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In Parshas Va'etchanan, Moses tells that he begged to enter the Land of Israel until G-d got angry:

וַיִּתְעַבֵּר ה' בִּי לְמַעַנְכֶם וְלֹא שָׁמַע אֵלָי וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֵלַי רַב־לָךְ אַל־תּוֹסֶף דַּבֵּר אֵלַי עוֹד בַּדָּבָר הַזֶּה׃

But the LORD was wrathful with me on your account and would not listen to me. The LORD said to me, “Enough! Never speak to Me of this matter again!

It's fair to assume that Moses was completely selfless and all his wants were about helping the nation and reaching the final Geulah. Also, the prayer seems a legitimate way of communicating one's needs with G-d.

Why did G-d become angry with Moses?

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  • I remember reading on chabad.org 'parshah in-depth' section that this may be somewhat related to the time when Moses hit the rock with the staff instead of talking to it like haShem commanded him to do. This hardly answers the questiom though
    – user16556
    Commented Aug 18, 2019 at 5:55
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    I've always understood this as a two-part sentence: Hashem was angry at Moshe for a specific reason, and as result, decreed that he couldn't enter Israel. As a result, Hashem requested that Moshe stop requesting, to prevent Him from 'changing His mind', so to speak, since Hashem determined that Moshe should not enter Israel at all, for whatever reason. Hashem was angry with Moshe for an unrelated reason, not angry at the prayers Moshe was doing.
    – Salmononius2
    Commented Aug 18, 2019 at 13:06
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    Does G-d become angry?
    – Turk Hill
    Commented Jun 3, 2020 at 0:07

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The Likutei Besser Lekutei (ad. loc.) brings (among other sources) the following: The jewish people was about to enter the land. The LBL then brings a Gemara in berachot saying that if a person pleads at length to Hashem He is bound to respond giving to the person a long life. But Moshe was supposed to die in the midbar. If Moshe continued to speak, he would be granted to a long life, but that would delayed Am Ysroel to enter the land. Therefore Hashem said: Enough!

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  • Why is that a reason to get angry?
    – Dani
    Commented Jun 3, 2020 at 2:07
  • @Dani may I ask why this wouldn't be a reason?
    – Renato S. Grun
    Commented Jun 3, 2020 at 11:27

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