DEUTERONOMY 34 COMMENTARYWritten and edited by Glenn Pease

PREFACE

This verse by verse commentary quotes the great old commentaries as well as some

contemporary authors. All of this information is available to anyone, but I have brought it

together in one place to save the Bible student time in research. If anyone I quote does not want

their wisdom shared in this way, they can let me know and I will remove it. My e-mail is

glenn_P86@yahoo.com

The Death of Moses

1 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,

1. Clarke, “And Moses went up - This chapter could not have been written by Moses. A man

certainly cannot give an account of his own death and burial. We may therefore consider Moses’s

words as ending with the conclusion of the preceding chapter, as what follows could not possibly

have been written by himself. To suppose that he anticipated these circumstances, or that they

were shown to him by an especial revelation, is departing far from propriety and necessity, and

involving the subject in absurdity; for God gives no prophetic intimations but such as are

absolutely necessary to be made; but there is no necessity here, for the Spirit which inspired the

writer of the following book, would naturally communicate the matter that concludes this. I

believe, therefore, that Deu_34:1-12, should constitute the first chapter of the book of Joshua.

On this subject the following note from an intelligent Jew cannot be unacceptable to the

reader: -

“Most commentators are of opinion that Ezra was the author of the last chapter

of Deuteronomy; some think it was Joshua, and others the seventy elders,

immediately after the death of Moses; adding, that the book of Deuteronomy

originally ended with the prophetic blessing upon the twelve tribes: ‘Happy art

thou, O Israel! who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord,’ etc.; and that

what now makes the last chapter of Deuteronomy was formerly the first of Joshua,

but was removed from thence and joined to the former by way of supplement. This

opinion will not appear unnatural if it be considered that sections and other

divisions, as well as points and pauses, were invented long since these books were

written; for in those early ages several books were connected together, and followed

each other on the same roll. The beginning of one book might therefore be easily

transferred to the end of another, and in process of time be considered as its real

conclusion, as in the case of Deuteronomy, especially as this supplemental chapter

contains an account of the last transactions and death of the great author of the

Pentateuch.” - Alexander’s Heb. and Eng. Pentateuch.

This seems to be a perfectly correct view of the subject. This chapter forms a very proper

commencement to the book of Joshua, for of this last chapter of Deuteronomy the first chapter of

Joshua is an evident continuation. If the subject be viewed in this light it will remove every

appearance of absurdity and contradiction with which, on the common mode of interpretation, it

stands sadly encumbered.

2. Gill, “And Moses went up from the plains of Moab,.... Where the Israelites had lain encamped

for some time, and where Moses had repeated to them the law, and all that, is contained in this

book of Deuteronomy; and after he had read to them the song in Deu_32:1; and had blessed the

several tribes, as in the preceding chapter: at the command of God he went up from hence:

unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho; Nebo was one of the

mountains of Abarim, which formed a ridge of them, and Pisgah was the highest point of Nebo,

and this was over against Jericho on the other side Jordan, see Deu_32:49; hither Moses went, to

the top of this high mountain, for aught appears, without any support or help, his natural force

not being abated, though an hundred and twenty years old; and hither he seems to have gone

alone, though Josephus (p) and the Samaritan Chronicle (q) say, Eleazar, Joshua, and the elders

of Israel accompanied him:

and the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan; the Word of the Lord, as the Targum

of Jonathan, who appeared to him in the bush, sent him to Egypt, wrought miracles by him there,

led him and the people of Israel through the Red sea and wilderness, and brought them to the

place where they now were: and though the eye of Moses was not become dim, as was usual at

such an age he was of, yet it can hardly be thought it should be so strong as to take a distinct view

of the whole land of Canaan, to the utmost borders of it: no doubt but his natural sight was

wonderfully strengthened and increased by the Lord, by whom he was directed first to behold the

land of Gilead on that side of Jordan where he was, and which was the possession of the two

tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh; and then he was directed to look

forward to the land of Canaan beyond Jordan, to the northern part of it; for Dan is not the tribe

of Dan, but a city of that name, formerly Leshem, which the Danites took, and lay the farthest

north of the land, hence the phrase "from Dan to Beersheba", see Jos_19:47; this city is so called

by anticipation: Aben Ezra thinks Joshua wrote this verse by a spirit of prophecy; and it is very

likely the whole chapter was written by him, and not the eight last verses only, as say the Jewish

writers: this view Moses had of the good land a little before his death may be an emblem of that

sight believers have, by faith, of the heavenly glory, and which sometimes is the clearest when

near to death; this sight they have not in the plains of Moab, in the low estate of nature, but in an

exalted state of grace, upon and from off the rock of Christ, in the mountain of the church of

God, the word and ordinances being often the means of it; it is a sight by faith, and is of the Lord,

which he gives, strengthens, and increases, and sometimes grants more fully a little before death.

3. Jamison, “This chapter appears from internal evidence to have been written subsequently to

the death of Moses, and it probably formed, at one time, an introduction to the Book of Joshua.

unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah — literally, the head or summit of the Pisgah;

that is, the height (compare Num_23:14; Deu_3:17-27; Deu_4:49). The general name given to the

whole mountain range east of Jordan, was Abarim (compare Deu_32:49), and the peak to which

Moses ascended was dedicated to the heathen Nebo, as Balaam’s standing place had been

consecrated to Peor. Some modern travelers have fixed on Jebel Attarus, a high mountain south

of the Jabbok (Zurka), as the Nebo of this passage [Burckhardt, Seetzen, etc.]. But it is situated

too far north for a height which, being described as “over against Jericho,” must be looked for

above the last stage of the Jordan.

the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead — That pastoral region was discernible at the

northern extremity of the mountain line on which he stood, till it ended, far beyond his sight in

Dan. Westward, there were on the horizon, the distant hills of “all Naphtali.” Coming nearer, was

“the land of Ephraim and Manasseh.” Immediately opposite was “all the land of Judah,” a title

at first restricted to the portion of this tribe, beyond which were “the utmost sea” (the

Mediterranean) and the Desert of the “South.” These were the four great marks of the future

inheritance of his people, on which the narrative fixes our attention. Immediately below him was

“the circle” of the plain of Jericho, with its oasis of palm trees; and far away on his left, the last

inhabited spot before the great desert “Zoar.” The foreground of the picture alone was clearly

discernible. There was no miraculous power of vision imparted to Moses. That he should see all

that is described is what any man could do, if he attained sufficient elevation. The atmosphere of

the climate is so subtle and free from vapor that the sight is carried to a distance of which the

beholder, who judges from the more dense air of Europe, can form no idea [Vere Monro]. But

between him and that “good land,” the deep valley of the Jordan intervened; “he was not to go

over thither.”

4. K&D, “And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of

Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan,

After blessing the people, Moses ascended Mount Nebo, according to the command of God

(Deu_32:48-51), and there the Lord showed him, in all its length and breadth, that promised land

into which he was not to enter. From Nebo, a peak of Pisgah, which affords a very extensive

prospect on all sides, he saw the land of Gilead, the land to the east of the Jordan as far as Dan,

i.e., not Laish-Dan near the central source of the Jordan (Jdg_18:27), which did not belong to

Gilead, but a Dan in northern Peraea, which has not yet been discovered (see at Gen_14:14); and

the whole of the land on the west of the Jordan, Canaan proper, in all its different districts,

namely, “the whole of Naphtali,” i.e., the later Galilee on the north, “the land of Ephraim and

Manasseh” in the centre, and “the whole of the land of Judah,” the southern portion of Canaan, in

all its breadth, “to the hinder (Mediterranean) sea” (see Deu_11:24); also “the south land” (Negeb:

see at Num_13:17), the southern land of steppe towards the Arabian desert, and “the valley of the

Jordan” (see Gen_13:10), i.e., the deep valley from Jericho the palm-city (so called from the

palms which grew there, in the valley of the Jordan: Jdg_1:16; Jdg_3:13; 2Ch_28:15) “to Zoar”

at the southern extremity of the Dead Sea (see at Gen_19:22). This sight of every part of the land

on the east and west was not an ecstatic vision, but a sight with the bodily eyes, whose natural

power of vision was miraculously increased by God, to give Moses a glimpse at least of the

glorious land which he was not to tread, and delight his eye with a view of the inheritance

intended for his people.

5. Henry, “Deu 34:1-4 -

Here is, I. Moses climbing upwards towards heaven, as high as the top of Pisgah, there to die;

for that was the place appointed, Deu_32:49, Deu_32:50. Israel lay encamped upon the flat

grounds in the plains of Moab, and thence he went up, according to order, to the mountain of

Nebo, to the highest point or ridge of that mountain, which was called Pisgah, Deu_32:1. Pisgah is

an appellative name for all such eminences. It should seem, Moses went up alone to the top of

Pisgah, alone without help - a sign that his natural force was not abated when on the last day of

his life he could walk up to the top of a high hill without such supporters as once he had when his

hands were heavy (Exo_17:12), alone without company. When he had made an end of blessing

Israel, we may suppose, he solemnly took leave of Joshua, and Eleazar, and the rest of his friends,

who probably brought him to the foot of the hill; but then he gave them such a charge as

Abraham gave to his servants at the foot of another hill: Tarry you here while I go yonder and die:

they must not see him die, because they must not know of his sepulchre. But, whether this were so

or not, he went up to the top of Pisgah, 1. To show that he was willing to die. When he knew the

place of his death, he was so far from avoiding it that he cheerfully mounted a steep hill to come

at it. Note, Those that through grace are well acquainted with another world, and have been

much conversant with it, need not be afraid to leave this. 2. To show that he looked upon death as

his ascension. The soul of a man, of a good man, when it leaves the body, goes upwards

(Ecc_3:21), in conformity to which motion of the soul, the body of Moses shall go along with it as

far upwards as its earth will carry it. When God's servants are sent for out of the world, the

summons runs thus, Go up and die.

