At the end of the Torah, after the death of Moses - whom the Jewish people call Moshe Rabbeinu, our teacher, to this day - the Torah testifies that no prophet will ever arise in Israel like Moshe who God knew "face to face" (Deuteronomy 34:10.) Moshe was thus a unique human being who could directly communicate with God without the need of mediation either by dreams or the imagination.
What was unique about the nature or character of Moshe Rabbeinu which enabled God to raise him to such a level and to choose him as the ultimate leader of the people of Israel? To answer this question we must go back to when God first appeared to Moshe. God commanded Moshe to go to Egypt and lead the people of Israel out of slavery. However, Moshe rejected that command. Moshe offered a host of excuses why not to do so and was ultimately coerced by God into obedience.
Why did Moshe refuse to obey God? Moshe recognized that leading the children of Israel would be an extremely difficult task and that he might not be up to that responsibility. Moshe had already experienced that fact when he experienced the ingratitude of the Jews after he killed the Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave. Rather than being praised for saving the Hebrew slave, the Jews criticized him.
Aside from the question of why Moshe refused to obey God, is the question: why did God continue to choose Moshe? When God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son, Abraham immediately obeyed. Indeed, this unquestioning obedience is considered Abraham’s greatest test. Similarly, when God commanded Abraham to leave his homeland, Abraham immediately obeyed. The same is true even with Noah when God commanded him to build the ark. Yet, when God told Moshe to take the Children of Israel out of Egypt, he refused.
Why didn’t God choose another leader? Didn’t Moshe fail the test?
The answer to this question is that Abraham’s test and Moshe’s test were different. Abraham was being tested as an individual to test his devotion to God. Moshe was being tested as a potential leader of the people of Israel. Abraham’s test demanded strict obedience. Moshe’s test, however, required a different attribute; a person who stood up for what he believed in. Moshe did not believe he was the right person to lead the people of Israel out of slavery and he was not afraid to tell this to God.
God did not want a leader who only led because of strict obedience to God. God was not looking for a “yes-man.” God wanted a leader who would stand up for his people. And that is exactly what Moshe did. The mission that Moshe tried to avoid became part of him and he assumed personal responsibility for the welfare of the people of Israel.
At one point in a moment of frustration Moshe cries out to God, “Have I conceived all this people? Have I brought them forth that you should say to me carry them in thy bosom as a nursing father carries a sucking child.” (Numbers 11: 2.) I read this line to mean that Moshe did consider himself as the father of the nation. On several occasions, God offered Moshe the opportunity to abandon the children of Israel and create his own nation. But at every opportunity Moshe rejected that solution and put his life on the line for the children of Israel.
A leader who only strictly followed the word of God might have acquiesced to God’s demand to destroy the people of Israel. Indeed, such a leader might have looked down on his people as sinners deserving of death rather than try to defend them.
The difference between Abraham’s test and Moshe’s test is a message for all of us today. In our own lives, we should strive to attain the obedience of Abraham to follow God and his Torah. But when it comes to dealing with other people, we should be like Moshe and look to defend them, not condemn them. Even Abraham, the paradigm of strict obedience to God, did his best to try to save the people of Sodom. We should learn from Moshe and Abraham’s example.