Why moses not enter promised land

God does judge and, when necessary, punish them more strictly than others. What spiritual leaders do affect their followers, both directly, in terms of the consequences of their decisions and choices, and indirectly, through their example.

Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land because when God told him to speak to a rock so that it would send out water for the Israelites to drink in the desert, Moses struck the rock with his staff instead. Certainly the direct consequences of this action were not bad for the Israelites.

They had been in danger of dying of thirst, and this action saved them. But the indirect consequences were very dangerous spiritually. You did not show the Israelites that the power to make the water came from me. So you will not lead the people into the land that I have given them. So more was involved than the seemingly small distinction between speaking to the rock and striking the rock.

If they are not careful, people can be led to glorify other people instead, robbing God of the glory that belongs only to him. So while it might seem to us that God gave Moses a severe punishment for a small infraction, God was aware of the potential wide-ranging and long-lasting effects of his example, and God needed to stop those effects from spreading.

Your question is similar to the one I answer in the post linked below, and so that post may also be of interest to you. Why did God reject Saul as king for making one small mistake? The Rev. No products in the cart. Why did Moses not enter the Promised Land? Jason D'Ambrosio January 24, Share on facebook. Share on twitter.

Share on pinterest. Why did Moses not enter the promised land with his people? Imagine leading a group of people through the wilderness for decades only to not be allowed to reach the intended destination.

This article will explore why he and Aaron everyone forgets Aaron missed the opportunity to continue on to the land of milk and honey. Why did Moses not enter the promised land? At some level, every time we fall as humans it is a faith issue. But, understanding the steps that actually got us into the trouble is helpful.

So why were Moses and Aaron punished? This is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites. Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel. After 40 years of wandering and God providing every step of the way, they faced a situation where water was scarce.

The Israelites became angry and turned on both Moses and Aaron. There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled against Moses and Aaron. Why did you make us come up from Egypt, to bring us into this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink!

Numbers This was a routine that was all too familiar and extremely frustrating for Moses. It may be any of those answers that have been suggested or even a combination of the three. I'm more interested in what God does say about this incident which explains the severity of the punishment for Moses and Aaron : "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.

Do my actions demonstrate true faith in God? Why did you take us up from Egypt to bring us to this vile place, where nothing grows, not corn or figs, not vines or pomegranates? There is not even any water to drink. The Israelites have hardly deviated from it throughout.

Yet suddenly we experience not deja-vu but tragedy:. Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the congregation to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and fell on their faces. The glory of the Lord appeared to them. You shall bring forth for them water from the rock, for them and their livestock to drink. Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he had commanded him. Shall we bring forth water for you from this rock? Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed forth in abundance, and they all drank, men and beasts.

What had Moses done wrongly? What was his sin? What offence could warrant so great a punishment as not to be privileged to see the conclusion of the mission he had been set by God? Few passages have generated so much controversy among the commentators. Each offers his own interpretation and challenges the others. So many were the hypotheses that the nineteenth century Italian exegete R. Aaron Rother, Shaarei Aharon lists no less than twenty-five lines of approach, and there are many more.

The following are the most significant:. However, the greater the person, the more exacting are the standards God sets. Moses was not only a leader but the supreme role-model of the Israelites. Seeing his behaviour, the people may have concluded that anger is permissible — or even that God was angry with them, which He was not.

Joseph Albo and others including Ibn Ezra suggest that the sin lay in the fact that Moses and Aaron fled from the congregation and fell on their faces, rather than standing their ground, confident that God would answer their prayers. Abarbanel makes the ingenious suggestion that Moses and Aaron were not punished for what they did at this point.

Rather, their offences lay in the distant past. Aaron sinned by making the Golden Calf. Moses sinned in sending the spies. Those were the reasons they were not privileged to enter the land. To defend their honour, however, their sins are not made explicit in the biblical text. Their actions at the rock were the proximate rather than underlying cause a hurricane may be the proximate cause of a bridge collapsing; the underlying cause, however, was a structural weakness in the bridge itself.

First he should have given them water, showing both the power and providence of God. Only then, once they had drunk, should he have admonished them. Difficulties, however, remain.