Why isn’t Moses the most revered man in Scripture? He should be!
Most preachers love to use Moses in their examples. His stories are good stories. The popularity of the epic “The Ten Commandments” further illustrates this. Many preachers like to think of themselves as a sort of Moses, but sadly, they rarely afford him the reverence due this uniquely humble man.
While men like our righteous father Abraham, and our Messiah’s forerunner King David are universally lauded in spite of their flaws, somehow Moses is not given a similar place of honor. They will quote Paul as authoritative, as Scripture... but Moses is often derided.
It is almost as if to speak positively of Moses is to speak positively of the words that he wrote down... ah, maybe that is the problem with such men - The Torah. That portion of Scripture has become to some a matter of inconvenient mention.
And yet, Moses is the only man that the Almighty King of the Universe speaks of in this way:
Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, HaShem, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of HaShem. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?
Numbers 12:6-8
It seems that we need to be careful how we speak of Moshe Rabbenu. “Wait,” you may say, “Moses is just a man, what makes him so special?” Yes, Moses is only a man, but the reason that some do not given more respect has to do more with what he wrote down than with any flaws that Scripture reveals of him.
The problem some people have with Moses is the Torah. The problem that HaShem has with the way that some people treat Moses has to do with the Torah. So, when you hear someone speak derisively of “the Law of Moses” you are hearing an attack on the One Who spoke through Moses. An attack on Moses is an attack on HaShem. Never forget the oft repeated phrase throughout the Torah:
Vayomer HaShem el-Moshe lemor v’atah daber el-benei Yisrael lemor...
And HaShem spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying... “
“The Law of Moses” is the Torah. The Torah is the self-revelation of the Almighty. It is a tree of life to those who take hold of her. Without the Torah, we would not have assurance of any Scripture. It is the test of all that follows. Without the Torah, we would have no hope of knowing the Messiah. He Himself said:
For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.
John 5:46
How sad that more who claim to follow the Messiah do not give him the same respect Messiah gave him.
Of all the praise we might send Moses way, it is not his intellect, his wisdom, or his righteousness that we remember most. What we remember Moses for is what HaShem calls Him: “My servant” and “faithful.” Knowing what we know about Moses, it seems likely that this is how he would want to be remembered. He simply did his duty. A humble servant, a faithful servant, only wants to know that he has done his duty.
Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.
Numbers 13:3
Well done Moses. You faithfully wrote down what HaShem said. And now, at the end of the Torah reading, we point to the Torah scroll and we say,
V’zot haTorah asher sam Moshe lif’nei b’nei Yisrael al pi HaShem b’yad Moshe
This is the Torah that Moses placed before the Children of Israel, upon the command of HaShem, through Moses’ hand.
