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Deuteronomy Chapter 34
- Deuteronomy 34:1 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 shewed 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.
Moses knew it was time for him to depart from
this life, leave his body and go to be with the Lord. He is not
dead. Only his old tabernacle or body is dead, not his soul and
spirit. He didn't get to enter the promise land because of his anger
at the waters of Meribah.
- Numbers 20:7 And the LORD
spake unto Moses, saying,
- 8 Take the rod,
and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy
brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it
shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them
water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and
their beasts drink.
- 9 And Moses
took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him.
- 10 And Moses
and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock,
and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you
water out of this rock?
- 11 And Moses
lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice:
and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank,
and their beasts also.
- 12 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to
sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye
shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have
given them.
- 13 This is the
water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the
LORD, and he was sanctified in them.
This may seem harsh to us in the day and age
but we must remember that it is very important to obey God and not
take any glory away from Him and make it seem like the power is in
us and not the Lord. Many great workers for God have had their
downfall because they failed in this area and people began to follow
them instead of the Lord. That sometimes can result in a cult
like fellowship that follows a
person instead of a congregation that follows the Lord.
- Deuteronomy 34:5 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.
No one knows where God buried Moses, perhaps
so that the people would not build a shrine and worship his place of
burial. We see from history that us humans tend to puff our
leaders up too far. We are to respect not worship our leaders.
Praying to they after they die is the sin of idolatry.
- Deuteronomy 34:7 And Moses was an
hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim,
nor his natural force abated.
God gave Moses good physical health and
strength to lead the people all the way to the land of promise. But
Moses was not really dead as we see death from looking at it from
our direction. To one who believes and trusts in God, when we are
absent from the body, we are present with the Lord. There is no soul
sleep. The soul either goes to heaven or to hell at death. Before
the resurrection of Jesus the righteous ones went to a place called
Abraham's bosom. After Jesus was resurrected, He took the righteous
souls with him to heaven to await the resurrection.
- 2Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I
say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be
present with the Lord.
- 9 Wherefore we labour, that,
whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
- 10 For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done
in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or
bad.
This is a great hope and a promise to have.
To be absent from our physical bodies is to be present with the
Lord. We see Moses again at the mount of transfiguration told
in Matthew 17 and Luke chapter 9.
- Deuteronomy 34:8 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 shewed in the sight of all
Israel.
Yet we know there was one to come and He did
come whom we call Jesus the Christ, the very Son of God that was
sent to become a sacrifice for our sins and the only way of eternal
salvation. -DC
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Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise them
up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will
put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that
I shall command him.
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19 And it shall come
to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he
shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
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