So Moses had allowed the people to get on his last black nerve instead of holding onto God’s Word. And for that and maybe something else that we don’t know about, God told Moses he wouldn’t be crossing over into the Promised Land. Moses pleaded but the answer was still no.
Imagine how he felt after forty years. But from the depths of anger, despair and disappointment, Moses showed the true nature of leadership. He prayerfully asked God to appoint a new leader so that the people wouldn’t be left like sheep without a shepherd.
Now we all know there are some leaders who’ll bring down the curtain on the whole movement rather than get off the stage. Or worse, drawing from a deep well of arrogance and insecurity will deliberately put forward a person totally unfit for the position since it fits his agenda of everything falling apart without him.
But Moses didn’t do that. He had already thought of Joshua, his quasi son to lead the people into the Promised Land but of course needed God’s confirmation which he got.
A younger man, a warrior was needed for a new generation showing them they must fight for their freedom to show themselves worthy of God’s Promise.
The services for Moses were private, just him and God. And though Moses died near the border, he eventually crossed not to land but a mountaintop, not seeing the Promised Land but the Promise itself – being face to face with Jesus Christ.
References – Numbers 27:12-23, Deuteronomy 34:4-6, Matthew 17:1-3
