Moses: What do we learn from his death?

Life of Moses

Perhaps you are familiar with Moses. He may be best known for being the one who led the Israelites through the Red Sea. I recently finished a Bible study on the life of Moses and something struck me that I’ve never realized.

Before I get to that, let’s cover a brief recap of his life. You can find these in Exodus

We can divide his life into four seasons: each of 40 years. The first 40 years he was a Prince of Egypt. He lived in Pharoah’s household and was considered an Egyptian.

His second 40 years was spent living in the wilderness, caring for his father-in-law‘s sheep.

His last 40 years was spent leading the Israelites out of slavery and into freedom. He led the Israelites through the Red Sea. He led them in wandering through the desert.

Moses: One Strong Man

While he was an amazingly strong man as he was leading them to where God intended for their future to be, the Israelites complained. They grumbled and complained about everything.

They grumbled that they were hungry and thirsty; they didn’t like the food. God did provide yet they grumbled. They complained that Moses wasn’t fighting hard enough for them. Several times God was ready to throw in the towel and give up on them, but Moses fought for them. He pleaded with God to have mercy on the Israelites and God relented. Moses repeatedly interceded for the people and God listened to him.

Moses: One Mistake Leads to Disaster

That brings us to the topics surrounding my realization toward the end of their wandering. The people were grumbling yet again for fresh water. God told Moses to speak to the rock and water would flow from it.  However, Moses was sick and tired of the Israelites’ complaining and grumbling so he struck the rock. However, this was not what God instructed him to do.

By hitting the rock instead of speaking to it, Moses was not only being disobedient to God, but he was also calling attention to himself. He was being prideful. It wasn’t Moses providing water for the people, it was God. But in lashing out he took the focus away from God and put it on himself.

As a punishment for his disobedience. God said that Moses would never enter the Promised Land. But God was merciful enough to take him to the top of the mountain and let him see the Promised Land with his own eyes before he took Moses to heaven.

Moses died on that mountain. He died all alone.

What I Learned From His Death

That’s the first thing I didn’t know. I didn’t realize that Moses died all alone. Scripture says that God buried Moses’s body, and we have no idea where it is.

That was my second realization. I had no idea that God took care of the body and hid it in a place where no one would know. So many of the other Christian patriarchs have clearly identified places where they are buried, but not Moses.

Moses was punished because he chose to bring attention to himself in his disobedience. He chose to use God‘s authority and we’re not allowed to do that.

My third realization is about God hiding Moses’s burial place. When God hid Moses’s burial place, it was the ultimate sign of saying that Moses really was nothing and it’s all about God and this is true for us too. We should be reflecting God’s love.

When people look at us, they should see Jesus and not us. This means that we need to curb our pride and self-righteousness and focus on humility and God’s righteousness. These aren’t easy things to do and it’s only through reading Scripture and studying that we come to the point where we are able to choose humility and God’s righteousness,

I think if Moses could look back on his life, he would choose the obscurity of having an unknown resting place, knowing that it pointed to God’s Almighty power.

With love,

🌸 Andrea

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