Moses - episode 7

With this post, we conclude Moses’ story; we are in the Book of Deuteronomy, which contains the last four speeches of this great prophet. Moses recounts to the people the journey from Egypt to the threshold of the Promised Land, in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan. It is necessary to remind the young people of the Lord’s deeds and laws because all their unfaithful fathers died in the forty years spent in the wilderness. Moses renews the covenant with God and blesses the children of Israel as Jacob did many years before (Gen 49).

It is worth mention here some particularly significant passages of Deuteronomy about the motives of the Lord’s benevolence for Israel. «The LORD did not set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples: but because the LORD loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, has the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt». The Lord’s love is free, but when the people will enter the Promised Land they must not forget all the teachings received in the wilderness. «You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. He humbled you, and allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you did not know, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of God [...]. Beware lest you forget the LORD your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you this day: lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and lived therein; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water; who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint; who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know; that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end: and lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.” But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day».

 

 

Moses’ difficult mission finished, he goes up Mount Nebo to contemplate the Promised Land from afar. He does not have permission to enter it, this will be the task of his loyal assistant, Joshua son of Nun, to whom Moses transmits the Spirit of God. Moses who spoke «mouth to mouth» with the Lord (Num 12,8), in an unparalleled intimacy, “on his mouth” (at his command) agrees to die, out of the Promised Land. He is not weak or sick, but dies only to obey the Lord’s command. Although it is usually not reported in current language translations, the Hebrew text writes that it was the Lord himself to bury him, with a gesture of extraordinary tenderness. Here are the last words of the book of Deuteronomy: «So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab over against Beth Peor: but no man knows of his tomb to this day. Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural vigor diminished. The children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping in the mourning for Moses were ended. Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands on him: and the children of Israel listened to him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses. There has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 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, and in all the mighty hand, and in all the great terror, which Moses worked in the sight of all Israel».

The Hebrews consider Moses the greatest of the prophets: by him God made the tribes of Israel a people, donating them freedom, laws and the covenant. The entrance into the Promised Land and the battles for its conquest are told in the book Joshua, that we will read in the next posts.