The Secret of Moses’ Humility: How True Greatness Leads to True Modesty

About Moses our teacher it is said (Bamidbar 12:3): “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any person on the face of the earth.”

Let us picture for a moment the figure of Moses. His height was about five meters, as mentioned in the Talmud (Berachot) and his face radiated such a brilliant light that the Israelites could not look directly at him. He spoke with God whenever he wished — far beyond the level of ordinary prophecy or divine inspiration. He studied Torah in heaven for forty days, and even stood his ground in debate with the highest angels. He merited that the holy Torah is called by his name, as the prophet says (Malachi 3:22): “Remember the Torah of Moses My servant.” He taught Torah to the entire nation, and was God’s chosen emissary to redeem Israel from Egypt with signs and wonders. In addition, he was very wealthy (the Talmud records that he discovered a vein of precious stones in his tent), and he also became rich from the fragments of the broken tablets. Until the day of his death, his strength never waned and his eyesight never dimmed.

Moses was the most complete, perfect human being ever to walk the earth. Yet, the Torah describes him as “the most humble of all men upon the face of the earth.” Of all people who lived, or will live, Moses was the humblest possible.

For years, I struggled to understand this. How could someone so perfect achieve such a level of humility (as Rashi explains the word “anav”: lowly, tolerant), truly feeling himself smaller than everyone else?

It is easy to imagine a person who is lame, intellectually limited, unattractive, and poor to feel lowly and humble because of his limitations. With a little common sense, he knows he has no grounds for arrogance. But Moses was flawless! How can we possibly understand that such a person could feel completely humble?

The answer, I came to realize, is actually very simple. “Mouth to mouth I speak with him, in vision and not in riddles” (Bamidbar 12:8). “You will see My back, but My face shall not be seen” (Shemot 33:23). Moses merited to see God more than any other person in history; he possessed the greatest faith of all.

When a person truly perceives God’s greatness — understanding that in truth nothing exists besides Him, that all wisdom is His, and that every success depends entirely on His will, genuine humility immediately enters the heart. For he recognizes two essential truths: first, how utterly insignificant he is compared to the infinite greatness of the King of kings; and second, that none of his “successes” really belong to him at all, but rather to the One who sustains him every moment and grants him wisdom — the Creator, blessed be He.

As King Solomon teaches (Proverbs 3:6): “In all your ways know Him, and He will make your paths straight.” The more we acknowledge at every moment that we are fully dependent on God’s guidance in all our ways — in both our successes and our failures, “He will straighten your paths.” This awareness brings true humility before Him, so that our deeds are upright, refined, and free of inner arrogance.