Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Numbers 27:12-14
Moses Is Told To Prepare Himself For Death After First Seeing The Land. He Pleads For A New Shepherd For The People (Numbers 27:12).
Having established that all of the new generation who had died (in contrast with the old. The old died as a punishment. The new did not) would have their names remembered in receiving a portion of land in the future from the conquered lands, the time came for the grand old man of both generations to die. But his death was not like that of the old, it was like that of the new. Even though he too ‘died for his sin' with which he had sinned at Kadesh, it was not a punishment for the sin at Kadesh thirty eight years previously. It was not his destiny to die under that sentence. And before he died he would gaze with wonder on the land which Yahweh had brought them to, and had promised them.
Analysis.
a Moses to ascend a mountain to see the land after which he will be gathered to his people (Numbers 27:12).
b It was because he rebelled against Yahweh's command in the strife of the people (meribah) to sanctify Him (qdsh) in the eyes of the people at the waters (Numbers 27:13 a).
b These waters were the waters of Meribah (strife) of Kadesh (qdsh) in the wilderness (Numbers 27:13 b).
a Moses pleads for a man to replace him lest they be as sheep without a shepherd on his departure (Numbers 27:14).
Moses To Ascend A Mountain To See The Land After Which He Will Be Gathered To His People (Numbers 27:12).
‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “Get yourself up into this mountain of Abarim, and behold the land which I have given to the children of Israel.” '
Yahweh was merciful to His old servant. While he had forfeited his right to enter the land because of his sin, he was to be allowed to possess it with his eyes. We can compare here Genesis 13:14. Abraham too possessed with his eyes what would one day belong to his descendants. And now Moses was having the promises confirmed. He was not as one who was excluded from the land to die in the wilderness because of the rebellion of unbelief. He would die in a place prepared by God, having seen the land with his own eyes, knowing that it would soon belong to his people, for that was why Yahweh had caused him to bring them there.
Zelophehad's daughters were to possess the land by being allocated his portion. But Moses was to possess for a brief span the whole land. He would feast his eyes on it and see it as the land given to them by God. And Joshua would do even more. He would possess the whole land in reality. So does this chapter move on in progression.
Both this and the last passage therefore emphasise the difference between the deaths of the old generation who died in the wilderness because of their unbelief, and the deaths of those who had not been involved in that extreme unbelief, and who therefore in one way or another would possess the land.
So even Moses failed at the last. He was faithful in all his house, but he was a sinner. But when the greater Moses came, our Lord Jesus Christ, He would not fail or be discouraged (Isaiah 42:4). It would seem so at first when they hung Him, obedience intact, on a cross, but from that ‘failure' would come forth the salvation of the world. He would say, ‘Lo, I come to do your will, O my God' (Hebrews 10:7; Hebrews 10:9), and die for us all and rise again, a resurrection which would bring new significance to the death of Moses.
“ And when you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered,”
Once Moses had seen the land with his own eyes he would then be ‘gathered to his people' as Aaron had been. He would join them in the grave world. His death, while occurring earlier than it should have because of his sin, was not to be seen as punishment on the level of that meted out in the wilderness. It was a graded punishment (a reminder to us that God does grade punishment).
This Being Gathered To His People Was Because He Had Rebelled Against Yahweh's Command Due To The Strife of the People (meribah) And Had Thus Failed To Sanctify Him (qdsh) In The Eyes of the People at The Waters (Numbers 27:13 a).
“ Because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the waters before their eyes.”
His punishment, though milder, was due to the fact that he too had been guilty of a form of rebellion. He had not ‘believed' fully and had rebelled against Yahweh's word, and had thus failed to ‘reveal Him as holy' (qdsh) at the waters in the eyes of the people, because of the people's strife (meribah). He had allowed his view of the people to cause him to disobey Yahweh.
‘(These are the waters of Meribah (strife) of Kadesh (sanctified place) in the wilderness of Zin.)'
For that was what the waters of ‘Meribah', of strife, in ‘Kadesh', in the place of sanctification, were all about. Note the play on words with the previous sentence. It should have been a place of sanctification, but it became a place of strife both for the people and for Moses and Aaron. What God had intended to be for everyone's good had brought misery to everyone because of how they took it. If only all had looked only to Yahweh, how blessed they would have been!