II. Moses looking downward again towards this earth, to see the earthly Canaan into which he

must never enter, but therein by faith looking forwards to the heavenly Canaan into which he

should now immediately enter. God had threatened that he should not come into the possession of

Canaan, and the threatening is fulfilled. But he had also promised that he should have a prospect

of it, and the promise is here performed: The Lord showed him all that good land, v. 1. 1. If he

went up alone to the top of Pisgah, yet he was not alone, for the Father was with him, Joh_16:32. If

a man has any friends, he will have them about him when he lies a dying. But if, either through

God's providence or their unkindness, it should so happen that we should then be alone, we need

fear no evil if the great and good Shepherd be with us, Psa_23:4. 2. Though his sight was very

good, and he had all the advantage of high ground that he could desire for the prospect, yet he

could not have seen what he now saw, all Canaan from end to end (reckoned about fifty or sixty

miles), if his sight had not been miraculously assisted and enlarged, and therefore it is said, The

Lord showed it to him. Note, All the pleasant prospects we have of the better country we are

beholden to the grace of God for; it is he that gives the spirit of wisdom as well as the spirit of

revelation, the eye as well as the object. This sight which God here gave Moses of Canaan,

probably, the devil designed to mimic, and pretended to out-do, when in an airy phantom he

showed to our Saviour, whom he had placed like Moses upon an exceedingly high mountain, all

the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, not gradually, as here, first one country and

then another, but all in a moment of time. 3. He saw it at a distance. Such a sight the Old

Testament saints had of the kingdom of the Messiah; they saw it afar off. Thus Abraham, long

before this, saw Christ's day; and, being fully persuaded of it, embraced it in the promise, leaving

others to embrace it in the performance, Heb_11:13. Such a sight believers now have, through

grace, of the bliss and glory of their future state. The word and ordinances are to them what

Mount Pisgah was to Moses; from them they have comfortable prospects of the glory to be

revealed, and rejoice in hope of it. 4. He saw it, but must never enjoy it. As God sometimes takes

his people away from the evil to come, so at other times he takes them away from the good to

come, that is, the good which shall be enjoyed by the church in the present world. Glorious things

are spoken of the kingdom of Christ in the latter days, its advancement, enlargement, and

flourishing state; we foresee it, but we are not likely to live to see it. Those that shall come after

us, we hope will enter that promised land, which is a comfort to us when we find our own

carcases falling in this wilderness. See 2Ki_7:2. 5. He saw all this just before his death. Sometimes

God reserves the brightest discoveries of his grace to his people to be the support of their dying

moments. Canaan was Immanuel's land (Isa_8:8), so that in viewing it he had a view of the

blessings we enjoy by Christ. It was a type of heaven (Heb_11:16), which faith is the substance

and evidence of. Note, Those may leave this world with a great deal of cheerfulness that die in the

faith of Christ, and in the hope of heaven, and with Canaan in their eye. Having thus seen the

salvation of God, we may well say, Lord, now let thou thy servant depart in peace.

6. Henry Law, “PISGAH is crowded with instructive thoughts. The scene is solemn, because

death appears, and a wondrous life finds here a wondrous end. It is holy, for God Himself attends

the dying saint, and closes the dying eyes. But its main interest is the marvel of the distant

prospects thence discerned. Moses ascends the mount. God meets His faithful servant. All the

beauties of the promised land are spread, as a map, before him. And then he is translated to the

heavenly reality. What annals record similar events!

My soul, with reverence open this treasure-house of profit. Great Spirit of all light descend, for

without Your rays, even Pisgah must be dark!

Moses lived long. He passed a spacious sea of trial. He trod a tedious course of trouble. His sighs

were many. His spirit was often pained. But the last step came, and landed him in glory!

Believer, mark this, and gird up your loins. You, too, may experience a stormy voyage through

many billows. But each wave wafts you nearer to your haven. The last will break--soon--very

soon. And then, where will your sufferings be? Behind--immeasurably distant. What will be

around--before you? Peace--joy--glory. Live, then, assured, that the end approaches. The hope of

rest makes all disquietudes to fade away. Burdens seem light, when borne for a brief space. Earth's

longest sorrow cannot be long.

Moses goes up with ready step to die. God cheers him with an outspread prospect. With

telescopic glance he is enabled to survey all the extent of Canaan's lovely land. "And the Lord

said unto him, This is the land, which I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying,

I will give it unto your seed. I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over

there." Deut. 34:4.

As we thus read, two thoughts arise.

1. God's promises are stable as Himself. His word must be. He said, "I will give it:" and hands

now take the gift.

Believer, watch against UNBELIEF. Hew it to pieces. Tread it to powder. Give it to the winds. Let

no shred survive. It is shame, and it is folly. It mars your peace. It keeps out floods of joy. Place

your foot firmly on the Word, and rise above all doubts. God's promise, surely, steadily advances

towards fulfillment, as the sun to its appointed rising.

Add Pisgah to the many proofs. The goodly land, so often pledged, lies at its base. The happy

tribes now reach their lots. So, too, a rest is promised to the saints of God. There was no failure to

Israel. There will be no failure unto us. Jesus has entered as the forerunner. He holds possession

in His people's name. The keys are in His hands. He beckons forward. He soon will give the

welcome. The prize is sure to faith.

2. But Moses may not cross the borders. Why? Thoughts of the heritage had often cheered his

heart. His mind with eager wing had often speeded towards this Canaan. It would have been

sweet joy to have reposed, after long journeyings, in this land. His lips would have been loud in

praise, while witnessing the people settled in their expected homes. But this cannot be granted.

He may behold from Pisgah's summit. But his feet may not enter.

Why? Sin is the cause. If there be misery, and shame, and disappointment, these bitter streams

may all be traced to sin, as the sad source. At Meribah his faith had failed. Provoked, he spoke

and acted in unholy haste. His angry words--his blows inflicted on the rock--dishonored God. He

erred in presence of the host. And God must manifest displeasure. Moses is loved--pardoned--

saved. But he suffers. His death on Pisgah stands as a beacon, warning of sin's precipice.

Children of God, beware. Be ever on your guard. Watch prayerfully your spirit, thoughts, and

words. We move in midst of wide-spread nets. Our feet soon are entangled. And then there must

be injury. We may repent, and bitter tears may flow. We may be mercifully snatched from

everlasting pains. We may gain heaven. But still there always is a sorrow in sin's trail. Let this

example settle deeply in your minds. Moses through sin may not cross Jordan.

This fact is perhaps expressive of another truth. The hands of Moses brought the tables of the

Law. He was its mediating channel. But this covenant can never convoy souls to heaven. It is

weak to open those bright gates. It is feeble to ascend that lofty hill. Be taught, all you, who seek

acceptance through the code of Sinai. The effort to fulfill these terms is fool's play. It cannot

prosper. It will surely fail. None enter, with one stain of guilt. None enter, without righteousness,

as pure as God is pure. But the Law never can remove stains. It never gives a covering for

offence. It therefore admits not to God's presence. It never leads to the celestial rest.

Reader, whatever be your age or state, whatever be your privilege, one thing is surely true, you

are black with countless sins. Turn, then, from the broken staff of moral guiltlessness to Jesus. He

meets your every need. Leaning on His arm, you may pass Jordan's waves. Safe by His side you

may attain true Canaan's joys. Pure in His righteousness, you may stand welcome before God.

But Moses on Pisgah not only warns--he also encourages to rapturous meditation; he leads us by

the hand to precious thoughts. His eye thence traverses a wondrous circuit. Aided by

superhuman power, he roams along the grand expanse of Israel's portion. From plain to plain--

from valley to valley--from hill to hill, he wanders in entranced delight. What beauty--what

fertility--enchant him! He sees the earthly home, so worthy of God's chosen sons.

Believer, is there no Pisgah, from which you, too, may gaze? There is. It is the Gospel record. You

should by frequent step ascend this hill. You should release your mind from the poor grovelings

of earthly things. You should seek elevation for your heart in this chart and picture of the coming

bliss.

Jesus invites you to this Pisgah. Without Him, indeed, your daily walk must be in a squalid

marsh. Apart from Him, your horizon is confined--and hope has no watchtower of survey. But

join yourself to Him. He will conduct you to a lofty seat, and open out a clear prospective of your

sure heritage. Seated by Him, your eye may feast on promised mansions. He has indeed bought a

rich country for you. And He gives the Gospel as the graphic map.

The Spirit, too, delights to meet you with enlightening aid. He will give power to apprehend this

new Jerusalem; to count the towers; to go round the buttresses; to mark the palaces. He will

confer that telescopic eye of faith, which scans the valleys, the plains, the mountains, of your

Canaan.

Bright, indeed, is the prospect. It reveals that glorious home, which is the recompense of Jesus'

blood. But what can be a recompense for divine merit? We estimate things by their price. The

price, which He presents, is infinite. The equivalent, which He wins, is heaven. This, then, must

be a treasure beyond thought.

Again, think by whom these mansions are prepared. Eternal love suggests their plan. Infinite

power executes. Therefore they must be infinitely perfect. Nothing can be absent, which can

contribute to pure ecstasy.

But Jesus dwells there now, intent on their completion. They are wondrous words, "I go to

prepare a place for you." His grace is an ocean without shore. Here it flows out in ceaseless

employ. His might is boundless. Here it finds full exercise. Heaven, then, must be the concentrated

blaze of all the happiness, which Jehovah can contrive and form. My soul, may you reach heaven!

Cling to Jesus, and you cannot fail. Reader, may you reach heaven! Cling to Jesus, and you

cannot fail.

