Day 61: Deuteronomy 31-34 - Moses left the stage

The view from Mount Nebo where Moses finally left the stage. It is an unspoilt, simple memorial to a towering legend and one of the greatest men to have ever walked the earth. What a story.



Happy birthday to you (Chapter 31)

I have met people whose religious sentiment says no to so much. Oh I hate religiosity and legalism. I run a mile from it. Had enough of it as a young man.

Well, just to upset the apple cart, young Moses celebrated his birthday.

As an astute scribe (a rare ability in education-deprived Egypt), Moses personally took responsibility for recording everything in his books. He also kept a faithful record of his own years. I imagine he was into "his books" from an early age, a pattern inculcated by his Egyptian "mother".

He knew when he was 40, 80 and 120.

That’s partly because notables in Egypt were honored on their milestone days, but also because when he was 6 or 7 his parents had been celebrating each year he survived the wrath of Egypt.

 Thus, he worked out the exact date of birth and kept it on record, then marked off his years.

“This day I am 120 years old”, he said to the assembly of Israel. Given that, by then, 70 was deemed a good innings, he had done well. He outlived his brother and sister, but quite possibly also his son, Gershom, who may have been over 20 when they turned back.

Only three souls over 20 were allowed to survive from the previous generation: Moses, Caleb and Joshua, and only when the last had gone, could God’s oath be lifted.

However, he then also indicated that his own death was at hand and that he would join the many who would not see the Promised Land. And then there were two. It was time to transfer the baton. 

The laying on of the hands of Moses (34:9), the Shekinah presence of God and the witness of the congregation confirmed Joshua as the new leader of Israel, with the admonishment, “Be strong and of good courage”.

Being ever the meticulous steward (God chose very well), Moses finished his books and wrote the last chapter, then had the book preserved in the ark. He instructed Israel to open it and read it again before the entire congregation, every 7^th year. 

After the exile, Ezra found the book and it gave them a way back to traditions long forgotten. Josiah did the same in his day. The law became their touchstone and it remains that way. 

In light of that, God cautioned Moses, who cautioned Israel, that they would corrupt and turn away, despite all that God had showed them. Yet God would never reciprocate by turning away from his promises, or the memory of souls like Abraham or Moses.

You are the rock (chapter 32)

Moses had clearly reflected on the beating of the rock that led to his being numbered with those who would never enter the Promised Land.

He had spent a lot of time weeping and repenting, which awakened him to the great rock of his faith. He finally broadcast it. “You are the rock of Israel”. He implied, “I beat you”. Well, if ever anyone beat God, it was us, through the death of his son.

In naming him “the Rock”, Moses confirmed the nature of God the Father. All his ways are justice. His role in the Godhead is that of supreme judge.

That is a critical point, for in getting that and so getting it that they called him Gd, for fear of his name, we can now appreciate the conciliatory work of Jesus. He intermediated to make peace between us and the unyielding righteousness of God above. 

The chapter is littered with comparisons between the great Rock of Israel and the lesser rock of all who rebel against him.

It parallels the moment when Jesus said, “You are a stone Peter, but on this Rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against her”.

However, Hebrew did not treat Israel as feminine, the way we now name nations or the way Jesus called the church, his bride. She was a he. There is a prophetic mystery there, for the fusion of the old (he) covenant with the new (she) testament, gave us the whole counsel of God.

The great benediction (Chapter 32)

Moses pictured the glory of God rising like the sun from the desert of Paran, in Midian, to lead tens of thousands from Sinai, through Kadesh Meribah, the southern gateway of Canaan.

It is a metaphoric image of Jesus hearing the bitter prayers and anguish (Meribah means bitter) of the saints and then rising on the white horse of judgment, to descend from heaven like the glory of the sun with ten thousands of saints in train.

Moses then blessed all the tribes, one by one. He reserved no pejorative, nothing negative. He loved them and saw only the goodness of God in his people.

He restored Reuben to a place of nobility, saw Judah as the true warrior tribe, reserved a poignant blessing for Benjamin (who later sided with Judah) and Joseph, and foresaw Dan rise like a lion to replace his small southern land with greater lands to the north.

He also saw Asher’s toes dipped in oil, a prophecy concerning the oil found in the toe of that tribal land. It is all so rich and inspiring.

Time to go (Chapter 33)

God told Moses, at the end of Chapter 31, to depart and head up into Mount Nebo, into the sunset of his life. The people watched him walk alone into the empty hills, a man at peace with himself and his life. What a giant had left the stage.

From the highlands of Moab or modern Jordan, Moses gazed out across the Promised Land and saw what God once promised to Abraham. In the distance he also saw the hill where the covenant was sealed in the offering of Isaac.

He wept, then died. He found a cave in some valley and was never seen again.

We know from Jude that Satan, who presumed a claim on all the dead, disputed for his body and that it should stay earth bound. We must assume that Michael took the body of Moses, so he could teh progress of his people from the heights of Zion. 

Joshua then assumed command. That ended the greatest chapter in the history of Israel and of the entire biblical narrative. Ahead of them, and us, lay the land of Promise. Joshua then prepared that great nation for their greatest conquest.

(c) Peter Missing @ bethelstone.com