assembly that although they were on the way to the promise land, Moses
will actually be unable to enter it. And truly, when we reach the end of the
book, we read Moses’ death at Mount Nebo just before the Israelites are about
to enter the land flowing with milk and honey (34:1-8). Such a tragic story.
Moses’ long career as a leader was brilliant. He is undoubtedly one of the most
important people in the history of the Israelites. The book of Deuteronomy ended
with a high praise for Moses: “No
prophet has
risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 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. 12 For no one has ever shown the mighty power or
performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel” (Deut
34:10-12). And yet this good man was not allowed by God to enter
the promise land.
After
the mention of Moses’ inability to enter the promise land, the book of
Deuteronomy continues to narrate the laws. Basically, Moses enumerates things
that they should do and not do when they are already living in the promise
land. Then near the end of the book, we come to the fulfilment of Moses’ words
that he would not be able to enter the promise land. Deuteronomy 32:49-52 narrates:
“Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount
Nebo in Moab, across from Jericho, and view Canaan, the land I
am giving the Israelites as their own possession. 50 There on the mountain that
you have climbed you will die and be gathered to your people, just as
your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his
people. 51 This is because both of you
broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah
Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold
my holiness among the Israelites. 52 Therefore,
you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the
people of Israel.”
This
is really said, is it not? Deuteronomy 2 was a glorious way to start the book.
The chapter exuded hope and good change in the state of affairs. Everyone,
including Moses, was looking forward to enter the promise land. They were about
to head north. But Moses was denied access.
There
are many things that are important here. I believe that all of us want to head
north. We do not want to live in the wilderness. We do not want to remain in
the place of drought and death. As much as possible, we want to escape from a
life of suffering. This is true both in relation to our physical and spiritual
lives. We all want to head north, to the land of abundance. We are probably on
the way there now. But the question is: Can we get there? Are we among the
Israelites who will enter Canaan, or are we like Moses, who only saw the beauty
of the land, but was never able to enter it? These are extremely disturbing
questions.
Deuteronomy
32:51 says that Moses was not allowed to enter the promise land” because both of you broke faith with
me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold my
holiness among the Israelites.” In order to understand what God meant here, we
need to look at what happened at Meribah Kadesh, recorded in Numbers 20:2-12:
Now there was no water for the community, and the people
gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3 They
quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had
died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! 4 Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, that we and our
livestock should die here? 5 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!”
6 Moses and Aaron went from the assembly
to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them.7 The Lord said to Moses, 8 “Take
the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather
the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour
out its water. You will bring water out of the rock
for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”
9 So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He
and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock
and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of
this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck
the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the
community and their livestock drank.
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you
did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the
Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
In Deuteronomy
32:51, there appears to be two reasons why Moses was unable to enter the
promise land. In reality, however, these two are interrelated, and the first
can be subsumed under the second. Moses’ primary sin is summarized in the
statement: “because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites.”
How
did Moses not uphold God’s holiness among the people? The answer is a bit
tricky. The Hebrew word for holiness in the verse was qiddastem, which comes from the root word qoddesh. Literally, qoddesh means
“to be separate,” and in the Old Testament, it has three layers of meaning: (1)
the separateness of God, referring to His glory as the completely Other, (2)
separation for God, and (3) separation from sin. In Deuteronomy 32:51, qoddesh is obviously more related to the
separateness or otherness of God. Moses’ sin was that He failed to bring honor
to the One God who is exalted among everyone. Moses neglected to bring glory to
God. It is important to note that it was God’s holiness that was not upheld by
Moses. It was not about Moses’ holiness; the offense is about God’s holiness.
The
statement, “you broke faith with me” (32:51) actually explains how Moses did
not uphold God’s holiness among the Israelites. The Hebrew word used in the
verse is maaltem. The root word of maaltem is ma’al, which literally means “breach of trust” or “treachery.” It
is to be entrusted with something but failing to accomplish or do it. In short,
at Meribah Kadesh, Yahweh saw that Moses committed treachery against God.
But
what are the evidence of Moses’ treachery in the story? Quite simply, in the
story, Moses was entrusted a mission, but he used the mission to betray God and
use the mission for his own good. His
mission was to glorify God. It must be remembered that everything God did
for the Israelites was so that God’s greatness will be made known to the world.
