Deuteronomy 3:21 - Meaning and Application

I. The encouragement Moses gave Joshua, who was to take over the leadership, appears in Deuteronomy 3:21-22. Moses told him not to be afraid. Older believers, especially those with experience in God’s service, should do all they can to strengthen younger people as they begin their life of faith. Moses told Joshua to think about two things for courage.

First, Joshua had seen what God had already done. He had watched God give Israel a complete victory over those two kings. From that, he could safely conclude that the Lord would do the same to the rest of the kingdoms they were about to fight. He should not only believe that the Lord could do it, because God’s power is not reduced, but also that the Lord would do it, because God’s purpose does not change. He who has begun the work will finish it. God’s work is perfect. Joshua had seen this with his own eyes. The more we see God’s wisdom, power, and goodness, the less excuse we have for fearing what mere people can do to us.

Second, Joshua had God’s promise: “The Lord your God will fight for you.” A cause cannot fail when the Lord of hosts fights for it. If God is for us, who can stand against us and win? We dishonor our leader if we follow him in fear and trembling.

II. Moses also prayed for himself, and God answered that prayer. His prayer was that, if it was God’s will, he might go over Jordan into Canaan before Israel. At the very time he was encouraging Joshua to lead Israel’s battles, Moses felt a strong desire to cross over himself. He did not complain in anger or talk bitterly about the sentence against him. Instead, he brought his desire to God in humble prayer. “I begged the Lord,” he says.

We should never let desires stay in our hearts if we cannot honestly bring them to God in prayer. And any desire that is right should be laid before him. We do not have because we do not ask.

Moses gives two reasons for his request. First, he points to all the good God had already shown him in Israel’s victories. “You have only begun to show your servant your greatness,” he says. In effect, he is asking, “Lord, complete what you have started. You have let me see your glory in the defeat of these two kings, and it has filled me with wonder and thanks. Let me see more of what my God and King will do.” The more we see God’s glory in his works, the more we want to see. The Lord’s works are great, and people who delight in them keep seeking them out.

Second, Moses points to the deep impression those works had made on him. “What god is there in heaven or on earth who can do what you do?” The more we are moved by what we have seen of God’s wisdom, power, and goodness, the more ready we are for further light. Those who admire God in his works are the ones who will truly see his works. Moses had said the same thing long before, and he still believed that nothing compares with God’s works (Exodus 15:11; Psalm 86:8).

What he asks is simple: “Let me go over.” God had said he would not cross over, yet Moses still asks, because he may have hoped the warning was conditional, since it was not confirmed with an oath, unlike the judgment on the people. In the same way, Hezekiah prayed for his life, and David prayed for his child after both had been threatened. Hezekiah was heard, though David was not. Moses remembered how he had once prayed and God had turned back from the anger he had spoken against Israel (Exodus 32:14). So why should he not hope for the same mercy for himself?

He does not ask to become prince or ruler in the land. He is willing to hand leadership over to Joshua. He only wants to cross over and see God’s kindness to Israel, and to see with his own eyes the goodness of the promised land. He speaks very warmly of Canaan, calling it “that good land” and “that fine mountain.” People who know how to value God’s gifts are the ones who may hope to receive and enjoy them. The “good mountain” likely points to the whole land of Canaan, with special attention to the sanctuary, its greatest glory.

God’s answer to Moses held both mercy and judgment, so that Moses could sing to God about both. There was judgment in the refusal, and even some anger in it: “The Lord was angry with me because of you” (Deuteronomy 3:26). God does see sin in his people, and he is truly displeased by it. Even those saved from future wrath may still feel God’s displeasure in this life, and they may be denied some special blessing they deeply want. God is a kind and loving Father, but he still corrects his children when they go wrong, and he refuses them many things they ask for.

How was God angry with Moses because of Israel? It may mean, first, that Moses was judged for the sin they provoked him to commit (Psalm 106:32-33). Or it may mean that Moses’ removal at that moment, when he was so badly needed, served as a rebuke to all Israel and a punishment for their sin. Or it may have been for their sake as a warning, so they would learn to avoid offending God with angry and unbelieving words, following the pattern of Moses’ own sin. If this was done to such a green tree, what should happen to the dry one?

Moses admits that God would not hear him in this matter. God had often heard him when he prayed for Israel, but he would not grant this request for himself. Christ, the great Intercessor, has the special honor of always being heard. Yet even of him his enemies said, “He saved others, himself he could not save.” They would not have mocked Christ that way if they had remembered that Moses, their great prophet, prevailed in prayer for others, but could not prevail for himself. Moses was one of Jacob’s wrestling descendants, so he did not pray in vain, yet he still did not receive the exact thing he asked for. God may accept our prayers and still not give us the particular thing we seek.

Still, mercy is mixed with this judgment in several ways. First, God calmed Moses’ spirit under the decree with the words, “Let it be enough” (Deuteronomy 3:26). God’s power no doubt went with that word, giving Moses peace and bringing him to accept God’s will. If God does not give us what we want through his providence, yet makes us content without it by his grace, it amounts to much the same thing.

God tells Moses, in effect, “Be satisfied that you have God as your Father and heaven as your share, even if you do not have everything you want in this world. God is enough.”

He also honors Moses’ prayer by telling him not to press this request any further. “Speak no more to me of this matter” shows that when God does not think best to give something, we should not keep insisting on it. Yet it also shows how much God values the prayers of the upright. He does not enjoy refusing them, even when he has wise reasons to do so.

God then promises Moses a view of Canaan from the top of Pisgah (Deuteronomy 3:27). Moses would not enter the land, but he would see it. This was not meant to tease him, but to give him a real and satisfying glimpse of the promised land, one that would let him picture it clearly and with joy. Moses likely had his sight made stronger for this purpose, because otherwise the promise would have been no special kindness to him.

Even the strongest believers in this life only see heaven from far away. That is part of the present condition of faith.

God also gave Moses a successor, Joshua, who would carry on the great work Moses cared about so deeply, bringing Israel into Canaan and settling them there (Deuteronomy 3:28). Moses was told to charge Joshua and encourage him in this task. Those whom God calls to a duty can count on God to give them the help and courage they need.

This is a comfort to the friends of the church when they are dying and leaving their work behind. God does not let his work die with one servant. He keeps it moving through other hands, even after they are laid in the grave.