Dt. 34: Obituary: Moses

Deuteronomy 34:10 "no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,"

So Moses finally climbs Mount Nebo. From His vantage point, Moses could apparently see all the land of the tribes from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea...from Negev to Zoar. God tells him that this is the land that was promised to your forefathers, and will be given to your descendants.

What wonder Moses must have felt. What a great sense of accomplishment and joy must have flooded into him. For I don't believe Moses held this punishment God gave against Him. I believe at this point, Moses, who had just given all these blessings to each tribe, was so happy for Israel, so selflessly hopeful for them to just keep God's commands and to love Him. Moses probably felt that he didn't have to enter the promised land himself. It was enough to look out over the plans and the valley and see where the tribes of his people would be settling in, that Moses could say, "It is finished."

God buried Moses somewhere where we don't know where he is. The interesting thing about this was that Moses was 120 years old at his death, (the post-flood limit) yet the word says his eyes were not weak, nor his strength gone. It was time for Moses to go. Moses had accomplished what God had him set out to do. This same stammering Moses who was so afraid to go into Egypt and stand up to Pharaoh delivers the law to the Israelites, and speaks to God "face to face." An amazing journey. I wonder if that still happens today...you accomplish what God has put you on this earth to do, and then He takes you. Is it too much to want to be compared to Moses in that sense?

Looks like Joshua is ready to take over...filled with the spirit, as Moses had laid hands on him.