As the Bible states in Exodus, Moses was the meekest man that roamed the earth in his time, and yet he, with his brother Aaron gave witness of God, and presented His demands to Pharaoh and the people of Israel. Meek in the context is not about being quiet and timid, but is about having self-control (as described by Matthew Henry). What is interesting is that the number forty is brought up three times in Moses’ stages in his life described by the Bible. The number forty is brought up a number of times in the Bible also (such as the number of days Jesus and the saints spent roaming the earth after being resurrected, the number of days Jesus was tempted by the devil in the desert, and the number of days that the flood rose during Noah’s time). Moses was a prince of Egypt for forty years, he was then a shepherd for forty years, then he lead the people out of Egypt and into Canaan for forty years. Moses and Aaron were descendants of the tribe of the Levi. It is interesting that the Bible states that God is the God of the Living, not the dead, and God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so their souls must live on!
Moses, even though meek, lost his temper with the people while they roamed the wilderness during the latter part of their journey. He was ordered to strike a rock by God when the people were thirsty and water gushed out, but he gave the glory to himself and not to God, which it belongs. Glory be to God! The rock is seen as a metaphor for Jesus, and the water we receive is living water and we as Christians will never thirst again, as stated by Jesus when he met the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. As a result, Moses never got to go into the promised Land, and Joshua became the leader of the Israelite people.
There is a distinction between the Laws of Moses and the Ten Commandments. Jesus came to make a new covenant and we as Christians are not bound to the old Laws of Moses, such as described in the Book of Leviticus. The Ten Commandments still stand today, and actually form a basis to determine what is sin and not, and Moses was the one who brought them down to the people of Israel for them to follow, and were later stored in the Ark of the Covenant.