1 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 showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan,
2 And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea,
3 And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar.
4 And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.
5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.
6 And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.
7 And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses.
10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,
11 In all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land,
12 And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel.
1 And Moses H4872 went up H5927 from the plains H6160 of Moab H4124 unto the mountain H2022 of Nebo, H5015 to the top H7218 of Pisgah, H6449 that is over against H6440 Jericho. H3405 And the LORD H3068 shewed H7200 him all the land H776 of Gilead, H1568 unto Dan, H1835
2 And all Naphtali, H5321 and the land H776 of Ephraim, H669 and Manasseh, H4519 and all the land H776 of Judah, H3063 unto the utmost H314 sea, H3220
3 And the south, H5045 and the plain H3603 of the valley H1237 of Jericho, H3405 the city H5892 of palm trees, H8558 H5899 unto Zoar. H6820
4 And the LORD H3068 said H559 unto him, This is the land H776 which I sware H7650 unto Abraham, H85 unto Isaac, H3327 and unto Jacob, H3290 saying, H559 I will give H5414 it unto thy seed: H2233 I have caused thee to see H7200 it with thine eyes, H5869 but thou shalt not go over H5674 thither.
5 So Moses H4872 the servant H5650 of the LORD H3068 died H4191 there in the land H776 of Moab, H4124 according to the word H6310 of the LORD. H3068
6 And he buried H6912 him in a valley H1516 in the land H776 of Moab, H4124 over against H4136 Bethpeor: H1047 but no man H376 knoweth H3045 of his sepulchre H6900 unto this day. H3117
7 And Moses H4872 was an hundred H3967 and twenty H6242 years H8141 old H1121 when he died: H4194 his eye H5869 was not dim, H3543 nor his natural force H3893 abated. H5127
8 And the children H1121 of Israel H3478 wept H1058 for Moses H4872 in the plains H6160 of Moab H4124 thirty H7970 days: H3117 so the days H3117 of weeping H1065 and mourning H60 for Moses H4872 were ended. H8552
9 And Joshua H3091 the son H1121 of Nun H5126 was full H4392 of the spirit H7307 of wisdom; H2451 for Moses H4872 had laid H5564 his hands H3027 upon him: and the children H1121 of Israel H3478 hearkened H8085 unto him, and did H6213 as the LORD H3068 commanded H6680 Moses. H4872
10 And there arose H6965 not a prophet H5030 since H5750 in Israel H3478 like unto Moses, H4872 whom the LORD H3068 knew H3045 face H6440 to face, H6440
11 In all the signs H226 and the wonders, H4159 which the LORD H3068 sent H7971 him to do H6213 in the land H776 of Egypt H4714 to Pharaoh, H6547 and to all his servants, H5650 and to all his land, H776
12 And in all that mighty H2389 hand, H3027 and in all the great H1419 terror H4172 which Moses H4872 shewed H6213 in the sight H5869 of all Israel. H3478
1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And Jehovah showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan,
2 and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the hinder sea,
3 and the South, and the Plain of the valley of Jericho the city of palm-trees, unto Zoar.
4 And Jehovah said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.
5 So Moses the servant of Jehovah died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of Jehovah.
6 And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.
7 And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping in the mourning for Moses were ended.
9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as Jehovah commanded Moses.
10 And there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom Jehovah knew face to face,
11 in all the signs and the wonders, which Jehovah sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land,
12 and in all the mighty hand, and in all the great terror, which Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel.
1 And Moses goeth up from the plains of Moab unto mount Nebo, the top of Pisgah, which `is' on the front of Jericho, and Jehovah sheweth him all the land -- Gilead unto Dan,
2 and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah unto the further sea,
3 and the south, and the circuit of the valley of Jericho, the city of palms, unto Zoar.
4 And Jehovah saith unto him, `This `is' the land which I have sworn to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, To thy seed I give it; I have caused thee to see with thine eyes, and thither thou dost not pass over.'
5 And Moses, servant of the Lord, dieth there, in the land of Moab, according to the command of Jehovah;
6 and He burieth him in a valley in the land of Moab, over-against Beth-Peor, and no man hath known his burying place unto this day.
7 And Moses `is' a son of a hundred and twenty years when he dieth; his eye hath not become dim, nor hath his moisture fled.
8 And the sons of Israel bewail Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; and the days of weeping `and' mourning for Moses are completed.
9 And Joshua son of Nun is full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him, and the sons of Israel hearken unto him, and do as Jehovah commanded Moses.
10 And there hath not arisen a prophet any more in Israel like Moses, whom Jehovah hath known face unto face,
11 in reference to all the signs and the wonders which Jehovah sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land,
12 and in reference to all the strong hand, and to all the great fear which Moses did before the eyes of all Israel.
1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And Jehovah shewed him the whole land, Gilead to Dan,
2 and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the hindmost sea,
3 and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm-trees, to Zoar.
4 And Jehovah said unto him, This is the land that I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.
5 And Moses the servant of Jehovah died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of Jehovah.
6 And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-Peor; and no man knows his sepulchre to this day.
7 And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; and the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
9 And Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him; and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
10 And there arose no prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom Jehovah had known face to face;
11 according to all the signs and wonders that Jehovah had sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land;
12 and according to all that mighty hand; and according to all the great terribleness that Moses had wrought in the sight of all Israel.
1 Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. Yahweh shown him all the land of Gilead, to Dan,
2 and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, to the hinder sea,
3 and the South, and the Plain of the valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, to Zoar.
4 Yahweh said to him, This is the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, I will give it to your seed: I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.
5 So Moses the servant of Yahweh died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of Yahweh.
6 He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab over against Beth Peor: but no man knows of his tomb to this day.