Neglect not, then, the truth, that in the Gospel we are led to a Pisgah, whence we may survey this

home. Let no one say, the prospect is so dazzling that mortal gaze cannot rest on it. True! the

reality cannot be known by flesh and blood. Bodies, until transformed into the likeness of the

Lord,”

2 all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh,

all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea,

1. Gill, “And all Naphtali,.... Which lay in the northern part of the land, and where was Galilee of

the Gentiles, and so he had a sight of all that country most frequented by the Messiah when come,

see Mat_4:13,

and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh: which lay in the midland part of the country:

and all the land of Judah; which lay to the south:

unto the utmost sea; the Mediterranean sea, which was the western boundary of the land, called

the "hinder sea", Zec_14:8; and might as well be so rendered here, for the same word is used:

Jarchi would have it read, not the "hinder sea", but the "latter day": for, he says, the Lord

showed to Moses all that should happen to Israel until the resurrection of the dead; and so the

Targum of Jonathan paraphrases the above passages, and observes that the Lord showed Moses

the mighty deeds of Jephthah of Gilead, and the victories of Samson, who was of the tribe of Dan;

the idolatries of that tribe, and Samson the saviour that should spring from them; Deborah and

Barak, and the princes of the house of Naphtali; Joshua the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim,

that should fight with and slay the kings of Canaan; and Gideon the son of Joash, of the tribe of

Manasseh, that should fight with Midian and Amalek, and all the kings of Israel, and the

kingdom of the house of Judah; the king of the south, that should join the king of the north to

destroy the inhabitants of the earth; and even the destruction of Armiilus or antichrist, and the

war of Gog and Magog, and the great affliction Michael shall save from.

3 the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of

Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar.

1. Gill, “And the south,.... The southern part of the land, even all of it; and having shown him

that, he is directed eastward to take a view of

the plain of the valley of Jericho; which lay before him, a delightful plain; see Jos_5:10,

the city of palm trees; so Jericho was called, because of the multitude of palm trees which grew

there, and which Josephus not only testifies (r), who speaks of it as a plain planted with palm

trees, and from whence balsam comes; but several Heathen writers: Pliny says (s) Jericho was set

with palm trees; Diodorus Siculus (t) speaks of the country about Jericho as abounding with

palm trees, and in a certain valley, meaning the vale or plains of Jericho, is produced that which

is called balsam; so Strabo says (u), Jericho is a plain surrounded with mountains abounding

with palm trees, where there is a plantation of palm trees, with other fruit trees, the space of a

hundred furlongs:

unto Zoar; near the salt sea; see Gen_19:22.

4 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.”

1. Gill, “And the Lord said unto him,.... The Word of the Lord, as the Jerusalem Targum, having

shown him all the land of Canaan:

this is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it

unto thy seed; to Abraham, Gen_15:18; to Isaac, Gen_26:3; to Jacob, Gen_28:13,

I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes; not only had indulged him with a general view of it,

but had strengthened his eyesight, that he had a full, clear, and distinct sight of it:

but thou shalt not go over thither; which he had said more than once before and abides by it, and

this because of the behaviour of Moses at the waters of Meribah, Num_20:12; see Deu_3:25.

2. Mackintosh, “Now, looking at this beloved and honored man in his official capacity, it is very

plain that it lay not in his province to conduct the congregation of Israel into the Promised Land.

The wilderness was his sphere of action; it pertained not to him to lead the people across the river

of death intotheir destined inheritance, His ministry was connected with man’s responsibility

under law and the government of God, and hence it never could lead the people into the

enjoyment of the promise: it was reserved for his successor to do this. Joshua, a type of the risen

Saviour, was God’s appointed instrument to lead His people across the Jordan, and plant them in

their divinely given inheritance. All this is plain, and deeply interesting; but we must look at

Moses personally, as well as officially; and here too we must view him in a twofold aspect – as the

subject of government, and the object of grace.

It was the government of God which, with stern decision, forbad the entrance of Moses into the

Promised Land, much as he longed to do so. He spoke unadvisedly with his lips – he failed to

glorify God in the eyes of the congregation at the waters of Meribah, and for this he was

forbidden to cross the Jordan and plant his foot on the promised land.

Let us deeply ponder this, beloved Christian reader.

Let us see that we fully apprehend its moral force and practical application.

It is surely with the greatest tenderness and delicacy that we would refer, to the failure of one of

the most beloved and illustrious of the Lord’s servants, but it has been recorded for our learning

and solemn admonition, and therefore we are bound to give earnest heed to it. We should ever

remember that we too, though under grace, are also the subjects of divine government. We are

here on this earth, in the place of solemn responsibility, under a government which cannot be

trifled with.

True, we are children of the Father, loved with an infinite and everlasting love – loved even as

Jesus is loved; we are members of the body of Christ, loved, cherished, and nourished according

to all the perfect love of His heart. There is no question of responsibility here, no possibility of

failure; all is divinely settled, divinely sure: but we are the subjects of divine government also.

Let us never for a moment lose sight of this. Let us beware of one-sided and pernicious notions

of grace.

The very fact of our being objects of divine favor and love, children of God, members of Christ,

should lead us to yield all the more reverent attention to the divine government.

To use an illustration drawn from human affairs, her majesty’s children should, above all others,

just because they are her children, respect her government; and were they in any way to

transgress her laws, the dignity of government would be strikingly illustrated by their being

made to pay the penalty.

If they, because of being the queen’s children, were to be allowed to transgress with impunity the

enactments of her majesty’s government, it would be simply exposing the government to public

contempt, and affording a warrant to all her subjects to do the same. And if it be thus in the case

of a human government, how much more in the government of God!

5 And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab,

as the LORD had said.

1. Gill, “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there, in the land of Moab,.... Which formerly

belonged to Moab, and was taken from them by Sihon king of the Amorites, and now in the

possession of Israel: here on a mountain in this land Moses died; and yet, contrary to the express

words of this text, some Jewish writers affirm (w) that be died not, but was translated to heaven,

where he ministers; yea, that he was an angel, and could not die: but it is clear he did die, even

though a servant of the Lord, as he was, and a faithful one; but such die as well as others,

Zec_1:5; there is a saying of some (x) Jews,"Moses died, and who shall not die?''no man can

promise himself immortality here, when such great and good men die: the Targum of Jonathan

says, he died on the seventh of Adar or February, on which day he was born; and it is the general

opinion of the Jewish writers (y), that he died on the seventh of that month, in the middle of the

day, and that it was a sabbath day: though, as Aben Ezra observes (z), some say he died on the

first of Adar; and Josephus (a) is express for it, that it was at the new moon, or first day of the

month; and with this agrees the calculation of Bishop Usher (b):

according to the word of the Lord; according to the prophecy of the Lord, and according to a

command of his, that he should go up to the above said mountain and die, Num_27:12; or, as the

Targum of Jerusalem, according to the decree of the Lord; as the death of every man is, both

with respect to time and place, and manner of it: it is appointed for men once to die, Heb_9:27;

because it is in the original text, "according to the mouth of the Lord" (c); hence some Jewish

writers, as Jarchi particularly, interpret it of his dying by a kiss of his mouth, with strong

expressions and intimations of his love to him, Son_1:2; and no doubt but he did die satisfied of

the love of God to him, enjoying his presence, and having faith and hope of everlasting life and

salvation; but the true sense is, he died according to the will of God, not of any disease, or

through the infirmities of age, but by the immediate order and call of God out of this life.

2. Barnes, “According to the word of the Lord - It denotes that Moses died, not because his vital

powers were exhausted, but by the sentence of God, and as a punishment for his sin. Compare

Deu_32:51.

3. Henry, “Here is, I. The death of Moses (Deu_34:5): Moses the servant of the Lord died. God told

him he must not go over Jordan, and, though at first he prayed earnestly for the reversing of the

sentence yet God's answer to his prayer sufficed him, and now he spoke no more of that matter,

Deu_3:26. Thus our blessed Saviour prayed that the cup might pass from him, yet, since it might

not, he acquiesced with, Father, thy will be done. Moses had reason to desire to live a while longer

in the world. He was old, it is true, but he had not yet attained to the years of the life of his fathers;

his father Amram lived to be 137; his grandfather Kohath 133; his great grandfather Levi 137;

Exo_6:16-20. And why must Moses, whose life was more serviceable than any of theirs, die at 120,

especially since he felt not the decays of age, but was as fit for service as ever? Israel could ill

spare him at this time; his conduct and his converse with God would be as great a happiness to

them in the conquest of Canaan as the courage of Joshua. It bore hard upon Moses himself, when

he had gone through all the fatigues of the wilderness, to be prevented from enjoying the

pleasures of Canaan; when he had borne the burden and heat of the day, to resign the honour of

finishing the work to another, and that not his son, but his servant, who must enter into his

labours. We may suppose that this was not pleasant to flesh and blood. But the man Moses was

very meek; God will have it so, and he cheerfully submits. 1. He is here called the servant of the

Lord, not only as a good man (all the saints are God's servants), but as a useful man, eminently

useful, who had served God's counsels in bringing Israel out of Egypt, and leading them through

the wilderness. It was more his honour to be the servant of the Lord. than to be king in Jeshurun.

2. Yet he dies. Neither his piety nor his usefulness would exempt him from the stroke of death.

God's servants must die that they may rest from their labours, receive their recompense, and

make room for others. When God's servants are removed, and must serve him no longer on

earth, they go to serve him better, to serve him day and night in his temple. 3. He dies in the land

of Moab, short of Canaan, while as yet he and his people were in an unsettled condition and had

not entered into their rest. In the heavenly Canaan there will be no more death. 4. He dies

according to the word of the Lord. At the mouth of the Lord; so the word is. The Jews say, “with a

kiss from the mouth of God.” No doubt, he died very easily (it was an euthanasia - a delightful

death), there were no bands in his death; and he had in his death a most pleasing taste of the love

of God to him: but that he died at the mouth of the Lord means no more but that he died in

compliance with the will of God. Note, The servants of the Lord, when they have done all their

other work, must die at last, in obedience to their Master, and be freely willing to go home

whenever he sends for them, Act_21:13.

