Deuteronomy 1:3 On the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year, Moshe spoke to the people of Isra’el, reviewing everything Adonai had ordered him to tell them. 4 This was after he had defeated Sichon, king of the Emori, who lived in Heshbon, and ‘Og, king of Bashan, who lived in ‘Ashtarot, at Edre‘i. 5 There, beyond the Yarden, in the land of Mo’av,
This is a long way from where Moses began this journey.
Exodus 4:10 Moshe said to Adonai, “Oh, Adonai, I’m a terrible speaker. I always have been, and I’m no better now, even after you’ve spoken to your servant! My words come slowly, my tongue moves slowly.” 11 Adonai answered him, “Who gives a person a mouth? Who makes a person dumb or deaf, keen-sighted or blind? Isn’t it I, Adonai? 12 Now, therefore, go; and I will be with your mouth and will teach you what to say.”
Abba knew what Moses could do but Moses did not.
An entire nation was ripe for deliverance and this was the man that would facilitate their departure. His calling was set before his feet and he was terrified.
Right here within this great tension is the test as to whether you are a true leader.
If someone is eager to jump in and run with this authority, that should immediately send up flags that this is not your leader. Anyone that takes such a prideful stance is sure to fall. And with it, all of the people that followed.
A true leader understands their own limitations and is very hesitant to lead others because they are fearful their weaknesses will cause the fall. But this is exactly where Abba shines. It’s in our acknowledgement of our weaknesses that He then has permission to work.
What’s interesting is that it is this fear that ensures we continually press into Abba as our source. Our ears are wide open and our hearts are attentive.
This was Moses’ journey.
As you follow along with Moses in the Wilderness, you see time and again that he consulted with YHVH anytime there was an issue.
Except for once.
One time and one time only, Moses decided to take the opposite path. Commanded to speak to the rock for water to flow. Instead, he spoke to the people.
Numbers 20:7 Adonai said to Moshe, 8 “Take the staff, assemble the community, you and Aharon your brother; and before their eyes, tell the rock to produce its water. You will bring them water out of the rock and thus enable the community and their livestock to drink.” 9 Moshe took the staff from the presence of Adonai, as he had ordered him. 10 But after Moshe and Aharon had assembled the community in front of the rock, he said to them, “Listen here, you rebels! Are we supposed to bring you water from this rock?” 11 Then Moshe raised his hand and hit the rock twice with his staff. Water flowed out in abundance, and the community and their livestock drank.
His frustration got the better of him and it cost him a trip into the Land. He learned a very difficult lesson that day: If you claim to represent the Creator of the Universe, you had best only speak what you hear Him say. And only say it to whom He says to say it.
Humility and obedience are not optional for the leaders of God’s people. Let this settle deeply within your ears and your hearts.
Aside from this one out of character moment, Moses was humble and obedient. For forty years he argues with God, intercedes for rebels, and hears Torah spoken to him before he speaks it from him.
He learned to hear.
Being raised in Pharaoh’s house he understood power, but he did not yet understand authority.
Notice that God does not fix Moses’ speech. He says to him: “Who has made man’s mouth?”
Translation: The problem is not your ability, it’s your assignment.
Abba, knowing what Moses was capable of well before Moses knew, gave him the grace to tumble and argue without condemnation. He even gives him Aharon as a crutch for a season until he’s ready to stand on his own. What a loving and merciful God!
Moses does not become eloquent by practicing rhetoric. He becomes eloquent by standing in the presence of God. Meaning speech is downstream of intimacy. Somewhere between Exodus and Numbers Moses stops deflecting. He stops protesting and stops outsourcing his voice.
He steps into the space Abba knew existed all the time. Of course, as usually happens, this disrupted some of his close relationships.
Numbers 12:1 Miryam and Aharon began criticizing Moshe on account of the Ethiopian woman he had married, for he had in fact married an Ethiopian woman. 2 They said, “Is it true that Adonai has spoken only with Moshe? Hasn’t he spoken with us too?” Adonai heard them. 3 Now this man Moshe was very humble, more so than anyone on earth.
Humility here is not timidity, it’s clarity of role. He knows who he speaks for now.
And that leads us right into the Book of Deuteronomy.
As if answering the whisper at the burning bush, the Torah concludes with D’varim, which literally means “Words”.
What makes this all the more fascinating is that it isn't the Words of YHVH specifically. These are the words of Moses.
Deuteronomy 1:5 …Moshe took it upon himself to expound this Torah and said:
Deuteronomy is not dictated line-by-line. It is structured, pastoral, theologically layered, historically reflective, and most of all, emotionally weighted.
The man who once said “I am not a man of words” now interprets the Torah. He explains motives, anticipates Israel’s future failures, and frames obedience as love, not law.
This is wisdom speech, not command speech. This is a man that rose up into the fullness of his calling here on earth. Not living a pampered life in Pharaoh’s courts, and not living a normal life in Midian. Instead, living along a journey that saw a nation delivered from oppression and launched into its destiny.
The words of Moses, framed in the context of the Words of God, became the greatest pregame speech of all time. One that explained plainly, in the words of man, what life was truly all about. One that would see that victories would not just be short lived for the generation standing before him, but victories that would carry millions of people into their own destiny.
This book spoken by a reluctant shepherd even becomes the vocabulary of the Messiah and the theological backbone of Israel’s faith. Yeshua quoted Deuteronomy 6 and 8 when the Adversary tempted Him in the wilderness. He extensively quoted Deuteronomy 6 and 10 when discussing loving God and loving your neighbor.
Amazing.
Moses did not lose his speech impediment, but he most certainly outgrew the need to worry about it.
There is a natural and correct progression to leading.
“I have nothing to say.”
You feel:
This is not disobedience, it’s unformed calling.
Like Moses with Aaron:
God allows this -- temporarily.
You begin to speak:
People listen not because you’re eloquent, but because what you say rings true.
Eventually:
This is Moses in Deuteronomy. This is also the call that is upon you.
We often assume: “If I were called to speak, I would already sound like it.”
Scripture says the opposite. Calling usually precedes capacity. Abba regularly chooses the hesitant, the interrupted, and the overlooked. Not because weakness is virtuous but because dependence produces authority.
It’s the ones who don’t trust their own voice that are fertile ground for Abba to bring forth a harvest.
Moses begins as a man afraid his words will fail and he ends as a man whose words literally shape a nation. The lesson for us is to become faithful, and your voice will eventually catch up.
You don’t start with something to say. You start by listening -- and listening for a very long time. Then one day, without noticing when it happened, you realize you’re speaking in the highest arenas of all.
Not quoting man, not even quoting God, but speaking as a son who knows beyond a shadow of a doubt what His Father is all about.