Moses holding up his arms during the battle, assisted by Aaron and Hur; painting by John Everett Millais. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses
MOSES AND THE PROMISED LAND
WHO WAS MOSES IN THE BIBLE
According to the Bible, Moses was the greatest prophet of all time. Some of the reasons for this claim are:
1) God raised him up to lead Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.
2) Moses talked to God face to face.
3) He performed great miracles at God's command.
4) God gave Moses the Ten Commandments.
However, something happened that kept him from leading Israel into the Promised Land. Let's find out why the Lord did not allow Moses to lead Israel into the Promised Land.
This Bible study consists of two parts. The first part is a study of why Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. We will learn what happened that kept him from leading Israel into the Promised Land.
The second part is about the events concerning the death of Moses. The events surrounding his death were certainly unique and interesting.
FOUNDATIONAL VERSES:
1) 2 Timothy 3:16--All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right.
EXPLANATION -- Understand that men did not write the Bible. God used men to write what he (God) wanted them to write. The Bible is the Word of God, not the word of any man. If you contradict the Bible, you are contradicting God.
2) 2 PETER 1:20-21
20--Above all, you must understand that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophets themselves.
21--or because they wanted to prophesy. It was the Holy Spirit who moved the prophets to speak from God.
EXPLANATION
a) The Bible was written by men who were inspired or influenced by God to write what he wanted them to write, not what they wanted to write. You must understand this. Men wrote what God wanted them to write, not what they wanted to write.
b) The Bible is the Word of God, not the word of men.
3) GALATIANS 1:8-9
8--Let God's curse fall on anyone, including myself, who preaches any other message than the one we told you about. Even if an angel comes from heaven and preaches any other message, let him be forever cursed.
9--I will say it again -- if anyone preaches any other gospel than the one you welcomed, let God's curse fall upon that person.
EXPLANATION -- the gospel Paul is referring to is the gospel of Jesus Christ. You cannot not add or take anything away, from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus alone can save us, not anything or anyone else.
BIBLE VERSES ON SALVATION
4) ROMANS 3:22--We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.
EXPLANATION
a) We must trust Jesus Christ to save us. Every person can be saved when they trust Jesus to save them, no matter what they have done. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
b) Notice that no mention is made about church membership saving anybody. There is nothing in the Bible about ANY church being able to save any person.
5) EPHESIANS 2:8-9
(8) Because of his (God's) kindness, you have been saved through trusting Christ. And even trusting is not of yourselves; it too is a gift from God.
(9) Salvation is not a reward for the good we have done, so none of us can take any credit for it.
EXPLANATION
a) You cannot earn your salvation. You have nothing to offer to God. Most people think that if "the good outweighs the bad" in their lives, they will go to heaven. That is not true.
b) Salvation is a gift that Jesus Christ offers to every human being. Jesus paid the price for our salvation. A price you, me, or any other human being cannot pay. You either accept the free gift of salvation, or you reject it.
6) 1 JOHN 5:13-- I have written this to you who believe in the Son of God so that you may know you have eternal life.
7) JEREMIAH 3:15--And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which will feed you with knowledge and understanding. (King James Version)
EXPLANATION -- Jesus, was a "rabbi". A rabbi was a teacher of the Word of God. Today, most "worship" services are nothing more than "religious entertainment". There is very little teaching of the Word of God in most "churches" today.
8) All scripture is from the Living Bible unless otherwise noted.
These Bible verses are the foundational verses of our ministry. You will find these verses in every study we produce.
BACKGROUND
1) Moses had been leading Israel through the desert wilderness. Understand that walking through this wilderness was no easy task. I have read that during the summer, temperatures can reach a high of 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
2) There wasn't any shade anywhere and, there were no "Rest Stops" in those days. It would be a long time before air conditioning would be invented.
3) There weren't any fast food places where they could grab a hamburger, taco or some pizza (what was the Lord thinking?).
4) Also, there were no places to shower or bathe (good grief).
5) By no means are we judging Israel for what they did or didn't do.
6) It had been forty years since Israel left Egypt and thirty eight years since Israel had returned to Kadesh Barnea in the Wilderness of Zin.
WHY MOSES DID NOT ENTER THE PROMISED LAND
NUMBERS 20:1-13
VERSE 1 -- The people of Israel arrived in the wilderness of Zin in April and camped at Kadesh, where Miriam died and was buried.