4. K&D verse 5 and 6, “After this favour had been granted him, the aged servant of the Lord was

to taste death as the ages of sin. There, i.e., upon Mount Nebo, he died, “at the mouth,” i.e.,

according to the commandment, “of the Lord” (not “by a kiss of the Lord,” as the Rabbins

interpret it), in the land of Moab, not in Canaan (see at Num_27:12-14). “And He buried him in

the land of Moab, over against Beth Peor.” The subject in this sentence is Jehovah. Though the

third person singular would allow of the verb being taken as impersonal (ἔθαψαν αὐτόν, lxx: they

buried him), such a rendering is precluded by the statement which follows, “no man knoweth of

his sepulchre unto this day.” “The valley” where the Lord buried Moses was certainly not the

Jordan valley, as in Deu_3:29, but most probably “the valley in the field of Moab, upon the top of

Pisgah,” mentioned in Num_21:20, near to Nebo; in any case, a valley on the mountain, not far

from the top of Nebo. - The Israelites inferred what is related in Deu_34:1-6 respecting the end of

Moses' life, from the promise of God in Deu_32:49, and Num_27:12-13, which was communicated

to them by Moses himself (Deu_3:27), and from the fact that Moses went up Mount Nebo, from

which he never returned. On his ascending the mountain, the eyes of the people would certainly

follow him as far as they possibly could. It is also very possible that there were many parts of the

Israelitish camp from which the top of Nebo was visible, so that the eyes of his people could not

only accompany him thither, but could also see that when the Lord had shown him the promised

land, He went down with him into the neighbouring valley, where Moses was taken for ever out of

their sight. There is not a word in the text about God having brought the body of Moses down

from the mountain and buried it in the valley. This “romantic idea” is invented by Knobel, for the

purpose of throwing suspicion upon the historical truth of a fact which is offensive to him. The

fact itself that the Lord buried His servant Moses, and no man knows of his sepulchre, is in

perfect keeping with the relation in which Moses stood to the Lord while he was alive. Even if his

sin at the water of strife rendered it necessary that he should suffer the punishment of death, as a

memorable example of the terrible severity of the holy God against sin, even in the case of His

faithful servant; yet after the justice of God had been satisfied by this punishment, he was to be

distinguished in death before all the people, and glorified as the servant who had been found

faithful in all the house of God, whom the Lord had known face to face (Deu_34:10), and to

whom He had spoken mouth to mouth (Num_12:7-8). The burial of Moses by the hand of

Jehovah was not intended to conceal his grave, for the purpose of guarding against a

superstitious and idolatrous reverence for his grave; for which the opinion held by the Israelites,

that corpses and graves defiled, there was but little fear of this; but, as we may infer from the

account of the transfiguration of Jesus, the intention was to place him in the same category with

Enoch and Elijah. As Kurtz observes, “The purpose of God was to prepare for him a condition,

both of body and soul, resembling that of these two men of God. Men bury a corpse that it may

pass into corruption. If Jehovah, therefore, would not suffer the body of Moses to be buried by

men, it is but natural to seek for the reason in the fact that He did not intend to leave him to

corruption, but, when burying it with His own hand, imparted a power to it which preserved it

from corruption, and prepared the way for it to pass into the same form of existence to which

Enoch and Elijah were taken, without either death or burial.” - There can be no doubt that this

truth lies at the foundation of the Jewish theologoumenon mentioned in the Epistle of Judge,

concerning the contest between Michael the archangel and the devil for the body of Moses.

5. Spurgeon, “Beloved, it seemed a great calamity that Moses must die when he did. He was an

aged man as to years, but not as to condition. It is true he was 120 years old, but his father and

his grandfather and his great grandfather had all lived beyond that age—two of them reaching

127—so that he might naturally have expected a longer lease of life. This truly grand old man

had not failed in any respect. His eyes were not dim, neither had his natural force abated and,

therefore, he might have expected to live on. Besides, it seems a painful thing for a man to die

while he was capable of so much work—when, indeed, he was more mature, more gracious, more

wise than ever! The mental and spiritual powers of Moses were greater in the latter days of his

life than ever before. Notice his wonderful song! Observe his marvelous address to the people! He

was in the prime of his mental manhood! He had been tutored by a long experience, chastened by

a marvelous discipline and elevated by a sublime communion with God—and yet he must die.

How strange that when a man seems most fit to live, it is then that the mandate comes, “Get you

up into the mountain and die”! Naturally speaking, it seemed a sad loss for the people of Israel.

Who but Moses could rule them? Even he could scarcely control them! They were a heavy

burden, even to his meekness—who else could so successfully act as king in Jeshurun? Without

Moses to awe them, what will not these rebels do? It was a grave experiment to place a younger

and an inferior man in the seat of power when the nation was entering upon its great campaign.

It would need all the faith and discretion of Moses to conduct the conquest of the country and to

divide their portions to the tribes. Yet so it must be—precious as his life was, the Word of God

went forth, “Get you up into the top of Pisgah: for you shall not go over this Jordan.” Even thus

to the best and most useful must the summons come. Who would wish to forbid the Lord to call

home His own when He wills?

The sentence was not to be averted by prayer. Moses tells us that he besought the Lord at that

time, “O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand:

for what God is there in Heaven or in earth that can do according to Your works and according

to Your might? I pray You, let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that

goodly mountain, and Lebanon.” This was altogether a very proper prayer. He did not plead his

own services, but he urged the former mercies of the Lord. Surely this was good pleading and he

might have hoped to prevail for himself, seeing he had formerly been heard for a whole nation.

But no. This blessing must be denied him. The Lord said, “Let it suffice you; speak no more unto

Me of this matter.” Moses never again opened his lips upon the subject. He did not beseech the

Lord thrice, as Paul did, in his hour of trouble, but seeing that the sentence was final, he bowed

his head in holy consent.

When I thought of the trial of Moses in being shut out of the land, I found myself unable to read

the chapter which lay open before me, for I was blinded by my tears. How shall any of us stand

before a God so holy? Where Moses errs how shall we be faultless? Never servant more favored

of his Lord and yet even he must undergo a disappointment so great as a rebuke for a single

fault. The flower of his life is broken off from the stalk for one act of unbelief. To be exalted so

near to God is to be involved in a great responsibility. A fierce light beats about the Throne of

God. He that is the King’s chosen, admitted to continual communion with Him, must stand in

awe of Him. Well is it written, “Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.” An offense

which might be passed over as a mere trifle in an ordinary subject would be very serious in a

prince of the blood who had been favored with royal secrets and had been permitted to lean his

head upon the bosom of the King. If we live near to God we cannot sin without incurring sharp

rebukes. Even the common run of the elect must remember those Words of God, “You only have

I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” Much

more must the elect out of the elect hear such a warning! God did, in effect, say to Moses, “You,

only, have I chosen of all mankind to speak with Me face to face and, therefore, since you have

failed in your faith after such communion with Me, it behooves Me, in very faithfulness and love

towards you, to mark your failure with an evident token of displeasure.”

The discipline of saints is in this life. I doubt not but many a man’s life has come to an end when

he wished it to be continued and he has missed that which he has strived for because of an offense

against the Lord committed in his earlier years. We had need walk carefully before our jealous

God, who will not spare sin anywhere and, least of all, in His own beloved. His love to them never

fails, but His hatred of their sin burns like coals of juniper. Foolish parents spare the rod, but our

wise Father acts not so! Walk circumspectly, O you heirs of eternal life, for, “even our God is a

consuming fire.” The Lord give us to feel the sanctifying power of this passage in the story of the

great Lawgiver!”

6. Our Daily Bread, “Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Sunset Boulevard tells the story of Norma

Desmond, a former silent film star. When the talking movies came into fashion, she lost her

audience. As an older woman, she longed for the glory of her past. In her mind, silent facial

expressions alone made a good movie—not dialogue. In the song “With One Look” Norma sings:

With one look I can break your heart;

With one look I play every part . . .

With one look I’ll ignite a blaze;

I’ll return to my glory days.

Because Norma lived in the past, her life ended in tragedy.

It’s been said that each life is like a book, lived one chapter at a time. If you think your most

fruitful years are behind you, remember you’re writing a new chapter now. Learn to live each

day with contentment in the present.

Near the end of Moses’ life, God showed him the Promised Land. Clearly, he had accomplished

his mission in life. But he didn’t long for the miracles of his “glory days.” Instead, Moses was

content to obey God in the present. In his sunset years, he mentored Joshua to be his successor

(Deut. 31:1-8).

Living contentedly in the present has a way of making us productive for a lifetime—for God’s

glory. —Dennis Fisher

I give my life to You, O Lord,

And live for You each day;

Grant me contentment as I strive

To follow and obey. —Sper

Living in the past paralyzes the present and bankrupts the future.

7. Mackintosh, “But, as we have said, Moses was the subject of grace, as well as of government;

and truly that grace shines with special luster on the top of Pisgah. There the venerable servant

of God was permitted to stand in his Master’s presence, and; with undimmed eye, survey the

land of promise, in all its fair proportions. He was permitted to see it from a divine stand-point –

see it, not merely as possessed by Israel, but as given by God. And what then? He fell asleep and

was gathered to his people. He died, not as a withered and feeble old man, but in all the freshness

and vigor of matured manhood. “And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died:

his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” Striking testimony! Rare fact in the annals of

our fallen race!

The life of Moses was divided into three important and strongly marked periods of forty years

each. He spent:- forty years in the house of Pharaoh, - forty years “at the backside of the desert,”

and- forty years in the wilderness. Marvelous life! Eventful history! How instructive! how

suggestive! how rich in its lessons from first to last! How profoundly interesting the study of such

a life! – to trace him from the river’s brink, where he lay a helpless babe, up to the top of Pisgah,

where he stood, in company with his Lord, to gaze with undimmed vision upon the fair

inheritance of the Israel of God; and to see him again on the Mount of Transfiguration, in

company with his honored fellow-servant Elias, “talking with Jesus” on the grandest theme that

could possibly engage the attention of men or angels. Highly favored man! Blessed servant!

Marvelous vessel!

8. Maclaren, “A fitting end to such a life! The great law-giver and leader had been all his days a

lonely man; and now, surrounded by a new generation, and all the old familiar faces vanished, he

is more solitary than ever. He had lived alone with God, and it was fitting that alone with God he

should die.

