I was wondering... why was Moses punished so severely for his sin of unbelief? Moses was so faithful, so powerful, so humble and so...chosen. There was no one on earth who knew God and spoke to God like Moses did. And yet because of the disobedience and sin chronicled in Exodus 20, he loses that blessing of the land overflowing with milk and honey.
I thought less, however, of the Israelite community's punishment. Yeah, that's what you get when you don't have faith in God's spoken Word! Go wander in the desert! Yet... when it came to Moses facing the same consequence, I wondered that God was not more lenient. I thought, Moses has so much favor, he's been so faithful, he's so humble, doesn't he deserve... more clemency? But that's just the point... God has no favorites. He is above all of the ways of man, and acts with justice and love in harmony. Moses did not receive special treatment, so that the Israelites wouldn't stumble (further) in seeing God work that way; and truthfully enough, God doesn't favor one over another because the one worked more faithfully. To express that would be an injustice and misrepresentation of God's character and His unfailing, unconditional love.
A great thing is that Moses did not stumble either. In humility, he knew that he was nothing before God anyway... He must have grieved over his exclusion from that blessing... but the Bible says nothing of bitterness towards God. Incidentally, this man had something that I believe surpassed the material blessings to begin with: his unrivaled, unshakable, intimate relationship with his God.
oh God, to know You and Your ways more!
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