EXPLANATION -- Israel had returned to Kadesh Barnea in the Wilderness of Zin, the same place from which they had sent the spies into the Promised Land. God had allowed an entire generation to pass away. Israel paid the price for not believing God.
VERSE 2 -- There was not enough water to drink at that place, so the people again rebelled against Moses and Aaron. A great mob formed,
VERSE 3 -- and they held a protest meeting. “Would that we too had died with our dear brothers the Lord killed!” they shouted at Moses.
EXPLANATION -- Moses and Aaron were leading a new generation but this generation acted like their fathers. This generation had not learned anything from the mistakes of their fathers. This generation of Israel also lacked faith in the Lord. When they did not have enough water, they became angry with Moses and confronted him and Aaron.
VERSE 4 -- “You have deliberately brought us into this wilderness to get rid of us, along with our flocks and herds.
EXPLANATION -- The people accused Moses and Aaron of bringing them into the desert wilderness on purpose so that they would die.
VERSE 5 -- Why did you ever make us leave Egypt and bring us here to this evil place? Where is the fertile land of wonderful crops—the figs, vines, and pomegranates you told us about? Why, there isn’t even water enough to drink!”
EXPLANATION -- Israel had been told the Promised Land was a land of milk and honey with lots of figs, pomegranites and grapevines. They didn't see anything like this in the desert wilderness. Even though they weren't in the Promised Land, they had expected things to be better on the journey to the Promised Land.
MOSES AND AARON
VERSE 6 -- Moses and Aaron turned away and went to the entrance of the Tabernacle, where they fell face downward before the Lord; and the glory of Jehovah appeared to them.
EXPLANATION -- Moses and Aaron decide to ask the Lord for advice on what to do (always a good thing to do.)
Moses strikes water from the stone, by Francesco Bacchiacca. IMAGE FROM; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses
MOSES SPEAK TO THE ROCK
VERSE 7 -- And he ( the Lord) said to Moses,
VERSE 8 -- “Get Aaron’s rod; then you and Aaron must summon the people. As they watch, SPEAK TO THAT ROCK over there and tell it to pour out its water! You will give them water from a rock, enough for all the people and all their cattle!”
EXPLANATION
a) The Lord tells Moses to gather the people in one place. Then, as the people are watching him, Moses was to "SPEAK TO THAT ROCK OVER THERE" , telling the rock to pour out its water.
b) The Lord gave Mose exact and specific instructions on what to do.
VERSE 9 -- So Moses did as instructed. He took the rod from the place where it was kept before the Lord.
EXPLANATION = So far, so good.
VERSE 10 -- then Moses and Aaron summoned the people to come and gather at the rock; and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels! Must we bring you water from this rock?”
EXPLANATION
a) Moses, probably out of anger and frustration, asks the people if "we" must bring you water from this rock?
b) Whom did the "we" Moses spoke about refer to? Was it Moses and Aaron, or Moses, Aaron and the Lord?
c) It was the Lord who would provide water for Israel, not Moses and Aaron.
MOSES STRUCK THE ROCK
VERSE 11 -- Then Moses lifted the rod and struck the rock twice, and water gushed out; and the people and their cattle drank.
EXPLANATION
a) Moses took Aaron's rod and "struck" the rock instead of speaking to it like the Lord had instructed him. This was a direct contradiction to what the Lord had told Moses.
b) The Lord still honored Moses by making water flow from the rock when Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it. Very interesting. Seems like the Lord wouldn't have caused water to flow from the rock when Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to the rock.
c) Moses understood what the Lord wanted him to do but he, Moses, did what he wanted to do.
WHY DID MOSES STRIKE THE ROCK
c) EXODUS 17: 1-7 -- Previously, at a place called "Massah" or "Rephidim", Israel had confronted Moses for lack of water. God had instructed Moses and Israel to meet him at Mount Horeb. God told Moses to "strike" a rock which would produce water for Israel.
d) Maybe this is why Moses struck the rock here, instead of speaking to it.
e) At Rephidim Moses was told to "strike" a rock. At Kadesh Barnea, God told Moses to "speak" to the rock.
f) Was the Lord testing Moses to see if he would follow the Lord's instructions?
g) Does the Lord test us to see if we will follow his instructions?
VERSE 12 -- But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe me and did not sanctify me in the eyes of the people of Israel, you shall not bring them into the land I have promised them!”
DEFINITION of the word SANCTIFY -- it means to honor, exalt, respect or to make holy.