How the silent congregation must have watched, as, alone, with ‘natural strength unabated,’ he

breasted the mountain, and went up to be seen no more! With dignified reticence our chapter

tells us no details. He ‘died there,’ in that dreary solitude, and in some cleft he was buried, and no

man knows where. The lessons of that solitary death and unknown tomb may best be learned by

contrast with another death and another grave—those of the Leader of the New Covenant, the

Law-giver and Deliverer from a worse bondage, and Guide into a better Canaan, the Son who

was faithful over His own house, as Moses was ‘faithful in all his house, as a servant.’ That lonely

and forgotten grave among the savage cliffs was in keeping with the whole character and work of

him who lay there.

‘Here,—here’s his place, where meteors shoot, clouds form,

Lightnings are loosened,

Stars come and go! Let joy break with the storm,

Peace let the dew send!

Lofty designs must close in like effects;

Loftily lying,

Leave him—still loftier than the world suspects,

Living and dying.’

Contrast that grave with the sepulchre in the garden where Jesus lay, close by a city wall,

guarded by foes, haunted by troops of weeping friends, visited by a great light of angel faces. The

one was hidden and solitary, as teaching the loneliness and mystery of death; the other revealed

light in the darkness, and companionship in the loneliness. The one faded from men’s memory

because it was nothing to any man; no impulses, nor hopes, nor gifts, could come from it. The

other forever draws hearts and memories, because in it was wrought out the victory in which all

our hopes are rooted. An endured cross, an empty grave, an occupied throne, are as the threefold

cord on which all our hopes hang. Moses was solitary as God’s servant in life and death, and

oblivion covered his mountain grave. Christ’s ‘delights were with the sons of men.’ He lived

among them, and all men ‘know his sepulchre to this day.’

I. Note, then, first, as a lesson gathered from this lonely death, the penalty of transgression.

One of the great truths which the old law and ordinances given by Moses were intended to burn

in on the conscience of the Jew, and through him on the conscience of the world, was that

indissoluble connection between evil done and evil suffered, which reaches its highest

exemplification in the death which is the ‘wages of sin.’ And just as some men that have invented

instruments for capital punishment have themselves had to prove the sharpness of their own axe,

so the lawgiver, whose message it had been to declare, ‘the soul that sinneth it shall die,’ had

himself to go up alone to the mountain-top to receive in his own person the exemplification of the

law that had been spoken by his own lips. He sinned when, in a moment of passion (with many

palliations and excuses), he smote the rock that he was bidden to address, and forgot therein, and

in his angry words to the rebels, that he was only an instrument in the divine hand. It was a

momentary wavering in a hundred and twenty years of obedience. It was one failure in a life of

self-abnegation and suppression. The stern sentence came.

People say, ‘A heavy penalty for a small offence.’ Yes; but an offence of Moses could not be a

small offence.’ Noblesse oblige! The higher a man rises in communion with God, and the more

glorious the message and office which are put into his hands, the more intolerable in him is the

slightest deflection from the loftiest level. A splash of mud, that would never be seen on a navvy’s

clothes, stains the white satin of a bride or the embroidered garment of a noble. And so a little sin

done by a loftily endowed and inspired man ceases to be small.

Nor are we to regard that momentary lapse only from the outside and the surface. One little

mark under the armpit of a plague-sufferer tells the physician that the fatal disease is there. A

tiny leaf above ground may tell that, deep below, lurks the root of a poison plant. That little

deflection, coming as it did at the beginning of the resumption of his functions by the Lawgiver

after seven-and-thirty years of comparative abeyance, and on his first encounter with the new

generation that he had to lead, was a very significant indication that his character had begun to

yield and suffer from the strain that had been put upon it; and that, in fact, he was scarcely fit for

the responsibilities that the new circumstances brought. So the penalty was not so

disproportionate to the fault as it may seem.

And was the penalty such a very great one? Do you think that a man who had been toiling for

eighty years at a very thankless task would consider it a very severe punishment to be told, ‘Go

home and take your wages’? It did not mean the withdrawal of the divine favour. ‘Moses and

Aaron among his priests. . . . Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though Thou tookest

vengeance of their inventions.’ The penalty of a forgiven sin is never hard to bear, and the penalty

of a forgiven sin is very often punctually and mercifully exacted.

But still we are not to ignore the fact that this lonely death, with which we are now concerned, is

of the nature of a penal infliction. And so it stands forth in consonance with the whole tone of the

Mosaic teaching. I admit, of course, that the mere physical fact of the separation between body

and spirit is simply the result of natural law. But that is not the death that you and I know. Death

as we know it, the ugly thing that flings its long shadows across all life, and that comes armed

with terrors for conscience and spirit, is ‘the wages of sin,’ and is only experienced by men who

have transgressed the law of God. So far Moses in his life and in his death carries us—that no

transgression escapes the appropriate punishment; that the smallest sin has in it the seeds of

mortal consequences; that the loftiest saint does not escape the law of retribution.

And no further does Moses with his Law and his death carry us. But we turn to the other death.

And there we find the confirmation, in an eminent degree, of that Law, and yet the repeal of it. It

is confirmed and exhausted in Jesus Christ. His death was ‘the wages of sin.’ Whose? Not His.

Mine, yours, every man’s. And because He died, surrounded by men, outside the old city wall,

pure and sinless in Himself, He therein both said ‘Amen’ to the Law of Moses, and swept it away.

For all the sins of the world were laid upon His head, He bore the curse for us all, and has

emptied the bitter cup which men’s transgressions have mingled. Therefore the solitary death in

the desert proclaims ‘the wages of sin’; that death outside the city wall proclaims ‘the gift of

God,’ which is ‘eternal life.’

II. Another of the lessons of our incident is the withdrawal, by a hard fate, of the worker on the

very eve of the completion of his work.

For all these forty years there had gleamed before the fixed and steadfast spirit of the sorely tried

leader one hope that he never abandoned, and that was that he might look upon and enter into

the blessed land which God had promised. And now he stands on the heights of Moab. Half a

dozen miles onwards, as the crow flies, and his feet would tread its soil. He lifts his eyes, and away

up yonder, in the far north, he sees the rolling uplands of Gilead, and across the deep gash where

the Jordan runs, he catches a glimpse of the blue hills of Naphtali or of Galilee, and the central

mountain masses of Ephraim and Manasseh, where Ebal and Gerizim lift their heads; and then,

further south, the stony summits of the Judaean hills, where Jerusalem and Bethlehem lie, and,

through some gap in the mountains, a gleam as of sunshine upon armour tells where the ocean is.

And then his eye falls upon the waterless plateau of the South, and at his feet the fertile valley of

Jordan, with Jericho glittering amongst its palm trees like a diamond set in emeralds, and on

some spur of the lower hill bounding the plain, the little Zoar. This was the land which the Lord

had promised to the fathers, for which he had been yearning, and to which all his work had been

directed all these years; and now he is to die, as my text puts it, with such pathetic emphasis,

‘there in Moab,’ and to have no part in the fair inheritance.

It is the lot of all epoch-making men, of all great constructive and reforming geniuses, whether in

the Church or in the world, that they should toil at a task, the full issues of which will not be

known until their heads are laid low in the dust. But if, on the one hand, that seems hard, on the

other hand there is the compensation of ‘the vision of the future and all the wonder that shall be,’

which is granted many a time to the faithful worker ere he closes his eyes. But that is not the fate

of epoch-making and great men only; it is the law for our little lives. If these are worth anything,

they are constructed on a scale too large to bring out all their results here and now. It is easy for a

man to secure immediate consequences of an earthly kind; easy enough for him to make certain

that he shall have the fruit of his toil. But quick returns mean small profits; and an unfinished

life that succeeds in nothing may be far better than a completed one, that has realised all its

shabby purposes and accomplished all its petty desires. Do you, my brother, live for the far-off;

and seek not for the immediate issues and fruits that the world can give, but be contented to be of

those whose toil waits for eternity to disclose its significance. Better a half-finished temple than a

finished pigstye or huckster’s shop. Better a life, the beginning of much and the completion of

nothing, than a life directed to and hitting an earthly aim. ‘He that soweth to the spirit shall of

the Spirit reap life everlasting,’ and his harvest and garner are beyond the grave.

III. Again, notice here the lesson of the solitude and mystery of death.

Moses dies alone, with no hand to clasp his, none to close his eyes; but God’s finger does it. The

outward form of his death is but putting into symbol and visibility the awful characteristics of

that last moment for us all. However closely we have been twined with others, each of us has to

unclasp dear hands, and make that journey through the narrow, dark tunnel by himself. We live

alone in a very real sense, but we each have to die as if there were not another human being in the

whole universe but only ourselves. But the solitude may be a solitude with God. Up there, alone

with the stars and the sky and the everlasting rocks and menacing death, Moses had for

companion the supporting God. That awful path is not too desolate and lonely to be trodden if we

tread it with Him.

Moses’ lonely death leads to a society yonder. If you refer to the thirty-second chapter you will

find that, when he was summoned to the mountain, God said to him, ‘Die in the mount whither

thou goest up, and be gathered to thy people.’ He was to be buried there, up amongst the rocks of

Moab, and no man was ever to visit his sepulchre to drop a tear over it. How, then, was he

‘gathered to his people’? Surely only thus, that, dying in the desert alone, he opened his eyes in

‘the City,’ surrounded by ‘solemn troops and sweet societies’ of those to whom he was kindred. So

the solitude of a moment leads on to blessed and eternal companionship.

So far the death of Moses carries us. What does the other death say? Moses had none but God

with him when he died. There is a drearier desolation than that, and Jesus Christ proved it when

He cried, ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’ That was solitude indeed, and in that

hour of mysterious, and to us unfathomable, desertion and misery, the lonely Christ sounded a

depth, of which the lawgiver in His death but skimmed the surface. Christ was parted from God

in His death, because He bore on Him the sins that separate us from our Father, and in order that

none of us may ever need to tread that dark passage alone, but may be able to say, ‘I will fear no

evil, for Thou art with me’—Thou, who hast trodden every step in its rough and dreary path,

uncheered by the presence which cheers us and millions more. Christ died that we might live. He

died alone that, when we come to die, we may hold His hand and the solitude may vanish.

