The opinion that "the body of Moses" in Jude means the Jewish people is a stupid old Rabbinical notion. One says truly of this and similar notions, "All such explanations are of course out of the question; and the literal matter of fact alone to be held fast." That it is matter of fact is evident by the very form of it.
Moses is the only man God is said to have buried, "and no man, knoweth his sepulcher unto this day;" but "Michael the Archangel" evidently did so; and it is possible Michael, His highest heavenly servant, may have been the instrument of Jehovah to give His greatest of human servants the most honorable burial; and, if it were then that the "contending " happened, it might be that Satan disputed his right to this high honor, considering that his sin, in speaking unadvisedly with his lips and smiting the rock instead of speaking to it, had caused not only his exclusion from the land of Canaan but his death. Michael, standing before God, dared not bring against him a "railing accusation," but (overawed by the majesty of God) said, " The Lord rebuke thee." And, besides, the context in Jude would lead us to infer that he also had respect for the original greatness, dignity, and glory of the devil. In this Michael sets us an example to cherish a respectful spirit when speaking of Satan, because of his greatness as a creature of God; and if we stand in God's presence with a profound sense of His majesty we will not be found indulging the lawless spirit of the day that allows men to speak evil of dignities, whether earthly, supernal, or infernal. The maintaining of his servantship in Jehovah's presence enabled him calmly to put him under the rebuke of the Lord and leave him there. Thus must we feel and act if we would "resist the devil and have him flee from us." " Whom resist, steadfast in the faith;" "Strong in the Lord and in the power of His might."
But are we to be satisfied with the explanation given as to the ground of the contention? The object of their contention was "the body of Moses;" but was the ground of it that he should be buried by God, or that the "body of Moses" should not be in Satan's power as having "the power of death" (Heb. 2:1414Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Hebrews 2:14)), Christ's death, which alone delivers, not having yet taken place; but that it should be in the special keeping of Michael, that Moses should appear in it on the transfiguration hill along with Elijah, also in his body, and Jesus, in His glorious transfigured body, shining above the brightness of the sun in the midst?
When Satan's power over the bodies of the saints of God who slept in their graves was broken " through death" when Jesus died on Calvary, the right and title to deliverance from the domain of death appeared openly in this that " the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints which slept arose " (Matt. 27); but "they came out of their graves after His resurrection." " He was the first to rise from the dead " in the power of life, that "could not be holden of" death or of "him that had the power of death," whom He "through death," "destroyed" or " annulled."
But when the disciples were with Jesus " on the holy mount " " there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him "-and before "the two men" could be seen talking
they must have been there in their bodies. Then may we not conclude that the contention was that "the body of Moses" should be buried by God, angelically guarded all along by Michael from the devil's domain of death, and supernaturally brought forth, even before the death and resurrection of Christ, to appear with Jesus " on the holy mount?"
Thus this greatest of God's pre-Christian servants, who was denied entrance into the terrestrial and transitory kingdom of Canaan as the leader of the tribes of Israel, was honored to enter it in company with Jesus the Son of God when " He received from God the Father honor and glory," and there was given him a momentary vision of the coming of the kingdom of God in power and glory at the Lord's glorious advent, when earth and heaven shall be united, and the dominion and the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be administered by Him to the glory of God the Father.
"The body of Moses" is then the body of "the man Moses," and is unfigurative, just as "the body of Jesus" was the body of "the man Christ Jesus," which Joseph the counselor begged of Pilate (Luke 23:5252This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. (Luke 23:52)).
It is only sheer ignorance of the meaning of God's counsels and ways, and of the mind of the Spirit, that could lead any man to affirm that "the body of Moses " is a figurative expression for the Jewish people, just as "the body of Christ" is for the church of God. The expression that answers to "the body of Moses" would be "the body of Jesus," the historical person, not of the official person Christ; and Christians are never spoken of as the body of Jesus," nor are the Jews ever said in Scripture to be "the body of Moses."