After studying (Numbers 20:1-13) , I have seen the light! it seems to me that Moses' sin was "Shepherd's Sin".
That is, he began taking the sins of the people (his sheep) personal. In Nu 20:10, Moses said, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock". The sheep were asking Moses for water in the middle of the desert, an impossibility for Moses and Moses showed his frustration, by calling the sheep a name and hitting that rock! He was "good and mad" at God's people. (I think he wasn't too happy with God either) and he had all he could take!
........Sometimes this describes a Sunday at the Corps! :( Lord, help us!!
...But God had something to say to Moses, and Moses had to stay behind on the mountain, to hear it. Moses was going to be left behind to deal with God, not for the sins of the people but for his own sin. (Ps. 99:6-9)
Like us, he was assigned to be a shepherd, not the Saviour. Really, he was a sheep just like them, their sins were not against him, they sinned against God. Moses could not forgive sin, only God! Moses' blood would not justify mankind, Moses couldn't fix their "desert situation", Moses wasn't going to live a blameless life (he had killed someone); he wouldn't die for the sheep's sins, he wouldn't die on a cross, he won't go get the sheep out of the grave, and he won't promise to take them to a home where he lives when he gets them out! This is a job for JESUS!
I believe that many of us, Shepherds, "suffer our people" asking them to please shepherds instead of the Saviour.
The sooner we realize Moses' sin the sooner we recognize our own. The people are not sinning against us, they are not accountable to us, we will not be able to fix their sinning. God won't ask any shepherd to die for the sins of the sheep (thank God). Shepherds cannot put sheep into a right relationship with God- that is an issue where it is "every sheep for himself"!
We may offer to lay down our lives for the sheep, with love for the sheep, but our blood is not required or asked for as an atonement.
A shepherd's calling and efforts are to bring sheep to the One who has the plan and the power. Another legitimate job of the shepherd is to be an Intercessor Like a mother "interceeds", for her children, with their father. Jesus interceeded (def: to stand between someone and God) on behalf of those who put Him on the cross. "Father, forgive them..."
Think about what God told Jonah to do... "preach to the Ninevites". He was told to INTERCEED. Jonah finally and relunctantly interceeded and those sheep repented and were spared judgement! Abraham interceeded on behalf of Lot. King Zedekiah, last of the Kings, could have interceeded on behalf of the Israelites but instead he chose to run for his own life. King Nebuchadnezzar caught him, put out his eyes, and than the Israelites were killed and taken in captivity. Ahead of time, Jeremiah (Jer 38:14-19) had told Zedekiah to surrender to the Babylonians but Zedekiah didn't have enough faith to to that, instead he asked the Egyptians for help, but they weren't strong enough to fight Nebuchadnezzar. If he had listened to the voice of his own Intercessor, Jeremiah, than he could have interceeded on behalf of the people of his city, Israel. The people, the city and the temple of Israel could have been spared when Nebby showed up (2 Kings 25:1-7) on Jan. 15, 588 BC. (Ez. 24:1). And "Israel" was no more for 2,536 years, -until May 15,1948.
I liked the cover of every issue of the War Cry, when they used to print,
(I Sa 17:47) "The Battle is the Lord's". It reminded me! I understand where Moses failed, since I failed in the exact same way. Finally, I started using Moses' story to help me understand that it is not for me to "battle God's sheep or their sins".
We need to consider ourselves and how we feel toward the sheep...we don't want to be left behind on the mountain (Mt. Nebo; Deut. 34)! sincerely, LeeAnn
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