Then, again, our incident teaches us the mystery that wrapped death to that ancient world, of

which we may regard that unknown and forgotten sepulchre as the visible symbol. Deep

darkness lies over the Old Testament in reference to what is beyond the grave, broken by gleams

of light, when the religious consciousness asserted its indestructibility, in spite of all appearance

to the contrary; but never growing to the brightness of serene and continuous assurance of

immortal life and resurrection. We may conceive that mysteriousness as set forth for us by that

grave that was hidden away in the defiles of Moab, unvisited and uncared for by any.

We turn to the other grave, and there, as the stone is rolled away, and the rising sunshine of the

Easter morning pours into it, we have a visible symbol of the life and immortality which Jesus

Christ then brought to light by His Gospel. The buried grave speaks of the inscrutable mystery

that wrapped the future: the open sepulchre proclaims the risen Lord of life, and the sunlight

certainty of future blessedness which we owe to Him. Death is solitary no more, though it be

lonely as far as human companionship is concerned; and a mystery no more, though what is

beyond is hidden from our view, and none but Christ has ever returned to tell the tale, and He

has told us little but the fact that we shall live with Him.

We rejoice that we have not to turn to a grave hid amongst the hills where our dead Leader lies,

but to an open sepulchre by the city wall in the sunshine, from whence has come forth the ever-

living ‘Captain of our salvation.’

IV. The last lesson is the uselessness of a dead leader to a generation with new conflicts.

Commentators have spent a great deal of ingenuity in trying to assign reasons why God

concealed the grave of Moses. The text does not say that God concealed it at all. The ignorance of

the place of his sepulchre does not seem to have been part of the divine design, but simply a

consequence of the circumstances of his death, and of the fact that he lay in an enemy’s land, and

that they had had something else to do than go to look for the grave of a dead commander. They

had to conquer the land, and a living Joshua was what they wanted, not a dead Moses.

So we may learn from this how easily the gaps fill. ‘Thirty days’ mourning,’ and says my text,

with almost a bitter touch,’ so the days of mourning for Moses were ended.’ A month of it, that

was all; and then everybody turned to the new man that was appointed for the new work. God

has many tools in His tool-chest, and He needs them all before the work is done. Joshua could no

more have wielded Moses’ rod than Moses could have wielded Joshua’s sword. The one did his

work, and was laid aside. New circumstances required a new type of character—the smaller man

better fitted for the rougher work. And so it always is. Each generation, each period, has its own

men that do some little part of the work which has to be done, and then drop it and hand over the

task to others. The division of labour is the multiplication of joy at the end, and ‘he that soweth

and he that reapeth rejoice together.’ But whilst the one grave tells us, ‘This man served his

generation by the will of God, and was laid asleep and saw corruption,’ the other grave proclaims

One whom all generations need, whose work is comprehensive and complete, who dies never. ‘He

liveth and was dead, and is alive for evermore.’ Christ, and Christ alone, can never be

antiquated. This day requires Him, and has in Him as complete an answer to all its necessities as

if no other generation had ever possessed Him. He liveth for ever, and for ever is the Shepherd of

men.

So Aaron dies and is buried on Hor, and Moses dies and is buried on Pisgah, and Joshua steps

into his place, and, in turn, he disappears. The one eternal Word of God worked through them

all, and came at last Himself in human flesh to be the Everlasting Deliverer, Redeemer, Founder

of the Covenant, Lawgiver, Guide through the wilderness, Captain of the warfare, and all that

the world or a single soul can need until the last generation has crossed the flood, and the

wandering pilgrims are gathered in the land of their inheritance. The dead Moses pre-supposes

and points to the living Christ. Let us take Him for our all-sufficing and eternal Guide.”

6 He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor,

but to this day no one knows where his grave is.

1. As far as we know, Moses is the only person that was ever buried by God. It seems that this was

done by God because Moses dies in an isolated place where there was no one else to bury him.

God deliberately kept it a secret for reasons known only to God. Moses is unique in many ways,

but has an exclusive relationship to God in the way he died and was buried.

2. Gill, “And he buried him,.... Aben Ezra says he buried himself, going into a cave on the top of

the mount, where he expired, and so where he died his grave was; but though he died on the

mount, he was buried in a valley: Jarchi and so other Jewish writers (d) say, the Lord buried

him; it may be by the ministry of angels: an Arabic writer says (e), he was buried by angels: it is

very probable he was buried by Michael, and who is no other than the archangel or head of

principalities and powers, our Lord Jesus Christ, for a reason that will be hereafter suggested,

see Jud_1:9,

in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor; where stood a temple dedicated to the idol

Peor, see Deu_3:29,

but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day; to the time when Joshua wrote this, or, as

others think, Samuel: if Moses is the same with the Osiris of the Egyptians, as some think (f), it

may be observed, that his grave is said to be unknown to the Egyptians, as Diodorus Siculus (g)

and Strabo (h) both affirm; and the grave of Moses is unknown, even unto this our day: for

though no longer ago than in the year 1655, in the month of October, it was pretended to be

found by some Maronite shepherds on Mount Nebo, with this inscription on it in Hebrew letters,

"Moses the servant of the Lord"; but this story was confuted by Jecomas, a learned Jew, who

proved it to be the grave of another Moses (i), whom Wagenseil conjectures was Moses

Maimonides (k); but some think the whole story is an imposition: the reason why the grave of

Moses was kept a secret was, as Ben Gersom suggests, lest, because of his miracles, succeeding

generations should make a god of him and worship him, as it seems a sort of heretics called

Melchisedecians did (l): the death and burial of Moses were an emblem of the weakness and

insufficiency of the law of Moses, and the works of it, to bring any into the heavenly Canaan; and

of the law being dead, and believers dead to that through the body of Christ, and of the entire

abrogation and abolition of it by Christ, according to the will of God, as a covenant of works, as

to the curse and condemnation of it, and justification by it; who is Michael the archangel, and is

the end of the law for righteousness; he abolished it in his flesh, nailed it to his cross, carried it to

his grave, and left it there; the rites and ceremonies of it are to be no more received, nor is it to be

sought after for righteousness and life, being dead and buried, Rom_7:6.

3. Clarke, “He buried him - It is probable that the reason why Moses was buried thus privately

was, lest the Israelites, prone to idolatry, should pay him Divine honors; and God would not have

the body of his faithful servant abused in this way. Almost all the gods of antiquity were defiled

men, great lawgivers, eminent statesmen, or victorious generals. See the account of the life of

Moses at the end of this chapter, Deu_34:10 (note).

4. Barnes, “No man knoweth of his sepulchre - Hardly, lest the grave of Moses should become an

object of superstitious honor, because the Jews were not prone to this particular fore of error.

Bearing in mind the appearance of Moses at the Transfiguration Mat_17:1-10, and what is said

by Jude Jud_1:9, we may conjecture that Moses after death passed into the same state with

Enoch and Elijah; and that his grave could not be found because he was shortly translated

(transported) from it.

5. Henry, “His burial, Deu_34:6. It is a groundless conceit of some of the Jews that Moses was

translated to heaven as Elijah was, for it is expressly said that he died and was buried; yet

probably he was raised to meet Elias, to grace the solemnity of Christ's transfiguration. 1. God

himself buried him, namely, by the ministry of angels, which made this funeral, though very

private, yet very magnificent. Note, God takes care of the dead bodies of his servants; as their

death is precious, so is their dust, not a grain of it shall be lost, but the covenant with it shall be

remembered. When Moses was dead, God buried him; when Christ was dead, God raised him,

for the law of Moses was to have an end, but not the gospel of Christ. Believers are dead to the

law that they might be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, Rom_7:4. It

should seem Michael, that is, Christ (as some think), had the burying of Moses, for by him the

Mosaical ordinances were abolished and taken out of the way, nailed to his cross, and buried in

his grave, Col_2:14. 2. He was buried in a valley over against Beth-peor. How easily could the

angels that buried him have conveyed him over Jordan and buried him with the patriarchs in the

cave of Machpelah! But we must learn not be over-solicitous about the place of our burial. If the

soul be at rest with God, the matter is not great where the body rests. One of the Chaldee

paraphrasts says, “He was buried over against Beth-peor, that, whenever Baal-peor boasted of

the Israelites being joined to him, the grave of Moses over against his temple might be a check to

him.” 3. The particular place was not known, lest the children of Israel, who were so very prone

to idolatry, should have enshrined and worshipped the dead body of Moses, that great founder

and benefactor of their nation. It is true that we read not, among all the instances of their

idolatry, that they worshipped relics, the reason of which perhaps was because they were thus

prevented from worshipping Moses, and so could not for shame worship any other. Some of the

Jewish writers say that the body of Moses was concealed, that necromancers, who enquired of the

dead, might not disquiet him, as the witch of Endor did Samuel, to bring him up. God would not

have the name and memory of his servant Moses thus abused. Many think this was the contest

between Michael and the devil about the body of Moses, mentioned Jud_1:9. The devil would

make the place known that it might be a snare to the people, and Michael would not let him.

Those therefore who are for giving divine honours to the relics of departed saints side with the

devil against Michael our prince.

6. Spurgeon, “The Rabbis say that our text means that Moses died at the mouth of God and that

his soul was taken away by a kiss from the Lord’s mouth. I do not know, but I have no doubt that

there was more sweetness in the truth than even their legend could set forth! As a mother takes

her child and kisses it and then lays it down to sleep in its own bed, so did the Lord kiss the soul

of Moses away to be with Him forever—and then He hid the body of Moses we know not where.

Whoever had such a burial as that of Moses? Angels contended over it, but Satan has failed to

use it for his purposes. That body was not lost, for in due time it appeared on the Mount of

Transfiguration, talking with Jesus concerning the greatest event that ever transpired! Oh that

we, also, may pass away amid the most joyful prospects! Heaven coming down to us as we go up

to Heaven! May we also attain unto the resurrection from among the dead and be with our Lord

in His Glory!

