Deuteronomy 34:1-9 - Death, Burial, And Encomium Of Moses.

The last journey.

(For other aspects of the death of Moses, see Homily on Deuteronomy 32:48-52 .) We have come at last to the closing scene. It is evidently recorded by other hands; for "Dan" ( Deuteronomy 34:2 ) did not exist by that name till a much later period (see Judy. Deuteronomy 18:1 , 27-29). Deuteronomy 34:10-12 indicate, moreover, a period later still; very possibly, it may have been as far on as the time of Ezra when those verses were added. And whoever will make use of the formula,—"early authorship, late editorship," as applicable to the Book of Deuteronomy, will have in his hands a key which will enable him to unlock many of the intricacies with which unbelieving writers seek to worry us. In all probability there was an ample supply of men in the later schools of the prophets who would be quite equal to editorial work; and most assuredly, Ezra would not be lacking in fitness for such service. It is altogether gratuitous and unnecessary to attempt to lower the value of the book in the eyes of others on account of the manifest touches of a later age. The revision of an ancient book, freeing it from archaisms, and, as we should say, "posting it up to date," would increase, not diminish its value.

By whomsoever written, this closing chapter is a fitting appendix to the words of the lawgiver himself. For homiletic use it is exceedingly suggestive.

I. MOSES HAS TO TAKE A REMARKABLE JOURNEY .

"The Lord showed him all the land." The vision was in part physical, but that which faith beheld in the glorious future which was assured to the people of God, was by far the most precious part of the sight—incomparably so. Thus the Lord was merciful to Moses, in that, though his joy in death was checked by the sense of his own defect and failures, he would, on the other hand, be borne up by the thought that God never had failed , and never would . The future, from which he was cut off, would assuredly develop gloriously under the care and grace of Israel's covenant God. Even so, when God's heroes sink in death, they know that, though they die, God's Church will live on, and that the promised inheritance will yet be theirs. And many, many a believer has had a vision, in death, akin to that of Stephen, and, though appalled at his own shortcomings, has been borne up by a sight of Jesus, as "mighty to save," and as the Captain of salvation, who will bring the Church onward to the fullness of redemption.

III. WHEN THESE DEATH - SCENES ARE WITNESSED THE SOUL WILL BE ABSOLUTELY ALONE WITH GOD . Moses lay himself down to die, without any attendant by his side. However many there might have been around, between himself and God no one could possibly come. He must die alone; so must we. Alone must we pass through "death's iron gate," save as we can use the words in Psalms 23:4 . There is but One whose real presence can comfort us then.

IV. THE BODIES OF GOD 'S SAINTS ARE NOT OVERLOOKED BY HIM . ( Psalms 23:6 .) "The Lord buried him," says the editor, "and no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day." Some have assigned it as a reason for the concealment of the body of Moses, "that his tomb might not become the occasion of idolatry or superstition." Others, rejecting this as inconsistent with the known fact that in the eye of the Hebrews every dead body was unclean, have sought for a reason by comparing Jude 1:9 with Matthew 17:1-27 . They deem it not improbable that there might be some change in the body of Moses in death, which would account for his appearing in the Transfiguration scene with another, who was taken up to heaven without dying, and also for the mysterious conflict over the body, of which Jude informs us. This may have been, but we can go no further than the text takes us by the hand. It suffices to know that God oared for Moses' body as well as for him. The body of believers is now the temple of the Holy Ghost. Christ is "the Savior of the body." The Spirit who dwells in us will quicken the mortal body at the resurrection.

V. THE WORK WHICH MOSES HAS DONE IS ONE WHICH WILL FIND NO PARALLEL TO IT . ( Jude 1:10 .) (See next Homily.) Every worker for God has his own distinctive work, which only he can do.

VI. GOD HAS ALREADY RAISED UP ONE TO CARRY ON THE WORK OF MOSES , SO THAT IT WILL NOT FALL TO PIECES WREN HE DIES . ( Jude 1:9 .) Joshua is ready. So that there are no chasms in the service.

VII. THE INCOMPLETENESS OF MOSES ' WORK IS NOT ONLY A HISTORICAL BUT A SYMBOLIC FACT . It is not a lawgiver alone who can had the Church on to Canaan, but a Joshua—Jesus, a Savior. "The Law was given by Moses, but [the] grace and [the] truth came by Jesus Christ." Moses had propounded truth in his legislative precept and teachings. He had taught God's grace in the institutions of sacrifice, and in the ordinances of worship, prayer, and praise. But the truth he disclosed, the grace he declared, were brought in by another, long ages after, for whose work he was intended to prepare the way. "The Law was a child-guide until Christ." Happy are they whose life-work is in harmony with the plan of him who seeth the end from the beginning! Happy they, whether in more prominent or more obscure positions, who are in their Lord's own appointed way workers together with him!