When the Lord was Angry with Moses

There is an interesting passage in Scripture, in which Moses recounts to the Israelites their wanderings in the wilderness and reminds them three times that the Lord was angry with him because of them. Let's take a look at that and see what the Holy Spirit might want to teach us through it.

Moses said, "Because of you the Lord became angry with me also and said, 'You shall not enter it, either.'" (Deu 1:37). In this first instance, Moses told them that it was on account of them that the Lord was angry with him and refused to allow him to enter the promised land.

The second time Moses mentioned this to them, he told how he had pleaded with the Lord to change His mind and permit him to enter the promised land to see it first hand.

He said, "I also pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying, 'O Lord GOD, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours? 'Let me, I pray, cross over and see the fair land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.'" (Deu 3:23-25). On so many other occasions, Moses had fasted and prayed for the rebellious Israelites, interceding for them before the Lord, and the Lord had answered his prayers on their behalf. However, that was not to be the case on this occasion when Moses prayed to God for himself.

Moses said, "But because of you the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me. 'That is enough,' the Lord said. 'Do not speak to me anymore about this matter.'" (Deu 3:26). In this second instance, in which Moses mentioned that God was angry with him, he again placed the blame on them and told how the Lord would not listen to his prayer. It's interesting to note how even for such a great man of God as Moses, there was a time when He wouldn't listen to him or answer his prayer. In fact, the Lord told him that He had enough of that, and He didn't want Moses to ever mention it to Him again. Knowing how much God loved Moses, this response from God shows that it was not God's will for Him that Moses should enter the promised land, and He wasn't going to change His mind about it. There was a reason for that, which we will see later.

In the third instance in which Moses reminded the Israelites about how the Lord was angry with him, he said, "The Lord was angry with me because of you, and he solemnly swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance." (Deu 4:21). So now he discloses yet more details, saying that the Lord at that time actually swore to him solemnly that he would not cross the Jordan and enter the land. God was firmly decided on the matter and would not be persuaded to reverse His decision.

The incident which Moses spoke of when the Lord was angry with him was the time when he struck the rock in the wilderness at Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin. It was not the only time the Lord had ever been angry with him. Actually there was another time at the beginning of his ministry when he experienced God's anger toward him. Here is what happened when he was around forty years old and the Lord called him into ministry to deliver the people of Israel from Egypt. Moses argued with God that he was not a good speaker. He reminded the Lord how he had never been eloquent and how he was slow of speech and slow of tongue. Nevertheless he prayed that the Lord would send whomever it was His will to send. "Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, 'What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you.'" (Ex 4:14). So we see that the Lord had been angry with him once before, but that incident was not enough for the Lord to permanently bar Moses from the promised land. So what was the difference between that and the other incident at the waters of Meribah?

In the desert at Meribah, the Israelites grumbled because they were thirsty, so God told Moses to speak to the rock and it would bring forth water for the people to drink. However, Moses was angry with the people for their constant grumbling, So instead of speaking to the rock, he disobeyed God and struck the rock in his anger with his staff.

The Lord said to 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.”

"So 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." (Num 20:9-11)

In a separate account of a similar incident in Exodus, it states that God told Moses to strike the rock with his staff and water would come out, but in the account of Numbers, it says God told him to speak to the rock. The Numbers account occurred first during the first month when they were in the Desert of Zin (Num 20:1). The second account in Exodus is not the same incident, but rather it is one that occurred later. In that second incident, God did tell Moses to strike the rock, but the first time God told him to speak to it. The sin that Moses committed in the first incident at Meribah was that he struck the rock twice in his anger, rather than speak to it. In doing so, he did not uphold God as holy in their sight.

"But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, '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.” (Num 20:12). God repeated this once again at the end of Moses' life in both Numbers and Deuteronomy:

In Deuteronomy we read the account of the Lord telling Moses to go up on Mount Nebo and view Canaan, where He tells Moses that he will die there and be gathered to his people just as Aaron was on Mount Hor. He said, "This is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold My holiness among the Israelites." (Deut 32:51, NIV).

Likewise Scripture it is recorded thus in Numbers, "Then the Lord said to Moses, '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, for 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.' (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.)." (Numbers 27:12-14).

Therefore, the sin of Moses was that he disobeyed God and broke faith with Him, because he did not trust Him enough to honor Him as holy before the people.

Some Closing Thoughts
Of course, some people will say that this whole matter of God getting angry was just something that used to happen under the Old Covenant, and that it is relegated to the Scriptures that come before the book of Malachi. However, that is simply not true. This was not just something that happened in the Old Testament, and it is not limited to any particular covenant. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

There are some things that still make God angry. For example, there was the time when Jesus got angry and drove out the money changers from the temple, because His Father's house is called a house of prayer, and they had made it a den of robbers (for more on this, see my thought-provoking article called The Sale of Christian Music and Art -- A Robbers' Den?). In it I cite the modern examples of people merchandising in the house of God, buying and selling things of God that were never meant to be bought or sold, but were freely received and were meant to be freely given. Other current examples include His people dressing immodestly or not keeping Sundays holy

Even in all of these, though God may be angry, He loves the sinner and longs for the backslider to repent and come home. He gets excited when we return to Him.

As a side note, I just want to say that one of the enemy's most common tactics against true believers is to deceive them into believing that God is angry with them. While it is true that God is angry with some people, the fact remains that according to God's Word, if we have repented and asked forgiveness from God for a particular sin, then the Lord has washed and cleansed us from that sin (1 Joh 1:9). So if you feel like God is angry with you and are feeling guilty, first check to see if you have any sin in your life that you have not repented for, and if you do, then repent, ask forgiveness, and amend your ways. But if you know you have confessed your sin to God and repented, then resist the enemy's temptation to put false guilt on you. Walk in the mercy and grace of God and receive His forgiveness.

He is gracious and compassionate, full of mercy, slow to anger and abounding with love (Ps 103:8; 145:8; Jam 5:11). In fact, this is what Moses heard when the Lord passed in front of him the time that Moses asked to see His glory. "And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, 'The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.'” (Ex 34:6-7).

Indeed there is a price to pay for disobedience. Yet even though he punishes His children and disciplines those He loves (Pro 3:12; Heb 12:6), the fact is that He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities (Ps 103:10). In fact, that was the case with Moses, too. While He did not allow Moses to enter the promised land, Moses still entered the promised land up in glory. We know this because the disciples saw him appear in glory on the Mount of Transfiguration with Elijah, talking with Jesus (Mt 17:3; Lk 9:30-31). So he is alive and well. He may not have entered the promised land of Canaan here on earth, but he entered the beautiful, Holy Land in heaven. This shows us that even in judgment, God showed mercy to Moses.

Hopefully this has helped us all to fear God, appreciate His holiness and the need for us to uphold it before others, but hopefully it has also helped us to see God's compassion, grace, and mercy, and His great love for sinners.

Attribution notice: Most Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission. Moses Striking Water from the Rock, oil on canvas 1649 by Nicolas Poussin, public domain.

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Sin and Consequence, The Dangers of Disobedience, Sins That Will Keep You From Heaven, The Straight and Narrow Path, and Holy Living in a Perverted World. I also recommend Ask for the Ancient Paths, Restored Truth, God Forgives and Forgets, and God's Amazing Plan for Your Life. Some other related articles available on the Home page include:

Law of Love in the New Testament	The Law Established Through Faith	Costly Grace
Is Obedience Optional?	The Cost of Discipleship	Obedience by the Spirit
The Law Fulfilled in Us	The New Covenant	Deleted Scriptures in the Bible?

You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Him.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Running from God

There are some wonderful lessons of mercy, grace, and compassion to learn from Jonah and his experience when God sent Him to proclaim His message to the lost. Let's take a look and observe how God responded in each situation, and His sovereign control over everything as He sends and appoints whomever and whatever He pleases.

The Lord Sent Jonah
The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me." (Jon 1:1-2)

Here God appointed or ordained Jonah to go forth when He sent him to Nineveh. However, Jonah ran away from the Lord and fled from His presence. Just as He appointed Jonah, He also appointed some other things. Let’s take a look at what those were.

The Lord Sent a Great Wind
The first thing the Lord did in response to Jonah running from Him was to send a great wind. “Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.” (Jon 1:4, NIV). In fact the word for “sent” in this verse may also be translated “hurled” to indicate the mighty force with which the Lord sent it.

God opposes the proud, and He was opposing Jonah, who was acting in a selfish, strong-willed, rebellious manner.

Because of the storm, the sailors called on their gods and the captain ordered Jonah to get up from his sleep in the hold of the ship and call on his God. The sailors also cast lots to determine who was the cause of this storm and the lot fell to Jonah. When they asked him about it, he admitted he was to blame and once again said that he was running from the Lord, just as he had already told them. When they asked what they should do to calm the storm, he advised them to throw him into the sea, which they did. As soon as they threw him overboard, the sea grew calm.

The Lord Appointed a Fish
The next thing the Lord did was to appoint a fish to swallow Jonah. “And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.” (Jon 1:17, NASB)

The word “appointed” comes from the Hebrew word “manah,” which is used four times in the book of Jonah, meaning “sent” or “appointed.” The NET Bible translates the word as “sent”. “The Lord sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.” (Jon 1:17, NET).

While Jonah did not obey God when he was sent, the fish obeyed God when it was sent. It swallowed Jonah.

The Lord Commanded the Fish
The next thing that happened was that Jonah prayed from inside the belly of the great fish. He cried out to God and the Lord heard him. The Lord’s response to Jonah’s prayer was to give him a second chance, so He commanded the fish to disgorge him. “Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.” (Jon 2:10)
Once the fish had vomited Jonah onto dry land, God sent him a second time to Nineveh.

Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you."
(Jon 3:1-2)

In obedience to God, Jonah arose and began his first of three days walk through the city with the message, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown." (3:4). The people responded well to the message and repented sincerely. “Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.” (Jon 3:5). In fact, when the king heard the message, he ordered all of his citizens to repent.

