I have heard different people over the years ask a similar question to this: “When you get to heaven, what Biblical hero (man or woman) would you choose to sit down with and have a conversation?”
I had always thought “Well, Jesus, of course!” But this morning as I was having my Bible study time I was reading in Numbers 27 and I believe I have changed my mind. I think I’d like to sit down with Moses and have a very long discussion with him about his life. The passage that changed my mind was contained in verses 12–23 – here is what it says from the CEV:
“The Lord said to Moses, ‘One day you will go up into the Abarim Mountains, and from there you will see the land I am giving the Israelites. After you have seen it, you will die, just like your brother Aaron, because both of you disobeyed me at Meribah near the town of Kadesh in the Zin Desert. When the Israelites insulted me there, you didn’t believe in my holy power.’ Moses replied, ‘You are the Lord God, and you know what is in everyone’s heart. So I ask you to appoint a leader for Israel. Your people need someone to lead them into battle, or else they will be like sheep wandering around without a shepherd.’ The Lord answered, ‘Joshua son of Nun can do the job. Place your hands on him to show that he is the one to take your place. Then go with him and tell him to stand in front of Eleazar the priest and the Israelites. Appoint Joshua as their new leader and tell them they must now obey him, just as they obey you. But Joshua must depend on Eleazar to find out from me what I want him to do as he leads Israel into battle.’ Moses followed the Lord’s instructions and took Joshua to Eleazar and the people, then he placed his hands on Joshua and appointed him Israel’s leader.”
So why did that particular passage have such an impact on me that I decided Moses was my chosen person to meet first in heaven? It dawned on me that Moses may have been the most calm and long suffering person of his generation. When you think about his entire life and all that he experienced and all the hardships he endured, with little recorded frustration and anger, it’s pretty amazing. I probably would’ve been having temper tantrums, yelling and walking out on my responsibilities if I’d been in his place. After all he’d been through, in this passage, God speaks to him and tells him that he will go up on the mountain and look out over the glorious land before him – the land that had been promised to the Israelites throughout this journey – then tells him after that he will die.
If I’d been Moses, I likely would’ve started pushing God to change His mind. I’d remind him of all I’d been through, all the good things I’d done and how faithful I’d been the majority of the time. If that didn’t work, I’d likely resort to begging Him, to at least let me cross over into the land and experience a short time to enjoy it.
But Moses had no concern for himself! He didn’t have a pity party, cry, push and beg – he simply asked God to appoint a new leader for the people, because he knew they needed someone to guide them. God told him that Joshua would be that man and directed him how to accomplish his formal appointment before the leaders and the people. Moses then followed those directions, appointed his successor and just stepped aside.
Consider his life:
* Moses was born in Egypt to Hebrew parents at a time when it had been ordered to kill all Hebrew male babies upon birth. Somehow his mother kept him hidden for a time, then put him in a tar covered basket and placed him in the Nile river. Think of all the hazards with that scenario!
* Pharaoh’s daughter found him, kept him, raising him in the opulent palace, with a high level education and the best of everything. He enjoyed that life for about 40 years.
* I’m not sure if Moses knew he was really a Hebrew, or if he was just a man with a strong sense of right & wrong, but he witnessed the actions of a brutal Egyptian taskmaster toward a Hebrew slave so he murdered him and hid his body. He soon realized he’d been seen committing that murder and out of fear for his life fled Egypt and went to Midian. In Midian for 40 years he worked as a shepherd, married and started a family.
* He then had an encounter with God at the burning bush and God called him to return to Egypt to deliver the Israelites. He resisted that call but God wouldn’t let him go and gave him Aaron to help.
* Now if you’ve ever read the Bible or seen some of the blockbuster Hollywood movies about Moses, you know he had a hard time convincing Pharaoh to let the people go, even causing additional hardships on the Israelites at times. (That didn’t particularly endear him to the Israelites either.)
* When they finally were freed he had to tolerate a HUGE group of stubborn, ungrateful, rebellious Israelites. They repeatedly angered God and Moses had to intercede for them to prevent God from just wiping them off the face of the earth.
* Moses had multiple close encounters with God.
* Moses himself at one point was so very angry with the Israelites he was about ready to throw in the towel too.
* Because of their rebellion and refusal to follow God’s directions, Moses was forced to wander around in the desert with them for 40 years, facing all kinds of hardships, while listening to the whining people.
* Then, as the result of he and Aaron doing something in a manner God had not directed, they were prevented from being able to actually cross over into the promised land with the people they’d led for 40 years. How that must’ve grieved Moses! He had done so much to honor and obey God, yet he still had consequences to pay for his sin of disobedience.
* That brings us to the verses I read and why I marveled at the honorable way Moses handled the situation.
OOPS! Hold on! Today is a new day and I read some verses that change this scenario! Check this out – Deuteronomy 3:23-27 (CEV): “At that time I prayed and begged, ‘Our Lord, it seems that you have just begun to show me your great power. No other god in the sky or on earth is able to do the mighty things that you do. The land west of the Jordan is such good land. Please let me cross the Jordan and see the hills and the Lebanon Mountains.’ But the Lord was angry with me because of you people, and he refused to listen. ‘That’s enough! he said. I don’t want to hear any more. Climb to the top of Mount Pisgah and look north, south, east, and west. Take a good look, but you are not going to cross the Jordan River.’” Then Moses continues in Deuteronomy 4:21 (ESV): “‘Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.’”
Okay, I had to come back to this and do some revising after this morning’s Bible study. Why were these conversations relayed here in Deuteronomy not covered in the story back in Numbers? Moses starts off here saying that he “prayed and begged,” then it appears that he proceeded to try flattery with the Lord, then begged some more. But he’s not finished – after that he places the blame for his circumstances on the Israelites – it’s their fault he’s not going to be able to cross over into the promised land. Wow! Was I ever surprised about how my hero apparently handled this situation after all! So did he really handle it so honorably? Doesn’t seem so to me.
My original article said: Yes! Moses is my hero that I want to meet and have a long discussion with him when I arrive in heaven – after I greet my Savior, of course. How do I feel now that I know “the rest of the story?” You know, I think I still want to consider him my hero and have that discussion. This new revelation just seems to show how human he truly was and shouldn’t overshadow the rest of his life. We all make mistakes!
How about you? Who is your Biblical hero you’d like to sit down with?
Written by Karran Martin – March 8, 2025 / Revised March 13, 2025
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