Numbers 27:12

"And Jehovah said unto Moses, Get thee up into this mountain of Abarim, and behold the land which I have given unto the children of Israel. And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered; because ye rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the waters before their eyes. (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)"

Here we do not have some kind of subjective premonition or "hunch" on Moses' part to the effect that he might die. Oh, no! "Jehovah said unto Moses ..." It is difficult to imagine a more specific commandment. (1) Get up (into Abarim and see the land). (2) Then you will die (when you have seen the land). (3) How? (Your death will be as Aaron's). (4) Why? (You have failed to sanctify me before the people at the waters of Meribah).

These words prepare us for an account of Moses' death, but the last nine chapters of Numbers and all of Deuteronomy come between this announcement of it and the actual record of it in Deuteronomy 34:1-8.

"This mountain of Abarim ..." Basing his conclusion on Deuteronomy 32:49, Plaut identified this mountain as, "Nebo, some 2,740 in altitude."[16] All the older commentaries also agree with this. "It was certainly Mount Nebo, which is the same as Pisgah."[17] It is somewhat amazing that earlier in Numbers (Numbers 21:11) this area is said to lie "beyond the sunrising," indicating that the perspective of the whole Pentateuch is that of one stationed in the Promised Land. After God's promise to Abraham that his posterity should have Canaan, the perspective of all Israel forever afterward was that of being inside Canaan, as indicated by the statements in Exodus, even while Israel was in the wilderness, that the "Great Sea" (the Mediterranean) was the "Western Sea." Of course, this is a peculiarity, but it does not mean that a late date should be assigned to any of these books.

"At the waters of Meribah ..." (See Numbers 20:2-13 for a comment on this episode.) "As both Aaron and Moses sinned at Kadesh against the commandment of the Lord, so they were both of them to die without entering Canaan."[18] But how did Moses sin there? He violated the commandment of God. But HOW did he do this? Did he not speak to the rock? Of course, he did, but he ALSO struck it twice. His sin was in going BEYOND the Word of God. But protesters say, Yes, but God did not tell him NOT to strike the rock! The discerning person, however, can see that when God commanded "Speak to the rock," the meaning most certainly was "Do NOT strike it!" Is it not also true that when God commands his servants to "Sing," the meaning most certainly is: "Do NOT beat drums; do NOT ring bells; do NOT play man-made instruments of music; do NOT whistle, etc." We believe that when God commanded his servants to take the bread and drink the cup of the Lord's Supper that meaning also included the PROHIBITION of any other edibles upon that sacred table other than the bread and the fruit of the vine. What would be wrong with angelfood cake and coffee, instead of bread and the wine? After all, the Lord did NOT say, "Do NOT use cake and coffee!" That is true, of course, but neither did he tell Moses NOT to strike the rock. Some will never understand this, but it is felt that the humble and the contrite heart will have no trouble at all understanding it.