God's Work with Planet Earth

After 40 years of wandering in the desert wilderness, God once again wanted to keep His promise and lead the nation of Israel to the land He had promised to their forefather Abraham. Because this whole series is focused on learning more about God by observing how He deals with people in the Bible, I won’t tell the whole story, but rather single out pieces I think are interesting.

Moses Stumbles

Bear with me, this is a long story but it definitely has something to teach us about God. Moses must have been very patient leading the cranky Israelites around the desert for 40 years! At this point, he’s been an Egyptian prince for 40 years, a nomadic shepherd of sheep for 40 years, and a nomadic shepherd of people for a third period of 40 years. At 120 years old, it seems like he’s old and tired and couldn’t take the whining and griping anymore.

Kadesh-Barnea is east of Egypt, north of the Red Sea, and south of modern Israel. Moses’ older sister Miriam died here, and then the people “gathered against Moses and Aaron” because there was no water. Same old complaint, “why didn’t we die in Egypt? Why do we have to wander around the desert and die here?” I am sympathetic for Moses’ having just lost his sibling, being old and tired, and being criticized once again for leading them out of slavery.

You can read this in Numbers 20. God told Moses to gather the people, speak to a rock, and water would come out of it for the people and their animals. Instead of following God’s instructions exactly…

“…he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.

Then 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.” Numbers 20:10-12

Moses has spent the last 40 years leading the Israelites according to God’s command, and now he can’t enter the promised land he is bringing them to? Why?

• God said speak to the rock, Moses hit the rock twice
• Moses used the word “we”, as if he and God were combining their magic to do this. From the plagues to the Red Sea to water from a rock, it was all God
• Related to this, God said that Moses didn’t “believe” Him, and because of this, did not “hallow” Him in the eyes of the people
  • Hebrew “aman” (believe) is translated in the Bible as believe, trust, have faith, be sure. But this root word literally means to build up or support
  • Hebrew “qadash” (hallow) means to pronounce ceremonially or morally clean/pure, and it’s sometimes translated as “sanctify”

I looked up the Hebrew words because I wanted a better understanding of what’s really going on here. Moses obviously knew God was capable of bringing water from a rock because He did it before (Exodus 17, before Ten Commandments were given). So there’s no lack of belief there. And Moses cannot make God holy, so I must not be understanding this through surface reading alone. What is God telling Moses? And why is this so serious that God’s chosen deliverer cannot be allowed to enter Canaan now?

First of all, we see that when God said Moses did not believe Him, the root Hebrew meaning is to support or build up. In the partnership between God and Moses, Moses let God down and didn’t carry his side of their arrangement. He didn’t do what he should have done as a mouthpiece for God.

Second, instead of Moses not making God holy or sanctified, the real problem was that he was not giving glory or credit to God. By his whacking the rock with a rod and calling the people rebels (name calling), he was misrepresenting God’s character to His people. Which, by the way, was one of the major problems Jesus had with the Pharisees. But that’s in Stage 3 and we’re still in Stage 2 of God’s Work with Planet Earth.

Not long after this, Aaron passed away, leaving Moses to guide the Israelites around the hostile Edomites (which they did not fight since Jacob and Esau were brothers), and in battles against Amorite kings, and into Moab. Moses continued to give the people God’s instructions until they were in Moab, across the Jordan River from Jericho.

Finally, Moses hiked up to the top of Mt. Nebo at 120 years old, and died on the mountain. But before he died, God allowed him to see all the land that the Israelites would settle in.

“So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day.” Deuteronomy 34:5-6

But that wasn’t the end of Moses in the Bible.

“Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Jude 1:9

Jude was talking about the difference in behavior between true Christians and apostate Christians, but as he did this, he referenced that there was a dispute over the body of Moses. He just doesn’t say exactly what that dispute was. We only learn what happened to Moses in this passage:

“…He (Jesus) was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.” Matthew 17:3-4

The timeline is important here. Moses died alone and was buried by God, though the Israelites never found his grave. Then, though we don’t know how long after, there was a dispute between the Devil and Michael the archangel over Moses’ body. Finally, a glorified Moses appears with Jesus on the “Mount of Transfiguration” nearly 1,500 years later.

So for the sake of the perception of the Children of Israel, Moses was not allowed to enter Canaan because of his error in disobeying God and misrepresenting Him to His people. However, God did not forget his many years of faithful and obedient service. Once Moses had died and was buried, God came and resurrected him, and took him to Heaven. This was a far better Promised Land than the one Moses was denied, and it is promised to all believers who have faith in God.

Why Joshua was chosen to succeed Moses

Rewinding to before Moses died, Moses asked God who should take his place.

And the Lord said to Moses: “Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and inaugurate him in their sight.” Numbers 27:18-19

Notice that Joshua was chosen to take Moses’ place because the Holy Spirit was in him. This makes sense because at that time, Israel was a theocracy. God was their leader, and Moses, Aaron (high priest), Joshua were only relaying God’s instructions to the nation. They were not kings or war chiefs, they were prophets and God spoke through them. And what better person for this job than someone the Holy Spirit is already guiding!

We should also remember that 40 years earlier, a much younger Joshua (along with Caleb) had tried to encourage the people that they could conquer Canaan because God said He would go before them. He was definitely a man of faith.

Joshua Meets Christ

After Moses’ death, Joshua led the Israelites through the Jordan River, which God parted (or stopped it’s flow) in the same way He did 40 years earlier with the Red Sea, until all the people and animals had crossed through.

Now they were camped at Gilgal, not far from Jericho, and Joshua encountered a Man with a drawn sword.

“And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”

So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”

Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.” Joshua 5:13-15

So why do I think Joshua met Christ? For one thing, archangel can mean “commander of angels”, rather than a high level angel. Christ is the Commander of all angels.

Notice that when God met Moses in the burning bush, He also told him to take off his shoes.

Also, notice that when Joshua fell down and worshiped, this person did not object or stop him. When the Apostle John fell down in front of angels two times in Revelation, they told him “Don’t do that! Worship God!” Revelation 19:10, 22:8-9

This tells us something about God. The Israelites were about tackle the heavily fortified city of Jericho. God had just miraculously stopped the Jordan River so they could cross, and He could have said, “That ought to be a big enough miracle for their faith.” But He knew Joshua was a new leader, and He showed up just to let him know, “I Myself and the angles of heaven are with you.”

What a comforting thought, when meeting a big, scary, impossible looking obstacle, to be assured that God is with us. God has inspired, preserved, and distributed 66 books in the Bible with many promises from Him, including that He will be with us to the end of this world. Matthew 28:20