We see this throughout the Old Testament:
“But this is why I have let you live: to show
you my power, and to make my name resound through all the earth” (Exo 9:16)
“Yet he saved them for his name’s
sake, so that he might make known his mighty power” (Ps 106:8)
Moses
was given the privilege of being God’s instrument of performing a miracle in
the midst of the Israelites so that His name is glorified. But Moses took the
glory that should belong to God alone. Moses misunderstood when God said, “You will bring water out of the rock”
(Num 20:8). When He faced the Israelites, he forgot God entirely. He asked the
people: “Must we bring you water out
of this rock?” (Num 20:11).
But
how did this happen? What tempted Moses to do this? The answer is also found in
the story. The story begins with the fact that Moses’ leadership was under
attack: “The people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled
with Moses…” (Num 20:2-5). They blamed Moses and Aaron for their miserable life
in the wilderness. They accused Moses and Aaron as incompetent leaders, failing
to provide good food for their subjects. And we read that Moses and Aaron
became so discouraged. They “went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent
of meeting and fell facedown” (Num 20:6). But when God gave the solution, Moses
used God’s intervention to vindicate himself as the worthy leader of Israel.
As
soon as he gathered the people, he rebuked them harshly, as if ridiculing them:
“Must we bring you water out of this
rock?” (Num 20:11). It was basically a sarcastic question meant to humiliate
“rebels” (Num 20:10). He used the miracle to vindicate his own leadership. He
forgot that he was only the instrument, not the doer of the miracle. When
Yahweh said that Moses “did not uphold my holiness among the people” (32:51),
He was saying that he did not give God the glory due His name (see Ps 29:2;
96:7-8; 1 Chron 16:29).
God’s
complaint was “You did not trust in me enough to honor me as
holy in the sight of the
Israelites” (Num 20:12). In
short, Moses was swept away by the momentary need to vindicate his own
leadership so he was tempted to claim the glory that should belong to God. He
did not trust God that God would honor him anyway, if he honored God first.
Moses’ temptation is common to us today. People today are
characterized by very low self-esteem, maybe because we are prone to compare
ourselves with others: with our classmates, friends, neighbors, colleagues,
workmates. Because of this low self-esteem, we are prone to develop ways in
order to gain recognition of others. Henri Nouwen was right: “The more
constricted our self-confidence, the greater our need to be reassured. A low opinion
of ourselves reinforces our desire to receive signs and tokens of love. In a
world in which so many people feel lonely, isolated, and deserted, the longing
for love can often take on “inhuman” proportions. People come to expect more of
each other than it is possible to give. When loneliness and low self-esteem
become the main source of the longing to be loved, that longing can easily lead
to a kind of desperation.”[1]
Humility
as a value has become an impractical ideal. Even the people we often admire are
actually the mightiest attention-seekers. We admire the popular and the
renowned, and we have very little regard and are suspicious about the less
popular. This is why people can only compete in the dangerous game of
self-promotion. We even have a show business saying: “Bad publicity is still
publicity.”
Indeed,
Jesus was right. The kingdom of God does not belong to the haughty and the
proud. The kingdom of God does not belong to those who think of themselves more
highly than they ought to (Rom 12:3). “Jesus called the children to him and
said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the
kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these’” (Matt 19:14; Mark 10:14; Luke
18:16-17).
We may
be tempted to bring glory to ourselves, but we must always say “Not to us, O
Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory” (Ps 115:1). When people start to
give us glory, we should say “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant” (Rev 19:10;
22:9). We must always have the attitude of John the Baptist: “He must become
greater; I must become less” (John 3:30).
Self-worth.
Self-promotion. Self-worship. All of these are idolatry. What’s the danger? The
worst thing is what happened to Moses. God became a tool for his own self-gain.
But also, Moses received his earthly reward, which in turn disqualified him
from the greater reward. In the words of Jesus: “When you give to the needy, do not announce it with
trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be
honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left
hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your
Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matt 6:2-4).
The tragic story of Moses’ disobedience is
actually quite crucial, because it is alluded in the Scriptures several times
(Num 20:1-13; 27:13-14; Deut 1:37; Deut 32:51; Ps106:32-33). It is not true
that lifting up one’s self is the only possible reason why people cannot enter
the promise land. Moses faced the temptation to glorify himself in the presence
of people to the point of blatant disobedience. We all face different
temptations based on our current circumstances. I am sure that there are many
other sins that would hinder our entrance to the kingdom. Paul was clear: “Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the
kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor
idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the
greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom
of God” (1 Cor 6:9-10).
[1]
Nouwen, Letters to Marc About Jesus, 56.
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