Why didn’t Moses get to enter the Promised Land?

As a child, it was troubling to me that Moses, of all people, didn’t get to enter the Promised Land. After all, he had led Israel out of Egypt, put up with them nearly forty years in the desert,

and even prayed several times that the people would not be destroyed? It didn’t seem fair.

What I didn’t understand at the time was that while Moses had been given the task of Law Giver, and had no doubt “kept the Law” as well as anyone could, ultimately, he could not enter the land of promise because of unbelief.

In a remarkable passage (Numbers 20:1-11), Moses is told to draw water from a rock for the second time. Previously, he was told to strike the rock, but here he is merely to speak to the rock.

Instead, he calls the Israelites “rebels,” which surely they were, and strikes the rock twice. While the rock gushes water for all, the Lord tells Moses and the accompanying Aaron why they can not enter the land: “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them” (verse 12).

There is no end of speculation as to the nature of Moses’ offense. He struck the rock. He struck the rock twice. He took credit for drawing water from the rock. He called Israel “rebels.”

But the text says only that Moses had not believed God. Thus, his disobedience was not primarily in his actions, but his attitude. And in spite of the fact that Moses was Israel’s law giver, he was not permitted to enter the land.

At the very least, we are to see that the Law can not guarantee blessings, since even the best of us are law breakers. And no doubt we are to contrast the unbelief of Moses with the faith of Abraham, who lived hundreds of years before Sinai. To him righteousness was imputed merely because he believed (Genesis 15:6), and he had, in fact, walked the sod of the Promised Land. While Moses’ unbelief did not reveal God’s righteousness and give glory to God, Abraham’s faith did. The “Old Testanent” teaches justification by faith, just as the Apostle Paul taught (Romans 4).

In spite of repeated attempts of Moses to change God’s mind on the matter, he died on the mountain, seeing but never entering Israel’s possession.

Here is another object lesson from the Pentateuch, namely that it is faith, and not law-keeping, that makes us right with God.

The picture should help us abandon any self-righteousness that may remain within us, and cling to God’s promise that those who believe Him will see His Kingdom.

“For we who have believed enter that rest. . .”
Hebrews 4:3


One Response to “Why didn’t Moses get to enter the Promised Land?”

  1. luster jones says:

    I say disobedient to GOD is key we must obey

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