Deuteronomy 34 Study Notes

34:1 The Abarim mountain range, east of the Jordan River just opposite Jericho, includes Mount Nebo on the western slope of Pisgah. From there it is possible on a clear day to view all the land of Canaan, including its northernmost borders at Gilead and Dan.

34:2 The tribes of Naphtali . . . Ephraim . . . Manasseh, and Judah later occupied the central hill country. Their territories and even beyond, as far west as the Mediterranean Sea, could be seen from Nebo.

34:3 The rest of the land of Canaan to the south was also visible from Moses’s vantage point. The Negev is the vast desert area south of Judah extending to the Gulf of Aqaba arm of the Red Sea. The Valley of Jericho is another name for the portion of the Great Rift Valley that includes the Dead Sea, the southernmost city of which was Zoar (cp. Gn 19:18-26).

34:4 What Moses saw was the land God had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob hundreds of years earlier as part of the covenant blessing (Gn 12:1; 13:14-17; 15:18-21). Though Moses could see the land with his own eyes, he was forbidden access to it because of his sin of dishonoring the Lord in the eyes of the people of Israel (32:51). See, however, Mt 17:3.

34:5-8 According to the Lord’s word in v. 5 is literally “upon the mouth of Yahweh.” It occurs twenty-one times, all but three in the Pentateuch. It is usually translated “at the command of the Lord.” The Lord buried Moses just north of Pisgah. The people of Israel rightly viewed him as a mighty champion for the Lord and accorded him all the rites and ceremonies appropriate to the demise of such a leader (v. 8).

34:6 Moses’s burial place is unknown today. That was even true “to this day,” that is, at the time of the final editing of the book of Deuteronomy. Jude referred to the mystery surrounding Moses’s burial place, alluding to the dispute of Michael the archangel with the devil about the matter (Jd 9).

34:7 Moses’s remarkable vitality at the age of one hundred twenty years is mentioned to make the point that he died not of “natural” causes but because he had finished the task of leadership to which God had called him. A person is immortal until God pleases to let his life come to an end.

34:9 Joshua had been well schooled to succeed Moses (3:28; 31:7-8; Nm 27:18-21), but all the training in the world was insufficient without his being filled with the spirit of wisdom (cp. Nm 11:17,24-30). When it was apparent to the people that Joshua was adequately prepared for leadership, they obeyed him . . . as the Lord had commanded Moses.

34:10 It is impossible to know when the last words of Deuteronomy were penned, but whoever did so remarked that until his day no prophet . . . like Moses had arisen again in Israel. What set him apart was that he was the only one God communicated with face to face (Ex 33:19-23; Nm 12:6-8).

34:11-12 Moses was unique among the prophets also in the number and nature of the signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do against the land of Egypt (cp. Ex 4-12). These had the effect of convincing the Egyptians of the mighty power of Israel’s God (Ex 8:19; 9:27-28; 10:16-17). They were also performed in the sight of all Israel to persuade the Lord’s own people of his mighty power and glory (Ex 14:31).