If Moshe Had Entered the Land, They would Have Entered Gan Eden

The Chida zt’l (Sefer Nachal Kedumim) explains this pasuk by quoting the Gemara (Eruchin 32B) that says that if Moshe Rabenu had entered Eretz Yisroel, he would have annulled the yeitzer hara for idol worship. Therefore, the Bais Hamikdosh would never have been destroyed and Klal Yisroel would never have gone into exile. He quotes the Rema M’Pano zt’l as adding that if Moshe Rabenu had entered Eretz Yisroel, he would have taken Klal Yisroel into Gan Eden on this world and we would have lived like Odom Harishon did when he was first created.

This means that the commandments to drive out the gentiles and remove their idols would have been unnecessary, as we would have had no desire to serve those idols. We would have lived in Gan Eden and everything would have come easily for us.

Thus, Moshe said that ‘you are crossing the Yarden’, but I am not; therefore, you need all of these warnings to destroy the idols. Had I crossed together with you, you would not have needed them.