Before the Promised Land

As a camper during the hot, sticky summers at Bethel Camp, we used to make the chapel resound with the song: Be bold! (echo: Be bold!) Be strong! (echo: Be strong!) For the Lord thy God is with thee...

I think boldness often gets synonymized with courage... but there seems to be a distinction, and I'm going to try (try) to delineate that a bit in this post.

This morning, I got halfway through the first sentence in the book of Joshua when the Lord stopped me there and said, Look.

Joshua 1:1a goes as follows: "After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord..."

And I realized that before I dove into this book that begins with the word "After," I needed to lay out just a bit of what was "Before."

Before I studied the book of James, I went through Exodus, where I read all about Moses' birth, his youth growing up in the palace in Egypt, his flight into the desert, his mission from the Lord given to him at the burning bush, and then... the Exodus of the people of God from Egypt, the land of slavery. You'd think that rather history-making event could be taken care of in a single book, right?

But you'd be wrong, because in Leviticus, the Israelites are still in the desert, and we get much of the Old Covenant laid out with its regulations (a new nation, walking independently of its slave masters, needs articles of governance, right?). Then Numbers spends quite a bit of time, while the Israelites are continuing to tread the desert sands, counting the tribes and putting tribal history onto parchment. Then Deuteronomy records the end of the journey, the taking of the Israelites right up to the border of the Promised Land where they will finally see the fulfillment of God's promise to give them this place flowing with milk and honey. 

Home at last.

But home, it turns out is filled up with hostiles who do not look so kindly at the incoming Israelites. The book of Joshua is about this courageous conquest of the Promised Land.

But why is Joshua leading it when "Moses the servant of the Lord" (Joshua 1:1a) was the nation's leader?

Too old? He was one-hundred and twenty years old, but Deuteronomy 34:7 says: "...yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone." 

So, no, he wasn't too old.

Too afraid? Moses says to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 31:6: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you."

So, no, he wasn't too afraid.

Why -- for a man who spent his life in service to the Lord, who had some crazy amazing stories to tell his grandkids about what God had done for him and through him -- why does Joshua -- and not Moses -- get to lead the Israelites into the land of flowing with milk and honey?

Rewind to Numbers 20, where -- after so many years of wandering aimlessly in the desert -- the Israelites once again grumble against Moses, Aaron, and the Lord and complain about their lack of water. They whine and complain and say things like: "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord. Why did you bring the Lord's community into this desert that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!" (Numbers 20:3-5).

Honestly, I get Moses' response. I really do. How many nights, for years, have I worked hard to make tasty and healthy meals for my picky children? Reworking busy schedules to try to actually cook instead of relying on fast food? Planning ingredients and sorting through grocery lists: No, they won't eat that, but maybe if I try this... I love my children, y'all, but I'm going to be honest -- they're so picky! And they shove their plates back with "Ew, gross. That's disgusting. Why can't we have pasta?" Why can't we go back to Egypt, our land of slavery?

Can you imagine the gall of it all? No wonder Moses snaps.

But not yet. He and Aaron go seek out the Lord's advice. They fall on their faces before the Lord, and God tells them to take the staff of the Lord (the same one, presumably, Moses had used to demonstrate to Pharaoh that the Lord had sent him by turning the staff into a snake), and to speak to a rock in front of all of Israel (if you are ever instructed to speak to a rock in front of a bunch of people, you'd better know it's the Lord telling you. Otherwise... you're just talking to rocks).

When Moses obeys the Lord's instructions, the rock is going to pour out water for the Israelites to drink.

Moses, though -- as I said above -- snaps. He's had it. 

I've snapped before, too. "Why can't you guys just appreciate the food I make for you? Do you have any idea how much time I spent on this meal? Do you have any idea how grateful truly hungry people would be to have this meal?" Inconsiderate, selfish, entitled... I've wanted to list all the names at the table; I generally don't, but I've come close a few times.

Moses picks up the staff and hits the rock. Twice. No talking to rocks for him. He slams his staff against it, and in so doing, breaks something.

He breaks trust -- He doesn't trust that God will fulfill His word if Moses simply says: "Rock, pour out your water." And... he breaks his deference for the Lord's holiness. The God who created the universe asks him to do a simple task: Speak. And Moses takes another route.

In Exodus 3-4, the Lord also asks Moses to speak to Pharaoh, and Moses lists off every excuse in the book until the Lord loses patience and tells him Aaron will speak for him.

Moses... like me... is stubborn. He's a servant of the Lord (Joshua 1:1a), but he's stubborn.

So, unfair as it seems to you and to me, the Lord allows Moses and Aaron to suffer the consequences of their disobedience. As James says in James 3:1 (I just covered this not too long ago): "Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly."

Aaron dies and is buried on Mount Hor long before the Israelites cross the borders into the Promised Land. And Moses, in Deuteronomy 32:48-52 finds out that he will die on Mount Nebo. The Lord will allow him to look across the borders of Canaan, to look into the land that he has spent his lifetime heading toward, but he will only be able to see it with his eyes. "Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel."

It's not fair. The people complained, whined, belittled, turned away... and they get to go into the Promised Land. 

And Moses hits a rock in the presence of all the people... against the instruction of the Lord... and suffers the consequences.

He heads up onto Mount Nebo. "There the Lord showed him the whole land -- from Gilead to Dan, all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar."

And then, Moses dies. The Lord buries him in Moab, in a place no one knows.

So what seems like a life filled with promise, ends in disappointment. Right?
Or does it?

This is what happens when we focus on small pictures, small portions of stories. Yeah, I'm sad, because Moses doesn't get to go into the Promised Land. But think of this: 

The Israelites are where they are -- on the borders of the Promised Land, all because Moses faced down tribulation after tribulation, standing between the people and God as an Old Testament mediator, preparing them... to enter.

Joshua, Moses' aide, lives the theme of "being strong and courageous," because Moses told the Israelites to be "strong and courageous." And I'm sure at least partially because of this example set before him, Joshua gives us a phenomenal book (which I'm about to study) of what happens when one follows the Lord with strength and courage.

I wrote a post several days ago about "faith with feet." 

I think that's where the minor distinction between boldness and courage lives. Boldness is proclamation. Courage is carrying out those words. It's sometimes quiet, but it's obedient.

Moses gives the instruction to be strong and of good courage. Joshua carries it out.

I'm excited to, you know, get past the first half of the first verse of this chapter. :) We'll go there tomorrow.