You see, after leading the Israelites through the desert for forty long years, Moses was denied entry into the land flowing with milk and honey. Harsh. And here’s the really interesting part: Moses, this towering figure, seemingly accepts this decree with remarkable restraint.
Why didn’t he immediately plead with God to change His mind? Well, the text gives us a fascinating reason. The passage references a percept, a guiding principle: "Do not attempt to dissolve thy neighbor's vow in the moment he hath made it." In other words, don’t pressure someone to break a promise they just made. Moses applied this even to God! He waited. He waited forty years, actually.
According to the Legends of the Jews, Moses only began to actively plead with God after he was commanded to appoint Joshua as his successor. Only then did he understand that God was truly resolved in his decision.
Before that, Moses wasn't too worried. Even though God had decreed ten times that Moses would die in the desert, Moses thought, "Hey, Israel sinned countless times, and when I prayed, God changed His mind! Surely He’ll listen to me, especially since I haven’t sinned." This is Moses, the ultimate advocate, believing in the power of his own blamelessness to sway the Divine.
He even had another reason for optimism. Remember the conquest of the lands of Sihon and Og, east of the Jordan? Moses had been permitted to enter that part of Palestine. He reasoned that if he could enter that part, maybe the decree wasn't set in stone. It seemed to him that God had not irrevocably decreed punishment for him, and that it might therefore now be recalled
As if that weren't enough, God then revealed the instructions for dividing the land. To Moses, it seemed like he was being entrusted with carrying out these instructions personally! Talk about a mixed signal! But alas, it wasn’t to be.
Shortly after receiving these laws, God made it unequivocally clear: Moses would only get to look upon the Promised Land from Mount Abarin, but he would never enter it. The door was closed.
So, what do we take away from this? It's a powerful, and perhaps bittersweet, lesson about acceptance, about trusting in a plan bigger than our own desires, and about the limits of even the most righteous individual's influence. Even Moses, the man who spoke to God face to face, had to accept a divine decree he couldn't change. It makes you wonder, doesn't it, about the dreams we chase and the paths we're ultimately meant to follow.