The Life of Moses (21)

The spies had brought an evil report upon the land. Only two of them, Caleb and Joshua, felt the need to speak the language of faith. For the Lord, there are no impossibilities. Oh, how sad it is when we bring a message that does not give expectations of what the Lord may do but only brings what man must do. The ten spies had portrayed the service of God as one that would not carry blessings but would ultimately disappoint. The truth is that the service of God is a blessed service, a service of love. As punishment, Israel would have to stay in the wilderness until everyone twenty years and older had passed away. Many who died and were buried there had heard about Canaan, spoken about it, but would never inherit it. Neither would Aaron, Moses’ brother, come into Canaan; he died leaving his high priestly garment to Eleazar, his son. Finally, the forty years had nearly passed and soon the Lord would fulfill His word to an undeserving people. Moses would die on this side of Jordan but Israel would be allowed to cross into the promised land.

Balaam called to prophesy against Israel

First, however, there would be another attack on them. A heathen prophet, Balaam, was supposed to be a part of it. The king of Moab, Balak, sent for Balaam, the soothsayer, to curse the people of Israel. Who was Balaam? Some say he was a prophet of the Lord because he knew Him as the LORD. He said to the messengers of Balak that he must know what the LORD says and also in Numbers 22:18b, “I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.” Yes, Balaam received very special revelations, but he was an enemy of God’s people, a heathen who also looked for money. He was an unregenerated person but highly enlightened; he was no stranger of the people of Israel and knew their history well—their God and His service. God spoke to him. He was as Saul who was among the prophets, had another heart but was not renewed to fear the Lord in truth.

The messengers came to Balaam, but God said, “Thou shalt not go with them.” Balaam said, “The LORD refuseth to give me leave to go with you.” It was as if he said, “I would like to go, but God doesn’t allow me.” After Balak heard the negative answer from Balaam, he sent a second delegation and promised Balaam more money and honor. This request was not in vain. The Lord allowed him to go. He had been warned, but he still wanted to go, and Lord said, “If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do” (Numbers 22:20b).

Although God permitted him, it was not in the Lord’s favor. In Numbers 22:22 we read, “And God’s anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him.” Suddenly, Balaam’s ass refused to continue her way. Balaam in anger smote her with his rod. Finally, the ass asked Balaam why he smote her in such anger. Then the eyes of Balaam were opened by the LORD, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way with his sword drawn in his hand. Balaam bowed down his head and fell flat on his face. The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me.”

Balaam confessed to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again.” Balaam was permitted to continue his journey to Balak but with the admonition, “But only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak.”

A privileged people

The king of Moab was commanded by Balaam to build him seven altars and prepare him seven oxen and seven rams. This number was the token that Balaam would wait for the Lord to show him what he should tell the Moabitish king. The LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said “Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.” Then the heathen prophet issued a beautiful message from God. He said, “How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?” To defy means to show someone your anger instead of love. No, Balaam can do much but he cannot take away the blessing from Israel. Nor can the Prince of Darkness remove the blessing from God’s people. They lie under the blessing hands of the ascended Christ. He has promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against them. No weapon that is formed against them shall prosper.

The enemies cannot change God’s love into a curse. It is a people that shall dwell alone, “and shall not be reckoned among the nations.” They are called, “the dust of Jacob” (Numbers 23:10)—their beginning was small, seventy men, but they had then become a nation of two million people. In spite of all the raging and fiery attacks of the enemy, God’s Church will not be destroyed. It will be a multitude out of all kindred, tongues, and nations, a people bought with precious blood, gathered by His Word and Spirit. They are a people blessed by the great Mediator, preserved by His power, nourished with His precious meat and drink. He says, “I am the Bread of Life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.” Great privileges are given to these people. Balaam had to bless them. He called them “the righteous” that is, the upright ones.

Balaam desired to die with these people

Balaam was jealous of God’s people and desired to die with them; however, then we must also live with those people. Some have known how blessed the death is of those who fear the Lord. Sometimes their deathbed was a pulpit, and they could freely speak of the hope that was in them. Stephen, when he was stoned by the Jews, saw heaven opened and, “Jesus standing on the right hand of God.” By nature, we may desire heaven where the true wilderness pilgrims will surely arrive, but we do not want to live with them in the sincere service of His name, and so it was with Balaam. Ruth had another portion: “Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me” (Ruth 1:17). However, Balaam preferred his money above Israel, his bosom sin above the service of God which is a service of love. He wanted to belong to those people for the last part of his life when he would have to part with all earthly treasures. He did not desire the tender life of obedience unto the Lord’s revealed will. He showed himself as an enemy of God’s people. Rich blessings he had spoken of, even Messianic prophecies.

