Even with me the Lord was angry on your account and said, "You
also shall not go in there." (Devarim / Deuteronomy 1:37; ESV)
In the first few chapters of this fifth book of the Torah,
Moses recounts aspects of Israel's journey in the wilderness from when they
left Mt. Sinai 38 years earlier. He reminds them how the previous generation,
of which many of them were young people at the time, failed to enter the
Promised Land due to their lack of faith in God. Moses then refers to himself
and how God had also forbid him from entering the Land. But what he says about
that doesn't jive with the original account of the incident. The Torah's
description of what happened makes it clear that it was Moses' own attitudes
and actions that disqualified him from entering the Land (see Bemidbar /
Numbers 20:2-13). But here Moses is blaming the people for what happened,
making it sound as if God's anger toward him was because of them. And this is
only one of three times Moses tells the story this way (see Devarim /
Deuteronomy 3:26; 4:21).
At first I tried to figure out how Moses' version of what
happened could simply be another aspect of the story. I didn't want to consider
that Moses could be blame shifting. That didn't fit with my understanding of
him. But then I came upon another reference to this same incident near the end
of Moses' life when God allowed Moses to see the Promised Land from afar. In
this case, we see God's perspective, which is different from Moses' own. God's
perspective is the same as the original description earlier in the Torah. The
reason God gives for not allowing Moses to enter the Promised Land is
because
you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of
Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as
holy in the midst of the people of Israel. For you shall see the land before
you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people
of Israel. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 32:51, 52; ESV)
While Moses' mishandling of the situation didn't happen in a
vacuum, God clearly states that it was his fault. Who could blame Moses from
expressing himself in anger as he did? He was frustrated due to the ongoing
grumbling and negative attitudes of the people and reacted by failing to honor
God appropriately. But while the people created the situation in which Moses
did wrong, it was Moses and not the people who was responsible for the wrong he
did.
Then why did Moses blame shift? I think we have a case here
of honest reporting on Moses' part. He was struggling with bitterness. He knew
God's take on the situation but continued to blame the people for his
inappropriate behavior anyway.
I don't know about you, but this sure speaks to me. I could
blame and have blamed others for all sorts of issues in my life. It's so easy
to excuse my misgivings based on my difficult circumstances. But the better I
know God and his Word, the more I discover that not only do I have no right to
blame others for my issues, but also God has used my difficulties to work out
his goodness in my life. The very things that I tend to be bitter about are the
tools God has used to build me up as his child. It is only when I stop blame
shifting that I can properly take responsibility for my actions and learn the
lessons God wants me to learn.
As we realize how much like us Moses really was, the better
we will be able to relate to him and be better equipped to know God as he did
as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment