60 Seconds
The Torah tells us that Moses was very, very humble. Numbers 12:3 reads: And the man Moses was very humble, more than any person on the face of the earth.  This is not simply a compliment in vacuo. The characteristic of humility is entirely consistent with Moses’ role as the primary teacher of the Children of Israel. To teach them Torah he had, of course, first to learn it himself. He was in fact the learner of all time, having – at the age of 80 – to absorb God’s Torah, written and oral.

​Most 80-year-olds, having experienced so much of life, are long since at the point when their worldviews are solidified and unalterable, buttressed by self assurance and often a good measure of arrogance. But Moses was different – so humble that he was receptive to a new rule-book of life. Indeed, his extreme humility was a prerequisite to his ability to learn and absorb, and therefore a prerequisite to his function as the supreme and ultimate teacher.

So strikingly consistent is the narrative of Moses’ humility with the role he is said to have played that I, as a trier of fact, find that narrative highly credible.

​There is a further significant point. True humility is the recognition that whatever talents and gifts we may be aware of having are attributable to forces beyond our control - forces which we feel compelled to acknowledge with sincere and enduring gratitude. And so the extreme humility of Moses is strikingly consistent with the faith he must self-evidently have had in God, with Whom he communicated directly and repeatedly - God, Whom he must have recognised as the Creator of everything, including Moses himself. 

The fact that the Torah mentions his great humility is yet another factor demonstrating to the discerning eye its consistency and authenticity. 

Podcast ChaiFM - Insight 9 (includes the purpose of The Verdict)