EXPLANATION
a) The Lord tells Moses that because he did not believe that the Lord would bring water out of a rock when Moses spoke to it, Moses would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land.
VERSE 13 -- This place was named Meribah (meaning “Rebel Waters”), because it was where the people of Israel fought against Jehovah, and where he showed himself to be holy before them.
THERE WERE FOUR REASONS THE LORD DID NOT ALLOW MOSES TO LEAD ISRAEL INTO THE PROMISED LAND
1) Moses did not obey the Lord. He hit "the rock" instead of speaking to the rock like the Lord had instructed him
a) Moses may have become angry with Israel and hit the rock out of frustration, but, hitting the rock is NOT what the Lord told Moses to do.
b) Moses and Aaron were given specific instructions on EXACTLY what the Lord wanted them to do. They failed to carry out the Lord's instructions.
2) Moses called the people rebels and said, “shall we” bring forth the water"?
a) Israel might have thought that Moses and Aaron would provide water for the people. It was the Lord who would provide water for Israel, not Moses and Aaron.
3) Speaking to the rock represented the word of God (the words or instructions God gave to Moses) while striking the rock involved Moses’ human effort. Israel was saved by God, not by Moses and Aaron.
4) Moses and Aaron did not believe and sanctify the Lord. For some reason, Moses and Aaron did not believe the Lord could, or would, bring forth water out of a rock when they spoke to the rock.
POINTS TO CONSIDER
1) Are we following the Lord's instructions in the Bible or, are we doing what we want to do?
2) Do we change the meaning of the Word of God to make it say what we want it to say?
3) Do we listen to people who change and corrupt the meaning of the Word of God?
THE DEATH OF MOSES
Moses is considered the author of the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) also known as the Pentateuch.
It is doubtful that Moses recorded his final day of life and no one was present to witness what happened. The Holy Spirit of God must have given the account of Moses' death to someone who remains unknown.
NUMBERS 27:12--18:
12 One day the Lord said to Moses, “Go up into Mount Abarim and look across the river to the land I have given to the people of Israel.
13 After you have seen it, you shall die as Aaron your brother did,
14 for you REBELLED against my instructions in the wilderness of Zin. When the people of Israel rebelled, you did not glorify me before them by following my instructions to order water to come out of the rock.” He was referring to the incident at the waters of Meribah (Place of Strife) in Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin.
15 Then Moses said to the Lord,
16 “O Jehovah, the God of the spirits of all mankind, before I am taken away, please appoint a new leader for the people,
17 a man who will lead them into battle and care for them, so that the people of the Lord will not be as sheep without a shepherd.”
18 The Lord replied, “Go and get Joshua (son of Nun), who has the Spirit in him,
WHERE DID MOSES DIE
MOUNT NEBO TODAY
DEUTERONOMY 34:1-12
VERSE 1 -- Then Moses climbed from the plains of Moab to Pisgah Peak in Mount Nebo, across from Jericho. And the Lord pointed out to him the Promised Land, as they gazed out across Gilead as far as Dan:
EXPLANATION
a) Moses was 120 years old. He hiked up Pisgah Peak in Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab. Mount Nebo is 2,680 feet above sea level. It isn't much of a mountain.
Mount Nebo seen from the east. Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Nebo
b) Even though Mount Nebo isn't very high, walking up the mountain would be an impressive feat for anybody 120 years old and even for people much younger.
c) The Lord (Jesus) probably appeared to Moses in human form (my opinion).
VERSE 2 -- “There is Naphtali; and there is Ephraim and Manasseh; and across there, Judah, extending to the Mediterranean Sea;
VERSE 3 -- there is the Negeb; the Jordan Valley; Jericho, the city of palm trees; and Zoar,” the Lord told him.
EXPLANATION
a) Can you imagine what Moses must have been thinking as he stood beside the Lord as the Lord showed him the Promised Land?
b) It doesn't take much faith to believe the Lord when he appears to you in human form and tells you how things are going to happen.
c) Naphtali, Ephraim and Manasseh, Judah = the Lord was pointing out to Moses the locations where those tribes would reside in the Promised Land.
THE PROMISED LAND
Map showing the borders of the Promised Land, based on Bible = Genesis 15 = IMAGE FROM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promised_Land
VERSE 4 -- “It is the Promised Land,” the Lord told Moses. “I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that I would give it to their descendants. Now you have seen it, but you will not enter it.”
