Questions from the Scripture text: What did Moses do, when (v23)? What did he say the Lord YHWH had begun to show him (v24)? How had the Lord shown this to him? By what rhetorical question does he communicate this? What does he ask in v25? But how did YHWH receive this request (v26)? And with what command did He answer it? Yet, what command does He give in v27? What is Moses to do there instead of seeing the land in person? And what is Moses to do instead of leading the people in person (v28)? Whom is he to command? What else is he to do to him? What will Joshua do? With what result? And what did Israel do at this time (v29)?For what do the godly plead? Deuteronomy 3:23–29 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the godly plead to know the glory and the goodness of the Lord.
This passage gives us an important insight into Num 20:12. YHWH was already angry with Moses on Israel’s account before the incident in Num 20. Deut 1:37 traces this back not to the incident with the rock but the incident at Kadesh Barnea. The Lord had been angry with Moses on their account back then, and still, when Moses makes this final plea in prayer, the Lord is angry with him on their account. Moses was covenant mediator, and the Lord was angry with him on account of Israel’s sin. It was this judgment that left Moses to himself, being permitted to stumble in that way.
Here is something for those who are in positions of federal responsibility: they should labor and pray for those in their care as those with whom the Lord will deal covenantally according to those whom they are over. As with Moses, this doesn’t refer to the eternal reward to their soul, but in God’s dealing with them in this world. Fathers, elders, and civil magistrates should be earnestly pleading with God for godliness among their families, churches, or communities—and laboring in their office to see the Lord give that godliness and reward that godliness.
There is One, however, Who is covenant Mediator for us in the spiritual and eternal sin, and indeed, the Lord was angry with Him for our sakes (cf. Is 53; 2Co 5:21). He had no sin of His own, and the worthiness and greatness of His Person was such that the infinite wrath of God against our sin was exhausted upon Him for all for whom He died.
Another takeaway, here, is something for us all to ask of the Lord: that He would not leave us to ourselves. That He would forgive our past sin and not give us over to our remaining sinfulness in the future. We follow “forgive us our debts” with “and lead us not into temptation.”
Still, Moses knows the Lord to be compassionate and forgiving, as He Himself declared to Moses in Ex 34:6. And so Moses pleads with the Lord (v23). He appeals to God’s glory (v24), just as he had done in behalf of the people in Ex 32:11–14. Moses prays in humility, calling himself the Lord’s servant (v24), and he prays from the desire to see the good that the Lord has provided (v25). This is exactly opposite how Israel had responded to the report from the spies. Moses’s great desire is to display and enjoy the glory of God. May the Lord give us such motives of heart, that would overflow from our hearts in prayer, dear reader.
Though the Lord has fixedly determined that Joshua would lead the people and cause them to inherit the land (v28b), He does give Moses the heart of what he asked: to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. “Speak to Me no more” in v26 is not so much a “no” as it is a “not in the way that you have asked.” God has decided to grant Moses’s request to view the good land from the top of Pisgah (v27). Because Moses is the servant (v24), and God is the Master, Moses is to embrace the part that God has given him. In this case, it is not for Moses to lead the people but to strengthen and encourage Joshua.
Dear reader, truly, God is good, and He only does you good. He constantly gives us to see His goodness in Scripture and in life. In Scripture, He gives us to see His goodness especially in giving Christ (cf. Rom 5:8). And in our lives, He gives us to see His goodness especially in proclaiming Christ to us, and giving us light and life to believe into Him, and uniting us to Him, and giving us to know Him, increasingly, forever. And to this, He adds all other things (cf. Rom 8:32). Rather than fret over what we may not be given, shouldn’t we rejoice to see His good gifts from whatever vantage point He brings us to?
What place does being upheld against your sinfulness have in your desires and prayers? What place does seeing the goodness and glory of the Lord have in your desires and prayers? What is the greatest good that He has given you? What are some other good that He has given you?
Sample prayer: Lord, You have begun to show Your servants Your greatness and Your might hand, for what godis there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your might deeds? Grant that we would see Your good gifts in fulfilment of Your good promises, we ask through Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP78B “O Come, My People” or TPH153 “O Day of Rest and Gladness”