This blog is based on the section “The LORD Shows Moses the Whole Promised Land” first published in 2004 in my book The Promised Land, at pages 119-120.

It was not the best of endings. It was not the worst of endings.

Moses did not live to enter the Promised Land. But at least Moses did not die in the desert. Moses lived until he saw the whole Promised Land.

Moses lived until he saw the whole hesed of the LORD God. (Exodus 20:6; 34:5-6). The hesed that endures forever! (Psalm 136). The hesed that blesses forever! (Genesis 12:1-3).

At Mount Nebo, the hesed of the LORD God comforted Moses. As Moses faced his imminent death, the hesed of the LORD re-assured him that the LORD would establish the work of Moses’s hand.

The word hesed in Hebrew is translated a number of ways in English:

     —Faithfulness. (Psalm 117:2 NIV).

     —Love. (Psalm 136 NIV).

     —Mercy. (Psalm 136 KJV).

     —Steadfast love. (Psalm 136 ESV; Exodus 34:6-7).

     —Lovingkindness. (Psalm 136 NASB).

     —Kindness. (Micah 6:8).

Since no one English word captures the richness of the Hebrew word hesed, I will use the word hesed in this blog.

We know Moses was disappointed that he did not enter the Promised Land. Indeed, Moses “pleaded with the LORD: ‘. . . . Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon.’” (Deuteronomy 3:23-25).

The LORD refused Moses’s pleas. “‘That is enough,’ the LORD said. ‘Do not speak to me anymore about this matter.’” (Deuteronomy 3:26).

Nevertheless, the LORD was willing to let Moses see the Promised Land. So he told Moses to climb Mount Nebo to the top of a mountain from which he could see the whole Promised Land. (Deuteronomy 3:27; 34:1-4).

When Moses saw how large the Promised Land was, I hope his wisdom overcame his disappointment. The Promised Land was far too large for Moses to conquer before he died.

The LORD was wise to let Joshua be the one who could take credit for entering the Promised Land. Why? Because Joshua would need all the prestige he could muster to encourage the Israelites and to intimidate their foes.

If Moses had ever seen a baseball game, he would have known that it was time for the starting pitcher (Moses) to go to the showers so that the relief pitcher (Joshua) could win the game.

We all need to learn such wisdom. Because the truth is that none of us finishes everything we’d like to finish. There always is a need for a “relief pitcher” to finish what we started—to establish the work of our hands.

That is one reason why we can never establish the work of our hands. Instead, we must rely on the LORD to establish the work of our hands in God’s good time and in God’s good way.

I hope that Moses also had the wisdom to know that it was best that no one knew where his grave was. That way, Moses would be remembered by a monument of living teachings instead of by a monument of dead stone.

And so, the LORD “buried [Moses] in Moab, . . . but to this day no one knows where his grave is”. (Deuteronomy 34:6).

Moses may have found it especially hard to accept this.

The Egyptians believed in establishing the work of their hands by building massive pyramids of stone to preserve their dead bodies.

But Moses had to rely on the LORD to establish the work of his hands by preserving the living words of the LORD in the hearts of people generation after generation.

And so do we.

We can only show hesed to one generation. Why? Because our mortal lives “quickly pass, and we fly away.” (Psalm 90:10).

Fortunately, the LORD is from “everlasting to everlasting”. (Psalm 90:2). “[A] thousand years in [his] sight are like a day that has just gone by.” (Psalm 90:4).

Therefore, the LORD God can establish the work of our hands across the millennia from everlasting to everlasting by “showing hesed to a thousand generations of those who love [him] and keep [his] commandments”. (Exodus 20:6).

The LORD God can establish the work of our hands across the millennia from everlasting to everlasting because his hesed endures forever! His hesed endures longer than the stones of the Great Pyramids! (Psalm 136).

The LORD God can establish the work of our hands because his hesed blesses forever! (Genesis 12:1-3).

The work of our hands—like the work of Moses’s hands—can only be established by these living “pyramids” of thousands of generations who live the way that Moses taught us to live: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5) and “love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18).

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For more of my thoughts about the hesed of the LORD God, please read my blogs “The Hesed of the LORD Endures Forever”, “Hesed Saves and Nurtures Baby Moses”, “Hesed Saves Israel—Passover”, “Hesed Nurtures Israel—From the Red Sea to Mount Sinai”, and “Hesed Nurtures Israel—Mount Sinai”.

For more of my thoughts about Moses, including the Passover, Mount Sinai, and Mount Nebo, please read my blogs “Immanuel: Moses”, “Places of Worship—Burning Bushes”, and “Building the Temple—Moses”; and please read “PART TWO—Establishing the Work of Your Hands: Moses” in my book The Promised Land, at pages 75-121.