Deuteronomy 34
Moses wished very much to see the land which God had promised Israel. God had said he could not go in with the people. But the same day he finished the last talk to them. God told him to go up on Mt. Nebo.
This mountain was on the east side of the Jordan river, and from there God showed Moses the land of Canaan: he looked north and south, east and west, over its mountains, valleys, fields, and forests. Men since have climbed the high mountain peaks in that land, and have seen Canaan very plainly, but do not know the exact peak on which Moses stood.
Moses’ eye was not dim and his body was still strong, but God’s time had come for him to die: “So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there,... according to the word of the Lord.” And he was buried in a valley by the Lord, and no one then, nor since, knew the place of his grave. The people mourned for him thirty days.
Moses had been a great and kind leader of these people. He loved them, and had given up a high place with the king of Egypt to share their burdens. He had sat all day to judge over them; when they sinned, he had earnestly prayed God to forgive them. He is called the greatest prophet of Israel. A prophet is one who tells God’s Words: what He wants people to do; and what is to happen; and Moses had very patiently told God’s Words. God had done the greatest signs and wonders for Israel by Moses He ever did for any people.
Moses lived forty-years with the king of Egypt; forty years in the lonely desert lands tending the herds; and forty years as leader of Israel on the journey to Canaan. How old was Moses when he died? Deut. 34:77And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. (Deuteronomy 34:7).
Do you know a still greater work Moses did, than to be the leader of the big camp of Israel? It was to write God’s words, and thousands of people since have read those writing’s. We will talk more of this next time, the Lord willing.
ML 01/16/1938