Thursday, May 25, 2023

Deuteronomy 34, Death of Moses

Moses has given his final messages to Israel, sung a worship song and then blessed the tribes.

Deuteronomy 34: 1-4, Looking out from Mount Nebo
Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the whole land--from Gilead to Dan, all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar.

Then the LORD said to him, "This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, `I will give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it."

Moses, from Mount Nebo, can see the eastern, transjordan region before him, and then west, almost to the Mediterranean Sea.  This is the future land of Israel. 

Pisgah may be an alternate name for Nebo or might be the name of a series of peaks of which Nebo is one.

Deuteronomy 34: 5-7, Death of Moses
And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.

Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.

Moses dies on the mountain, his final resting place unknown. (NIV footnotes: In verse 5, the Hebrew could mean that Moses was buried, without naming who buried him.)

Deuteronomy 34: 8-12, Epitaph
The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.

Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.  

Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt--to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

The people grieve over Moses, as is expected. The mantle of leadership passes on to Joshua, but the final sentences of this book, the final sentences of the Torah, state that no one like Moses had risen in Israel after that, that Moses, miraculously knew YHWH "face to face."

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