The Death of Moses

1. DEUTERONOMY 34 COMMENTARY
Written 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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,

8. 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:

9. 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!

10. 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

11. 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 ( , 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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.

18. 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.”

19. 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).

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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.

24. 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

25. 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), thatthe 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

26. 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. KD, “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

27. 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.

28. 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.