“Sweet was the journey to the sky,

The wondrous Prophet tried.

‘Climb up the mount,’ says God, ‘ and die.’

The Prophet climbed and died.

Softly his fainting head he lay

Upon his Maker’s breast.

His Maker kissed his soul away,

And laid his flesh to rest.”

7. Jamison, “he buried him — or, “he was buried in a valley,” that is, a ravine or gorge of the

Pisgah. Some think that he entered a cave and there died, being, according to an ancient tradition

of Jews and Christians, buried by angels (Jud_1:9; Num_21:20).

no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day — This concealment seems to have been owing

to a special and wise arrangement of Providence, to prevent its being ranked among “holy

places,” and made the resort of superstitious pilgrims or idolatrous veneration, in after ages.

7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he

died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.

1. It appears that Moses did not die of old age, but because his role in God's plan was over, and

God just took him. Later God had another role for him, and so he sent him to the Mount of

Transfiguration to be an encouragement to Jesus.

2. Henry, “His age, Deu_34:7. His life was prolonged, 1. To old age. He was 120 years old, which,

though far short of the years of the patriarchs, yet much exceeded the years of most of his

contemporaries, for the ordinary age of man had been lately reduced to seventy, Psa_90:10. The

years of the life of Moses were three forties. The first forty he lived a courtier, at ease and in

honour in Pharaoh's court; the second forty he lived a poor desolate shepherd in Midian; the

third forty he lived a king in Jeshurun, in honour and power, but encumbered with a great deal

of care and toil: so changeable is the world we live in, and alloyed with such mixtures; but the

world before us is unmixed and unchangeable. 2. To a good old age: His eye was not dim (as

Isaac's, Gen_27:1, and Jacob's, Gen_48:10), nor was his natural force abated; there was no decay

either of the strength of his body or of the vigour and activity of his mind, but he could still speak,

and write, and walk as well as ever. His understanding was as clear, and his memory as strong, as

ever. “His visage was not wrinkled,” say some of the Jewish writers; “he had lost never a tooth,”

say others; and many of them expound it of the shining of his face (Exo_34:30), that that

continued to the last. This was the general reward of his services; and it was in particular the

effect of his extraordinary meekness, for that is a grace which is, as much as any other, health to

the navel and marrow to the bones. Of the moral law which was given by Moses, though the

condemning power be vacated to true believers, yet the commands are still binding, and will be to

the end of the world; the eye of them is not waxen dim, for they shall discern the thoughts and

intents of the heart, nor is their natural force or obligation abated but still we are under the law to

Christ.

3. Gill, “And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died,.... Which age of his may

be divided into three equal periods, forty years in Pharaoh's court, forty years in Midian, and

forty in the care and government of Israel, in Egypt and in the wilderness; so long he lived,

though the common age of man in his time was but threescore years and ten, Psa_90:10; and

what is most extraordinary is: his eyes were not dim; as Isaac's were, and men at such an age,

and under, generally be: nor his natural force abated; neither the rigour of his mind nor the

strength of his body; his intellectuals were not decayed, his memory and judgment; nor was his

body feeble, and his countenance aged; his "moisture" was not "fled" (m), as it may be rendered,

his radical moisture; he did not look withered and wrinkled, but plump and sleek, as if he was a

young man in the prime of his days: this may denote the continued use of the ceremonial law then

to direct to Christ, and the force of the moral law as in the hands of Christ, requiring obedience

and conformity to it, as a rule of walk and conversation, 1Co_9:21.

4. F. B. Meyer, “THIS was true of Moses as a man. He had seen plenty of sorrow and toil; but

such was the simple power of his faith, in casting his burden on the Lord, that they had not worn

him out in premature decay. There had been no undue strain on his energy. All that he wrought

on earth was the outcome of the secret abiding of his soul in God. God was his home, his help, his

stay. He was nothing: God was all. Therefore his youth was renewed.

But there is a deeper thought than this. Moses stood for the law. It came by him, and was

incarnated in his stern, grave aspect. He brought the people to the frontier of the land, but would

not bring them over it: and so the Law of God, even when honored and obeyed, cannot bring us

into the Land of Promise. We stand on the Pisgah-height of effort, and view it afar in all its fair

expanse; but if we have never got further than "Thou shalt do this and live," we can never pass

into the blessed life of rest and victory symbolized by Canaan.

But though the law fails, it is through no intrinsic feebleness. It is always holy, just, and good.

Though the ages vanish, and heaven and earth pass away, its jots and tittles remain in

unimpaired majesty. It must be fulfilled, first by the Son, then by His Spirit in our hearts. Let us

ever remember the searching eye of that holy Law detecting evil, and its mighty force avenging

wrong. Its eye will never wax dim, nor its natural force abate. Let us, therefore, shelter in Him,

who, as our Representative, magnified the law and met its claims, and made it honorable.

8 The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab

thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was

over.

1. Henry, “The solemn mourning that there was for him, Deu_34:8. It is a debt owing to the

surviving honour of deceased worthies to follow them with our tears, as those who loved and

valued them, are sensible of our loss of them, and are truly humbled for those sins which have

provoked God to deprive us of them; for penitential tears very fitly mix with these. Observe, 1.

Who the mourners were: The children of Israel. They all conformed to the ceremony, whatever it

was, though some of them perhaps, who were ill-affected to his government, were but mock-

mourners; yet we may suppose there were those among them who had formerly quarrelled with

him and his government, and perhaps had been of those who spoke of stoning him, who now were

sensible of their loss, and heartily lamented him when he was removed from them, though they

knew not how to value him when he was with them. Thus those who had murmured were made to

learn doctrine, Isa_29:24. Note, The loss of good men, especially good governors, is to be much

lamented and laid to heart: those are stupid who do not consider it. 2. How long they mourned:

Thirty days. So long the formality lasted, and we may suppose there were some in whom the

mourning continued much longer. Yet the ending of the days of weeping and mourning for Moses

is an intimation that, how great soever our losses have been, we must not abandon ourselves to

perpetual grief; we must suffer the wound at least to heal up in time. If we hope to go to heaven

rejoicing, why should we resolve to go to the grave mourning? The ceremonial law of Moses is

dead and buried in the grave of Christ; but the Jews have not yet ended the days of their

mourning for it.

2. Gill, “And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days,.... According

both to Josephus (n) and the Samaritan Chronicle (o), they cried and wept in a very vehement

manner, when he signified to them his approaching death, and took his leave of them; and when

he was dead they mourned for him, in a public manner, the space of time here mentioned, the

time of mourning for his brother Aaron, Num_20:29,

so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended; on the eighth of Nisan or March, as

says the Targum of Jonathan, and on the "ninth" they prepared their vessels and their cattle for

a march, and on the tenth passed over Jordan, and on the "sixteenth" the manna ceased,

according to the said paraphrase.

3. Jamison, “Seven days was the usual period of mourning, but for persons in high rank or

official eminence, it was extended to thirty (Gen_50:3-10; Num_20:29).

9 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.

1. It appears that Moses passed on the spirit of wisdom to Joshua, and this gave him the

authority he needed to get the respect of the people so they would listen to him. It took a lot of

wisdom to lead these people, and no man ever had enough.

2. Gill, “And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom,.... The successor of Moses,

and who, by the spirit of wisdom on him, was abundantly qualified for the government of the

people of Israel; in which he was a type of Christ, on whom the spirit of wisdom and

understanding is said to rest, Isa_11:2,

for Moses had laid his hands upon him; which was a symbol of the government being committed

to him, and devolving upon him after his death, and expressive of prayer for him, that he might

be fitted for it, of which action see Num_27:23,

and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses; or by the

hand of Moses; they received him and owned him as their supreme governor under God, and

yielded a cheerful obedience to his commands, as the Lord by Moses commanded them to do, and

as they promised; see Jos_1:16.

3. Henry, “We have here a very honourable encomium passed both on Moses and Joshua; each

has his praise, and should have. It is ungrateful so to magnify our living friends as to forget the

merits of those that are gone, to whose memories there is a debt of honour due: all the respect

must not be paid to the rising sun; and, on the other hand, it is unjust so to cry up the merits of

those that are gone as to despise the benefit we have in those that survive and succeed them. Let

God be glorified in both, as here.

I. Joshua is praised as a man admirably qualified for the work to which he was called, v. 9.

Moses brought Israel to the borders of Canaan and then died and left them, to signify that the

law made nothing perfect, Heb_7:19. It brings men into a wilderness of conviction, but not into

the Canaan of rest and settled peace. It is an honour reserved for Joshua (our Lord Jesus, of

whom Joshua was a type) to do that for us which the law could not do, in that it was weak through

the flesh, Rom_8:3. Through him we enter into rest, the spiritual rest of conscience and eternal

rest in heaven. Three things concurred to clear Joshua's call to this great undertaking: - 1. God

fitted him for it: He was full of the spirit of wisdom; and so he had need who had such a peevish

people to rule, and such a politic people to conquer. conduct is as requisite in a general as

courage. Herein Joshua was a type of Christ, in whom are hidden the treasures of wisdom. 2.

Moses, by the divine appointment, had ordained him to it: He had laid his hands upon him, so

substituting him to be his successor, and praying to God to qualify him for the service to which he

had called him; and this comes in as a reason why God gave him a more than ordinary spirit of

wisdom, because his designation to the government was God's own act (those whom God employs

he will in some measure make fit for the employment) and because this was the thing that Moses

had asked of God for him when he laid his hands on him. When the bodily presence of Christ

withdrew from his church, he prayed the Father to send another Comforter, and obtained what

he prayed for. 3. The people cheerfully owned him and submitted to him. Note, An interest in the

affections of people is a great advantage, and a great encouragement to those that are called to

public trusts of what kind soever. It was also a great mercy to the people that when Moses was

dead they were not as sheep having no shepherd, but had one ready among them in whom they

did unanimously, and might with the highest satisfaction, acquiesce.