EXPLANATION
a) The Promised Land is called the Promised Land because the Lord promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that he would give this land to their descendants. The Lord allowed Moses to see the land but not to enter it.
b) What is interesting to me is that Moses did not protest or ask the Lord for another chance to lead Israel. Maybe he was tired of leading Israel.
DEATH OF MOSES
VERSE 5 -- So Moses, the disciple of the Lord, died in the land of Moab as the Lord had said.
EXPLANATION
a) Moses walked up a desert mountain, talked with the Lord for awhile, then laid down and died at 120 years of age. In other words, he walked up a mountain to his funeral.
b) Moses lived under the Old Covenant. We live under the New Covenant which is a MUCH BETTER covenant.
c) QUESTION -- Since we live under the New Covenant, should we be as healthy as Moses? Or, was Moses given excellent health by the Lord in order to accomplish his assigned task of leading Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land?
d) JUDE 1:9 -- Yet Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, when he was arguing with Satan about Moses’ body, did not dare to accuse Satan, or even jeer at him, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
EXPLANATION -- This verse sheds light upon the events on Mount Nebo. The devil wanted Moses' body but Michael would not let him have Moses' body. The Lord must have told Michael to bury Moses' body (my opinion).
WHERE WAS MOSES BURIED
VERSE 6 -- The Lord buried him in a valley near Beth-peor in Moab, but no one knows the exact place.
EXPLANATION -- The Lord buried Moses in a secret place. I believe that there were two reasons for this (my opinion):
a) To prevent Israel from establishing a shrine at Moses' grave. And you know Israel would have established a shrine at Moses' grave and made that shrine a holy place for all of Israel. Moses' grave would be a holy place to Israel even today.
b) Israel would probably not have left the area of Moses' grave if they knew the location. They would have stayed near the grave instead of entering the Promised Land (my opinion).
WHEN DID MOSES DIE
VERSE 7 -- Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was perfect and he was as strong as a young man.
EXPLANATION
a) Moses was 120 years old when he walked up a mountain to his funeral. He had 20/20 eye sight (or better) and was as strong as a young man. Read this verse several times so the information will sink in.
VERSE 8 -- Israel mourned for him for thirty days on the plains of Moab.
VERSE 9 -- Joshua (son of Nun) was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him; so the people of Israel obeyed him and followed the commandments the Lord had given to Moses.
EXPLANATION
a) NUMBERS 27:15--21 -- God directs Moses to anoint Joshua as the new leader of Israel, in the presence of Israel.
b) Since Moses anointed Joshua as the new leader of Israel while the people witnessed the anointing ceremony, there could never be any questions or doubt as to the authenticity of Joshua's leadership.
MOSES WAS THE GREATEST PROPHET OF ALL TIME
VERSE 10 -- There has never been another prophet like Moses, for the Lord talked to him face to face.
VERSES 11-12 -- And at God’s command he performed amazing miracles that have never been equaled.
EXPLANATION
a) According to the Bible, Moses was the greatest prophet of all time for the Lord allowed Moses to speak with Him face to face and to perform great miracles.
b) Can you imagine what speaking with the Lord face to face would be like?
c) Even though the Lord allowed Moses to speak with Him face to face, Moses contradicted the Lord's instructions and did what he wanted to do.
d) Understand that we are not judging Moses nor are we passing judgement on Israel. We are merely studying the life of Moses and the events that proved to be so important to his life and ministry.
e) QUESTION: are we doing what God wants us to do, or, are we doing what we want to do and pretending we are doing God's will?
CONCLUSION
a) If you have found this Bible study on Moses and the Promised Land in our Online Bible Commentary interesting and/or informative, please share it with other people.
b) BIBLES used to write this book of Jude Bible study were:
1) King James Version
2) The Living Bible
c) This is a non-denominational Bible study. We do not represent nor are we affiliated with any religious group, church, ministry, or denomination.
d) We hope that you have enjoyed our study on the life of Moses from our online Bible commentary. If you have found this study interesting, please share it with other people.
e) If you would like to read a Bible study on the book of Jude, click on this link:
http://judeinthebible.blogspot.com
f) If you would like to read a Bible study on the meaning of numbers in the Bible, click on this link:
http://whatdonumbersmeaninthebible.blogspot.com/
g) This Bible study was produced by Ron Kincaid Ministries.
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JESUS IS LORD
