Moses has been talking about Israel's previous sojourn at Kadesh when the Lord told them it was time to go in and begin taking hold of the promised land. But the people wanted spies sent in first and ten of the spies came back with a very negative report, influencing the majority of the congregation to want to turn back to Egypt.
The Lord was so angry with the faithlessness of the congregation in Numbers 14 that He declared no one who was over the age of twenty who had witnessed His signs and wonders in Egypt and in the wilderness would enter the promised land except the two spies who brought back a positive report: Joshua and Caleb. At that time the Lord did not specifically say that Moses and his siblings Aaron and Miriam would not enter the land, but it was implied by His statement. Now, as we study the book of Deuteronomy, Miriam and Aaron have already passed on and the Lord has already told Moses plainly that he will not be the person who leads Israel into the promised land. Moses begins our passage today by remarking upon how the Lord became angry with him because of how he reacted to the way the people accused him and quarreled with him when they ran out of water. "Because of you the Lord became angry with me also and said, 'You shall not enter it, either.'" (Deuteronomy 1:37)
Can Moses rightly blame the people for his own actions? Well, I think we always have a choice as to how we react to someone else's behavior but I also think Moses was driven to the breaking point a number of times. The job of leading over 2,000,000 people in the wilderness would have been hard even without any grumbling or complaining, but Moses' authority was challenged many times (once by his own brother and sister). His life was overtly threatened once and several other times he had reason to believe his life was in danger. He had a lot to deal with and in his place I'd have lost my cool a lot sooner and a lot more often than he did. I also believe that that, as faithful a man as Moses was, the Lord needed a different type of leader to take the people on into the promised land.
My pastor preached a sermon last week about the differences in Moses' and Joshua's leadership styles and it demonstrated how Moses was the right leader for the wilderness years (he was the mediator of the first covenant between God and man and he helped the people work on their spiritual relationship with God) and how Joshua was the right leader for the years of combat (he taught personal responsibility and helped the people to toughen up physically and emotionally). As my pastor said, when the people under Moses' leadership were thirsty, Moses brought water out of a rock for them. But when they became thirsty under Joshua's leadership, Joshua told them to dig wells.
King Solomon famously said that there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens. (Ecclesiastes 3:1) There was a time for Israel to heal from several centuries of slavery in a pagan land. There was a time to learn the commandments and laws. There was a time to build the tabernacle and to make all its furnishings. There was a time to learn about the sacrificial system and to begin using it. But there is also going to be a time for war, and Moses is not the man to lead Israel's army in battle. Joshua is the man with the skills to do that job. As Solomon said, "There is a time for war and a time for peace." (Ecclesiastes 3:8b) In the wilderness years the Lord laid out the terms for being at peace with Him and now it's time for war with the pagan tribes of Canaan. The Israelites are not to make peace with or blend in with the heathens of Canaan. They must drive those tribes, and their sins of idolatry, from the land.
The Lord told Moses some time back that Joshua would be his successor, saying, "But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it." (Deuteronomy 1:38) Moses is talking to the entire congregation here in Deuteronomy 1 and this may be the first time he's formally announced to them that Joshua has been chosen by the Lord to succeed him. I believe Joshua is the man Moses would have chosen himself but it's important for the people to know that Joshua is not being appointed solely by Moses. As God's chosen man to lead Israel's army into the promised land, the army is to follow Joshua's orders unquestioningly because Joshua will be receiving the battle plans from the Lord. Just as Moses received the commandments and the law from the Lord and passed them on to the people, Joshua will be receiving marching orders from the Lord and will pass them on to the people.
I love the way the Lord instructs Moses to encourage Joshua. It would be understandable, to the human mind, if Moses felt bitter about being denied entry to the promised land. It would be human nature for Moses to feel resentful or envious toward the man who will take his place. But the Lord tells Moses to help Joshua in any way he can and I believe Moses did so to the best of his ability. Moses wants Israel to be successful and that means Israel's leader must be strong and courageous. It means Israel's leader must be a man of faith who trusts and obeys the Lord. I think Moses did everything he could to set Joshua up for success. Joshua's success is Israel's success and Moses only wants the best for Israel.
Moses wasn't a perfect man but we can learn a lot from the examples he sets for us on the pages of the Bible. He never lost faith. He never lost heart. He never considered quitting. He never stopped caring about the people under his leadership even when they wanted him dead. He never stopped interceding for them with the Lord. He never stopped loving them. Whose attitude does Moses' attitude remind us of? The Lord's! Moses was a human being who sometimes made mistakes but he loved the Lord so much that he couldn't help behaving like Him. He couldn't help having a heart like the Lord's for the people. No wonder Jesus said that the two greatest commandments were to love the Lord and to love our fellow man. If we truly love the Lord, we can't help loving the people He created. The closer we draw to the Lord, the more we'll care about those around us. Moses beautifully demonstrated this principle for us by the way he led and loved Israel in the wilderness.
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