When all efforts to curse God’s people Israel had failed, he suggested that if the Israelites could be seduced into the idolatry and impurity of the worship practices in Baal-peor, they would come under the Lord’s displeasure. Then, in the war waged by the Israelites to execute vengeance on the enemy, Balaam was slain. This was the end of his life. He died as an enemy of God. He knew much of Israel, of their religion, and of their God, but he died without grace.

God will preserve His own inheritance, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper” (Isaiah 54:17). The righteousness of those people is of Him, the LORD. That is the heritage of the servants of the LORD. Blessed are those who may serve and truly trust in Him.

Moses died the death of the righteous

Soon after, Moses also had to die and depart from his place as a leader of the people of Israel. “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the LORD. And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab” (Deuteronomy 34:5&6a). Moses had an eventful life with many changeable circumstances. We read of his choice wrought by the Spirit of God. Hebrews 11:24-25 tells us, “By faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”

He has come to the end of his life but is not allowed to enter into Canaan. He stands before a closed door. He is excluded because of his smiting of the rock. Although Moses had been disobedient to his Master, he did glorify and praise Him. In chapter 31:20 to chapter 32:43, he sang a song of the Rock which points to the Lord. The Rock is a picture of solidity and stability. After a life of strife, cares, depths, sadness, chastisement, also seeing the shortness of life, he may sing about the unchangeable Refuge and Stronghold of God’s people. We could ask questions, such as, “Why does Moses now have to stand before closed doors? He must depart in view of the inheritance while others, who perhaps rebelled much more than he, may enter.” Yet, he may give a doxology. For Moses’ eyes have seen salvation, which is the glory of God. Lives may be turned upside down, but a rock is unwavering, unshakable in the midst of everything which is perishable, corruptible, temporary, and passes by. This is sung to the glory of God, about whom He is, and what He does, and how He leads.

The blessing of Moses

In chapter 33:27 we read, “The eternal God is thy Refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” At the command of God, Moses went up to Mount Nebo. Before his death, he was granted to see the promised land from a distance. Then he delivered his final blessing to the people. He described God as a Refuge and support for His people. He is the Refuge for those who have no place to hide themselves, for those who may flee to the City of Refuge where manslayers are safe from the avenging justice of the wrath of God, safe from the condemnation of the law, safe from everlasting ruin and destruction. God is a home, and at home you can feel safe. He is a wall of fire to His chosen. He carries them and His abiding faithfulness is experienced. He is unchangeable when the years change, when friends part from you, when your children leave the home, when loved ones die, when everything in the world and in the church changes. God will thrust out the enemies but will give His people the inheritance.

His departure

Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo. The Lord said, this is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob. The time had come that Moses would go to a better and eternal home. He did not become weak; he died as a soldier in the harness. Often death comes unexpectedly. However, that was not so for Moses. He had been prepared. In his last hour he is far from the people but near to his God. He is ready for the last journey.

There was no heavy death struggle, no pain or distress. In his last hour he may still experience that God is faithful. When all voices are silent, the Lord speaks. Moses may listen and may follow the finger of God which shows everything in Canaan, and the Lord satisfies him with that beautiful sight. Then he may fall asleep in his dying place. This is the time that he may enter into his rest. Death is for all God’s people the way to life. Moses died too, but he got the inheritance. What a transition it must have been for him. The wrath of God is turned away, terror has departed. He may give up the spirit in the arms of his Father.

His burial

It is a precious duty to give your loved ones an honorable funeral. However, at Moses’ death, there was no mortal creature present. Would his body then be a prey to the beasts of the field? No man saw the dying of Moses. No man buried him. The Lord took care of that Himself. He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab. He is called “the servant of the LORD.” He was a man of like passions as we. He was a sinner before God, but his life was devoted, by grace, to God’s service.

What will our end be? We are either a servant of God, as Moses, or we are not. We cannot serve two masters. When we are not serving the Lord, we serve the world in a gross or a more subtle way. What will be said of us? Children of God, you are on a journey. The way is often difficult. You may often stumble, but you will come home in the mansions of the Father. Those who are strangers here will come home. The battle is fought, and when we have served according to God’s counsel, the Lord will say that we may enter, the blessed of the Father. What a prospect!

Oh, be not too discouraged, for the blessed hope that the Lord gives in the heart will not be put to shame. They will begin to be merry and have joy unspeakable in the presence of Him who has led them, and kept them, and loved them.

(This installment marks the end of this series.)

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