Wednesday Bible Study: The end of all things- Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 34 is basically Moses' goodbye.  And again, it might seem hard to draw a lesson from it, but it's there.

The chapter begins just after the final blessing Moses gave to the people, at which point he ascends Mount Nebo and gets shown the promised land he is not to enter.

Here you get a clear picture of the boundaries to which God pointed Moses's eyes.  You'll find Mount Nebo just above where it says, "Reuben", in red.  By this map's legend, that makes it just over 50 miles to Zoar, about 65 to the sea, and over a hundred miles to Dan.  Can you see that far without Divine help?  Wiki, noting the verse, says that today from the summit of Nebo, you can see Jerusalem "on a very clear day".  And Jerusalem's only about 30 miles across the sea.  But, the writer DOES say,
Deu 34:7  Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. 

And no, that's not the lesson.  Nor is this part:

Deu 34:5  So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD, 
Deu 34:6  and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. 

Though it is significant in how it enlightens a much later bit of Scripture.  You see, God's purpose in burying Moses "Where no one knows" was so that his grave would not become a shrine or idol- something that the Israelites "were prone to doing" (says John Wesley's commentary).  So the Devil would have a vested interest in having them FIND the grave, which brings us to Jude...

Jud 1:9  But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." 

So now you know why they were contending.

But the lesson here is the sharp contrast of two themes.  One is the greatness of the life and service to God of Moses:

Deu 34:10  And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 

Deu 34:11  none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 

Deu 34:12  and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. 

And the other is the price of one act of disobedience:

Deu 34:4  And the LORD said to him, "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, 'I will give it to your offspring.' I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there." 

So is this God saying, like the old joke, "One 'Aw, crap' wipes away all accumulated 'Attaboys'" ?

Not at all.

Moses, despite his glowing testimonial here, was not perfect.  He had murdered; he was (initially) disobedient about circumcision; he argued with God about even going back to Egypt.  But the sin that he was banned from the promised land for was of a different stripe:

Num 20:7  and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 

Num 20:8  "Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle." 

Num 20:9  And Moses took the staff from before the LORD, as he commanded him. 

Num 20:10  Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?" 

Num 20:11  And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 

Num 20:12  And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them." 

God told them to TALK to the rock; Moses, so sick of the same thing over and over from the people for 40 years, yelled at them and HIT the rock.  Where his other sins involved breaking the commandments of the Law before a limited audience, this was disobedience of what God told him BEFORE AN AUDIENCE that looked to his leadership.  The parallel with David, "the man after God's own heart", is striking.  David had become the unquestioned leader and example of the people, as Moses had.  David  brought shame to the Lord, not by the sin of adultery (not that that was a good thing), but by the murder of Uriah by those who FOLLOWED HIS ORDERS, which should have been the orders of God.*  And the most precious earthly thing to him- whether it was the child of adultery, or the peace of a contented rule- was taken away from him.

*Thus, I finally understand why it is that, in David's own testimonial, it is said,

1Ki 15:4  Nevertheless, for David's sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem, 

1Ki 15:5  because David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. 

This then is a lesson of humility to leaders- Shame me before the congregation, says the Lord, and the price is a fearful one.  And a lesson to ALL of us on the importance of obedience.