7 Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
8 The children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping in the mourning for Moses were ended.
9 Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands on him: and the children of Israel listened to him, and did as Yahweh commanded Moses.
10 There has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face,
11 in all the signs and the wonders, which Yahweh sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land,
12 and in all the mighty hand, and in all the great terror, which Moses worked in the sight of all Israel.
1 And Moses went up from the table-lands of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah which is facing Jericho. And the Lord let him see all the land, the land of Gilead as far as Dan;
2 And all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, as far as the Great Sea of the west;
3 And the South, and the circle of the valley of Jericho, the town of palm-trees, as far as Zoar.
4 And the Lord said to him, This is the land about which I made an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it to your seed: now I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not go in there.
5 So death came to Moses, the servant of the Lord, there in the land of Moab, as the Lord had said.
6 And the Lord put him to rest in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor: but no man has knowledge of his resting-place to this day.
7 And Moses at his death was a hundred and twenty years old: his eye had not become clouded, or his natural force become feeble.
8 For thirty days the children of Israel were weeping for Moses in the table-lands of Moab, till the days of weeping and sorrow for Moses were ended.
9 And Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had put his hands on him: and the children of Israel gave ear to him, and did as the Lord had given orders to Moses.
10 There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord had knowledge of face to face;
11 In all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and all his land;
12 And in all the acts of power and fear which Moses did before the eyes of all Israel.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Deuteronomy 34
Commentary on Deuteronomy 34 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
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 (Deuteronomy 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 (Judges 18:27), which did not belong to Gilead, but a Dan in northern Peraea, which has not yet been discovered (see at Genesis 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 Deuteronomy 11:24); also “ the south land ” ( Negeb : see at Numbers 13:17), the southern land of steppe towards the Arabian desert, and “ the valley of the Jordan ” (see Genesis 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: Judges 1:16; Judges 3:13; 2 Chronicles 28:15) “ to Zoar ” at the southern extremity of the Dead Sea (see at Genesis 19:22). This sight of every part of the land on the east and west was not an ecstatic vision, but a sight with the bodily eyes, whose natural power of vision was miraculously increased by God, to give Moses a glimpse at least of the glorious land which he was not to tread, and delight his eye with a view of the inheritance intended for his people.
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 Numbers 27:12-14). “ And He buried him in the land of Moab, over against Beth Peor .” The subject in this sentence is Jehovah. Though the third person singular would allow of the verb being taken as impersonal ( ἔθαψαν αὐτόν , lxx: they buried him), such a rendering is precluded by the statement which follows, “ no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day .” “The valley” where the Lord buried Moses was certainly not the Jordan valley, as in Deuteronomy 3:29, but most probably “the valley in the field of Moab, upon the top of Pisgah,” mentioned in Numbers 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 Deuteronomy 34:1-6 respecting the end of Moses' life, from the promise of God in Deuteronomy 32:49, and Numbers 27:12-13, which was communicated to them by Moses himself (Deuteronomy 3:27), and from the fact that Moses went up Mount Nebo, from which he never returned. On his ascending the mountain, the eyes of the people would certainly follow him as far as they possibly could. It is also very possible that there were many parts of the Israelitish camp from which the top of Nebo was visible, so that the eyes of his people could not only accompany him thither, but could also see that when the Lord had shown him the promised land, He went down with him into the neighbouring valley, where Moses was taken for ever out of their sight. There is not a word in the text about God having brought the body of Moses down from the mountain and buried it in the valley. This “romantic idea” is invented by Knobel , for the purpose of throwing suspicion upon the historical truth of a fact which is offensive to him. The fact itself that the Lord buried His servant Moses, and no man knows of his sepulchre, is in perfect keeping with the relation in which Moses stood to the Lord while he was alive. Even if his sin at the water of strife rendered it necessary that he should suffer the punishment of death, as a memorable example of the terrible severity of the holy God against sin, even in the case of His faithful servant; yet after the justice of God had been satisfied by this punishment, he was to be distinguished in death before all the people, and glorified as the servant who had been found faithful in all the house of God, whom the Lord had known face to face (Deuteronomy 34:10), and to whom He had spoken mouth to mouth (Numbers 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.
Though he died at the age of one hundred and twenty (see at Deuteronomy 31:2), Moses' eyes had not become dim, and his freshness had not abated ( לח ב̔́נ. כוד. , connected with לח in Genesis 30:37, signifies freshness). Thus had the Lord preserved the full vital energy of His servant, even till the time of his death. The mourning of the people lasted thirty days, as in the case of Aaron (Numbers 20:29).
Joshua now took Moses' place as the leader of the people, filled with the spirit of wisdom (practical wisdom, manifesting itself in action), because Moses had ordained him to his office by the laying on of hands ( Numbers 27:18). And the people obeyed him; but he was not like Moses. “ There arose no more a prophet in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face ,” i.e., so far as the miracles and signs were concerned which Moses did, by virtue of his divine mission, upon Pharaoh, his servants, and his land, and the terrible acts which he performed before the eyes of Israel (Deuteronomy 34:11 and Deuteronomy 34:12; vid., Deuteronomy 26:8, and Deuteronomy 4:34). “ Whom Jehovah knew: ” not who knew Him, the Lord. “To know,” like γινώσκειν in 1 Corinthians 8:3, relates to the divine knowledge, which not only involves a careful observance (Deuteronomy 2:7), but is also a manifestation of Himself to man, a penetration of man with the spiritual power of God. 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 Deuteronomy 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 (Numbers 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 Hebrews 3:2-6 with Numbers 12:7), Jesus Christ, the founder and mediator of the new and everlasting covenant.