4. Jamison, “Joshua ... was full of the spirit of wisdom — He was appointed to a peculiar and

extraordinary office. He was not the successor of Moses, for he was not a prophet or civil ruler,

but the general or leader, called to head the people in the war of invasion and the subsequent

allocation of the tribes.

10 Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses,

whom the LORD knew face to face,

1. Moses was one of a kind as a prophet, and as a man of God. He had a closeness to God that few

men in all of history have had.

2. Gill, “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses,.... Not in the times of

Joshua, who wrote this chapter, at least the last eight verses, Deu_34:5, as say the Jews (p); nor to

the times of Samuel, whom others take to be the writer: of them; nor to the times of Ezra, as

others; nor even throughout the whole Old Testament dispensation to the times of Christ, the

great Prophet, like to Moses, that was to arise; and the Messiah is by the Jews owned, as by

Maimonides (q), to be equal to him, and by others to be above him: it is a well known saying of

theirs (r), that"the Messiah shall be exalted above Abraham, and extolled above Moses, and

made higher than the ministering: angels;''but as to all other prophets he excels them, and

therefore they call him the prince, master, and Father of the prophets, and say, that all

prophesied from the fountain of his prophecy (s): the difference between him and them is

observed, by Maimonides (t) to lie in many things; as that they prophesied by a dream or vision,

but he awake and seeing; they prophesied by the means of an angel, and saw what they did in

parables and dark sayings; but Moses not by means of an angel, but the Lord spake to him face

to face; they trembled and astonished, but not so Moses; they could not prophesy when they

would, but he at any time, nor did he need to dispose and prepare his mind for it; some of which

will not hold good, especially the last; the instances in which he really exceeded them follow:

whom the Lord knew face to face; owned, took notice of, and familiarly conversed with face to

face, as a man with his friend; none were permitted to such familiarity with God as he; see

Num_12:6; the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem paraphrase it, "whom the Word of the Lord

knew.''

3. Clarke, “There arose not a prophet, etc. - Among all the succeeding prophets none was found

so eminent in all respects nor so highly privileged as Moses; with him God spoke face to face -

admitted him to the closest familiarity and greatest friendship with himself. Now all this

continued true till the advent of Jesus Christ, of whom Moses said, “A Prophet shall the Lord

your God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me;” but how great was this

person when compared with Moses! Moses desired to see God’s glory; this sight he could not

bear; he saw his back parts, probably meaning God’s design relative to the latter days: but Jesus,

the Almighty Savior, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, who lay in the bosom

of the Father, he hath declared God to man. Wondrous system of legal ordinances that pointed

out and typified all these things! And more wonderful system of Gospel salvation, which is the

body, soul, life, energy, and full accomplishment of all that was written in the Law, in the

Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning the sufferings and death of Jesus, and the redemption of

a ruined world “by his agony and bloody sweat, by his cross and passion, by his death and burial,

by his glorious resurrection and ascension, and by the coming of the Holy Ghost!” Thus ends the

Pentateuch, commonly called the Law of Moses, a work every way worthy of God its author, and

only less than the New Covenant, the law and Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Now to the ever blessed and glorious Trinity, Father, Word, and Spirit, the infinite and eternal

One, from whom alone wisdom, truth, and goodness can proceed, be glory and dominion for ever

and ever. Amen.

4. Barnes, “There arose not a prophet since in Israel - Words like these can only have been

written some time, but not necessarily a long time, after the death of Moses. They refer more

particularly to the wonders performed by the hand of Moses at the exodus and in the desert; and

do but re-echo the declaration of God Himself (Num_12:6 ff). They may naturally enough be

attributed to one of Moses’ successors, writing perhaps soon after the settlement of the people in

Canaan.

5. K&D, “Because he was thus known by the Lord, Moses was able to perform signs and

wonders, and mighty, terrible acts, such as no other performed either before or after him. In this

respect Joshua stood far below Moses, and no prophet arose in Israel like unto Moses. - This

remark concerning Moses does not presuppose that a long series of prophets had already risen up

since the time of Moses. When Joshua had defeated the Canaanites, and conquered their land

with the powerful help of the Lord, which was still manifested in signs and wonders, and had

divided it among the children of Israel, and when the tribes had settled down in their inheritance,

so that the different portions of the land began to be called by the names of Naphtali, Ephraim,

Manasseh, and Judah, as is the case in Deu_34:2; the conviction might already have become

established in Israel, that no other prophet would arise like Moses, to whom the Lord had

manifested Himself with such signs and wonders before the Egyptians and the eyes of Israel. The

position occupied by Joshua in relation to this his predecessor, as the continuer of his work,

would necessarily awaken and confirm this conviction, in connection with what the Lord had said

as to the superiority of Moses to all the prophets (Num_12:6.). Moses was the founder and

mediator of the old covenant. As long as this covenant was to last, no prophet could arise in Israel

like unto Moses. There is but One who is worthy of greater honour than Moses, namely, the

Apostle and High Priest of our profession, who is placed as the Son over all the house of God, in

which Moses was found faithful as a servant (compare Heb_3:2-6 with Num_12:7), Jesus Christ,

the founder and mediator of the new and everlasting covenant.

6. Henry, “Moses is praised (Deu_34:10-12), and with good reason.

1. He was indeed a very great man, especially upon two accounts: - (1.) His intimacy with the

God of nature: God knew him face to face, and so he knew God. See Num_12:8. He saw more of

the glory of God than any (at least of the Old Testament saints) ever did. He had more free and

frequent access to God, and was spoken to not in dreams, and visions, and slumberings on the

bed, but when he was awake and standing before the cherubim. Other prophets, when God

appeared and spoke to them, were struck with terror (Dan_10:7), but Moses, whenever he

received a divine revelation, preserved his tranquillity. (2.) His interest and power in the kingdom

of nature. The miracles of judgment he wrought in Egypt before Pharaoh, and the miracles of

mercy he wrought in the wilderness before Israel, served to demonstrate that he was a particular

favourite of Heaven, and had an extra-ordinary commission to act as he did on this earth. Never

was there any man whom Israel had more reason to love, or whom the enemies of Israel had

more reason to fear. Observe, The historian calls the miracles Moses wrought signs and wonders,

done with a mighty hand and great terror, which may refer to the terrors of Mount Sinai, by which

God fully ratified Moses's commission and demonstrated it beyond exception to be divine, and

this in the sight of all Israel.

2. He was greater than any other of the prophets of the Old Testament. Though they were men

of great interest in heaven and great influence upon earth, yet they were none of them to be

compared with this great man; none of them either so evidenced or executed a commission from

heaven as Moses did. This encomium of Moses seems to have been written long after his death,

yet then there had not arisen any prophet like unto Moses, nor did there arise any such between

that period and the sealing up of the vision and prophecy. by Moses God gave the law, and

moulded and formed the Jewish church; by the other prophets he only sent particular reproofs,

directions, and predictions. The last of the prophets concludes with a charge to remember the law

of Moses, Mal_4:4. Christ himself often appealed to the writings of Moses, and vouched him for a

witness, as one that saw his day at a distance and spoke of him. But, as far as the other prophets

came short of him, our Lord Jesus went beyond him. His doctrine was more excellent, his

miracles were more illustrious, and his communion with his Father was more intimate, for he had

lain in his bosom from eternity, and by him God does now in these last days speak to us. Moses

was faithful as a servant, but Christ as a Son. The history of Moses leaves him buried in the

plains of Moab, and concludes with the period of his government; but the history of our Saviour

leaves him sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and we are assured that of the increase

of his government and peace there shall be no end. The apostle, in his epistle to the Hebrews,

largely proves the pre-eminence of Christ above Moses, as a good reason why we that are

Christians should be obedient, faithful, and constant, to that holy religion which we make

profession of. God, by his grace, make us all so!

11 who did all those signs and wonders the LORD sent

him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and

to his whole land.

1. The fame and greatness of Moses is connected with his role in leading the people of Israel out

of Egypt, and all the miracles he performed in getting the job done. There is no other account in

the Bible that is more amazing and spectacular when it comes to miracles and wonders, and

Moses was God's man in bringing it all about.

2. Gill, “In all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do,.... The same Targums

also paraphrase here,"which the Word of the Lord sent him to do;''for he it was that appeared to

him in the bush, and sent him to Egypt to work miracles, which he did by him:

in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land; to whom they were

visible, and who were all affected by them more or less: this respects chiefly the ten plagues

inflicted on the Egyptians: the Jews observe that the superior excellency of Moses to the rest of

the prophets lay chiefly in his superior degree of prophecy rather than in miracles, and not so

much in the nature or the quality of the miracles; the stopping of the sun by Joshua, and the

raising of the dead to life by Elijah and Elisha, being greater than his; but either in the duration

of them, as the manna which continued near forty years; or especially in the quantity of them, he

working more than all the rest put together: Manasseh Ben Israel (u) has collected all that the

prophets wrought or were wrought for their sakes, and they came to seventy four; but those that

were wrought by Moses or on his account make seventy six; but whether this is a just account I

will not say.

12 For no one has ever shown the mighty power or

performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight

of all Israel.

1. Moses was a one of a kind leader. God honored him with a role that nobody else could ever

match, and he did all that God expected of him. Even this greatest of men, however, made a

major mistake by disobeying God, and he paid for it by being denied entrance into the Promised

Land. God so loved him, however, and so he was taken to heaven and later allowed to enter that

land at the time of Jesus.

2. Gill, “And in all that mighty hand,.... In all done by his hand, which he stretched out over the

sea and divided, to make a passage through it for the Israelites, and with his rod in it smote the

rocks, and waters gushed out for them:

and in all that great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel; meaning either the

terror the Egyptians were struck with by him, in the sight of all Israel, when he publicly and

before them wrought the wonders he did in the land of Ham, which often threw them into a

panic, especially the thunders and lightning, the three days darkness, and the slaying of their

firstborn; see Psa_78:49; or the terror the Israelites were in at the giving and receiving of the law,

Exo_19:16.