“When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. He issued a proclamation and it said, ‘In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish." (Jon 3:6-9)

That moved the heart of God, who saw their repentance and relented from sending the calamity He had intended to send upon the people of Nineveh.

The Lord’s decision not to send destruction on Nineveh really displeased Jonah. In fact, it made him angry (4:1).

He prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. (Jon 4:2)

The Lord Appointed a Plant
He decided to go east of the city, set up a shelter, and watch to see what God would do. Perhaps he hoped that God would still destroy them, since Jonah complained to Him about it. “So the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.” (Jon 4:6)

The next thing God did was He appointed that plant to grow up to rescue Jonah from his misery. He did it because He knew Jonah was very hot and this would make him extremely happy. But He didn’t do it just for the sake of making Jonah happy. He did it to teach him a lesson.

God was concerned about all the people in Nineveh, because if they did not repent He would have to destroy them. However, Jonah was concerned about himself and his own comfort level.

The Lord Appointed a Worm
Afterward God sent a worm. “But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered.” (Jon 4:7)

The worm obeyed God and attacked the plant that God had appointed. Just because God has appointed something doesn’t mean it will last forever, because He can appoint it to be destroyed. By appointing the worm to attack and destroy the plant, God was removing the shade that the plant provided, which brought relief to Jonah’s discomfort. He wanted Jonah to see that just as the plant had been important to Jonah, the people were even more important to God. He wanted Jonah to feel the concern that He had for the people of Nineveh.

The Lord Appointed a Scorching East Wind
Finally, after God destroyed the plant he had appointed, He appointed a scorching wind. “When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, ‘Death is better to me than life.’" (Jon 4:8)

Through this object lesson, God taught Jonah about His love and compassion for people. “Then God said to Jonah, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?’ And he said, ‘I have good reason to be angry, even to death.’ Then the LORD said, ‘You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?’” (Jon 4:9-11)

God loved and cared for those people of Nineveh, whom He created, far more than Jonah cared for the plant for which he did not work and which he did not cause to grow. God even loved the animals and did not take pleasure in having to destroy them either. He showed Jonah that it is right for Him to have compassion like that, which is why Jonah should have obeyed the first time, when God initially sent him.

Putting it All Together
It doesn’t pay to run from what God has told you to do. The same way He sends His people and appoints them to do a work for Him, He also sends and appoints everything else as He sees fit. He does whatever He pleases. He is sovereign and is ultimately in control of everything. He's a big God. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things (Rom 11:36). No wisdom, no insight, no plan can succeed against the Lord (Pr 21:30). When He appoints someone or something, nothing can stop Him.

The Lord sent Jonah to preach to the people of Nineveh and warn them of the coming destruction that He was going to send upon their city. When the prophet disobeyed and ran from the presence of the Lord, God sent a wind, then a fish, then a plant, then a worm, and finally He sent a scorching wind. See how the elements all do His bidding! The wind obeyed God, the fish obeyed Him, the plant obeyed Him, the worm obeyed Him, but Jonah didn’t – at least not initially. But God gave him a second chance and then he finally did obey when he was sent. When he finally did, many people were saved from destruction as a result. The one thing God changed His mind about, and did not send  as He initially planned to do, was the destruction upon Nineveh.

Jonah taught us that God is a God of mercy and compassion. He is the God of second chances. Just as He gave Jonah a second chance, He also gave the people of Nineveh a second chance, too. He opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. He loves people and is more concerned about the salvation of many than He is about our own personal comfort.

If you have been running from what God told you to do, now is the time to repent, turn back to Him, ask for His forgiveness, and obey Him. If you sincerely humble yourself before Him, He may give you a second chance. Likewise, if you have been living in sin, away from God, living for your own self, repent and turn to God through Jesus Christ, who died for you on the cross. He loves you and wants to save you. In fact, He has already gone to great lengths to save you, but you must repent and turn to Him to be saved, or else you, too, will perish.

Attribution notice: Scripture quotations taken from the NASB, unless otherwise noted. Other Scriptures taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, as well as the NET Bible, where noted. 

Author's note: If you enjoyed this article, I also recommend Striving to Enter the Kingdom of God, Sins That Will Keep You From Heaven, Pleasing the Lord, Living a Life Worthy of the Lord, Drifting Away, The Straight and Narrow Path, Ask for the Ancient Paths, Righteous Deeds and White Robes, Practicing Your Righteousness, Holy Living in a Perverted World, Doing What is Right, Your Rewards Are Based on Your Practice, Is Practical Righteousness a Lost Truth?, Faith Works!, The Judgment Seat of Christ, The Obedience of Faith, The Difference Between a Disciple and a Believer, Remember the Eternal Law of God, Purge the Evil from Among You, James Agboola Revelation of Heaven and Hell, The Role of the Trinity in Drawing People to God, Election and Predestination, Keeping Power of God, and The Righteous Will Shine Forth as the Sun. Other related articles are available on the Home page. You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.