A New Leader Was Needed

Sermon on Numbers 27:15-23

Text: Moses said to the LORD, 16 “May the LORD, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community 17 to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”
18 So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership, and lay your hand on him. 19 Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. 20 Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him. 21 He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the LORD. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in.”
22 Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. 23 Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the LORD instructed through Moses.

On April 4th, 1865, Abraham Lincoln visited the city of Richmond, Virginia. The Union forces had captured the capital of the Confederacy. Five days later, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his forces to General Ulysses Grant. For all intents and purposes, the Civil War had come to an end. During this time, President Lincoln had made many statements about how he would heal this divided nation. All of that was completely changed on April 14, when President Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s theater in Washington. The task of uniting the country fell to President Johnson. A new leader was chosen, and the course of history was changed, as well. This morning, we have the changing of leadership for the nation of Israel, from Moses to Joshua. As we study this narrative, we see that A NEW LEADER WAS NEEDED. 1. The Old Leader Could Not Accomplish The Task, so 2. A New Leader Was Needed To Do So.

Moses had led the people for the last forty years, since their miraculous exodus from Egypt. They were now on the doorstep of the Promised Land. Their longings for this Promised Land were about to be fulfilled. Then, we hear the words of the Lord, just before our text: “Go up this mountain in the Abarim Range and see the land I have given the Israelites. After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was.” (Numbers 27:12-13) Moses was told that he would go to the top of a mountain, where the Lord would show him the Promised Land. However, he would not lead the people into the land. Rather, he would die on top of the mountain.

That, surely, doesn’t sound fair to us. He had done the hard work of leading the people. He led the people in the wilderness for forty years. He had interceded for the people after the many times that the people had sinned against God. They had worshiped a golden calf. They had grumbled and complained against Moses and God. Moses had been the one that had received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. Humanly speaking, you would have to say that, if anyone deserved to enter the Promised Land, it was Moses. Look at all he had done.

However, this would not be the case. The Lord gives the reason, “When the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes.” (Numbers 27:14) The Lord is referring to an incident reported in Numbers 20. The nation of Israel had come to Meribah Kadesh. We read in Numbers 20:2-5, “Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, ‘If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, 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!’” In response, the Lord told Moses, ““Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.” (Numbers 20:8) Moses was to speak to a particular rock and the Lord would provide more than enough water for the people and their livestock. However, we read, “Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, ‘Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?’ Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.” (Numbers 20:9-11) Rather, than speaking to the rock, as the Lord commanded Moses, he struck the rock with the staff in his hand. As a result, the Lord told Moses, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” (Numbers 20:12) It was, on account of this incident, that the Lord would not allow Moses to enter into the Promised Land. He would die on that mountain.

When you hear this, you might catch yourself thinking that that wasn’t fair. Why couldn’t Moses lead the people into the Promised Land? Why couldn’t he experience it for himself. After all, it was only one incident that the Lord calls to his attention. It wasn’t that big of a deal. So, Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it. The result was the same. The people still got water to drink. Why would God be so unfair and not allow Moses to lead the people into the Promised Land?

However, we see that Moses deliberately disobeyed God. He thought he knew better. He thought this would be more effective, that it would make a better impression on the people. So, instead of obeying God, he did what he wanted to do. That is why he was excluded from leading the people into the Promised land and why he would not enter it, himself.

As we think about what Moses had done, it’s not a far stretch to see ourselves. When we think of Moses, we think of the fact that he is often connected to the Law. Moses was the one who received the Law of God on Mt. Sinai. He proclaimed it to the people. When we hear that law, we can think of the many times that we have gone against what God has proclaimed there. We think that we know better or that we can improve on what God says there. For example, God tells us that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. We change it to, ‘I will love my neighbor, when they prove that they are worthy of my love. When they do good for me, or there is something that I can get from them, then, they are worthy of my love. Otherwise, I’m going to look after myself.’ God tells us that we are to speak well of others and defend them. We change it to, ‘I’ll speak well of others, unless there’s a juicy tidbit about them, that I can share. I’ll defend them, unless the rest of the group wouldn’t like it, if I did.’ So many times, every single day, we decide that we know better than God and will do things our own way. Because of these actions, just like Moses, we do not deserve to enter the promised land of heaven. We don’t even deserve to see it from afar. Just like Moses could not lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land, so the Law could never lead us into heaven. Here the fault is not with the leader, the Law, but with us, who cannot follow it perfectly.

Since Moses knew that he would not lead the people into the Promised Lad, he came to God with a request on their behalf: “May the LORD, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” (Verses 16-17) He prays for another leader to be appointed for the people. There were two characteristics that Moses asked for. The first was that he would “go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in.” These are military terms. He would lead the people into battle. He would bring the army back home safe. Moses knew that the possession of this Promised Land would not come without fighting. There were many enemies in the land of Cannan that they would have to conquer, so the people would need someone to lead them in the conquest of the land. The second characteristic was that this leader would show tender care and compassion for the people. Moses didn’t want the people to be “like sheep without a shepherd.” They would need someone to gently lead them. They would need someone to provide for them. They would need someone to care deeply about them. In response, God told Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership, and lay your hand on him. Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence.” (Verses 18-19) Joshua would lead the people into the Promised Land. He would do what Moses was unable to do.

The same holds true for our entrance into the promised lad of heaven. Following the law will never gain entrance into heaven for us, because we have broken it time and again. Because of this, we needed something else, or rather someone else, who could lead us into heaven. The one, who was commissioned before the creation of the world is the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He would do what Joshua was commissioned to do but on a far greater scale. Just as Joshua, Jesus came to defeat our enemies. He defeated the enemy of sin. There were constant battles with sin during Jesus’ entire life. Time and again, Jesus was tempted to sin. It wasn’t just during those forty days in the wilderness. Every single day, Jesus was tempted. Yet, he defeated every temptation. He was perfect. Then, came the battle on the cross. Jesus had the power to come off the cross, but he didn’t. He stayed on that cross, enduring the very wrath of God, to pay the debt that the world, that we owed to God for our sins. We hear his triumphant cry, as he announced to all that it was finished. Sin was defeated, once and for all. Jesus defeated the enemy of death three days later, when he rose from the dead. Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus leads his people, the believers, into the promised land of heaven.

Jesus also has compassion on his people, so that they are not sheep without a shepherd. He gently leads us throughout our lives. He is there to provide everything that we need for our daily lives. He is there to defend us against our spiritual enemies, who would love to separate us from him. He fights for us. Even though there will be dark days, because we still live in a sinful world, we have the assurance that our Good Shepherd will be walking beside us to give us the comfort and the courage that we need to face them. He holds us close to himself and loves us with a love that is beyond our understanding. We want to live our lives in the joyful knowledge that Jesus doesn’t want us to be like sheep without a shepherd, but knowing that he has compassion on us, and gently leads us home.

As we have seen, there was a need for a new leader for the people of Israel. Moses would not be the one to lead the people into the Promised Land. He could not do so. For that reason, Joshua was chosen to be that leader that would bring the people to that land flowing with milk and honey. In the same way, the Law of God could not lead us into the promised land of heaven. The fault did not lie with the law, because it is from God and, therefore, is perfect. The fault lies with us, who cannot perfectly follow it. Since the law could not lead us into heaven, another leader was chosen by God, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Because of his rescue, we know that, at the end of our lives, we will be in the promised land of heaven, we will be with the Lord forever. Amen.