The Addendum (34:1-12)
Neal Pollard
There is no indication other than that “all Scripture is God-breathed” (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16). The question arises about whom God inspired to write the last twelve verses of Deuteronomy. Did God give him those words, to, in effect, write his own obituary? That is possible, even probable. Could it have been Joshua, his successor whom the narrator says “was filled with the spirit of wisdom” (9)? Neither answer (or an unnamed narrator) is implausible. What can we learn from these last twelve verses?
HE GOT TO SEE THE PROMISED LAND (1-5). Despite the hollowness he must have felt to be so close, yet so far away, he was able to lay his sharp eyes (7) on Canaan. That had to bring him some satisfaction, witnessing the very land he started from Egypt for. He has a panoramic view from his Pisgah vantage point (1-3). “The narrator mentions the extremity of Moses’ gaze: from Gilead a hundred miles north as far as Dan, at the foot of Mount Hermon, sixty miles west as far as the western sea (Mediterranean, NP), and fifty miles south as far as Zoar (near the Dead Sea, NP)” (Block, NIV Application Comm., p. 577). He would have seen the diversity of this amazing land in all its glory. God confirms that this is the place promised to Moses’ great patriarchal forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (4).
HIS BURIAL PLACE WAS HIDDEN (6). Why was his burial place hidden? We cannot say for certain. Was it because God forbid Moses to go there, and, thus, his body was forbidden to rest and decompose there? Was it an intimate expression on God’s part, that God Himself buries Moses (rather than his family, as was customary) and that Moses was alone with God at his death? As it was, no Israelite could memorialize or enshrine his tomb. No one knew where it was. Perhaps this was the reason for the dispute over Moses’ dead body between Michael the archangel and the devil (Jude 9).
HE DIED BECAUSE HE FAILED TO ENTER CANAAN; HE DIDN’T FAIL TO ENTER CANAAN BECAUSE HE DIED (7). I read that somewhere. Notice that he was in prime shape when he died, as “his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated.” Though 120 years old, he was still going strong. In other words, the cause of death seems supernatural rather than natural. God brought his journey to an end, shy of the promised land.
HE WAS A MOURNED LEADER (8). There seems to be at least some irony in this. The people whom he had dragged, often kicking and screaming, from the wilderness of Paran (Num. 13) to the plains of Moab (Num. 33:49-50), now lamented his death for a solid month. No doubt, some of this was ceremonial and prescribed. The benefit of hindsight can make a people appreciative of good leadership when it is gone. Joshua is a fitting, successful leader, but time would prove Moses to be peerless in this regard (10). What a reminder for us to appreciate our leaders now, while we can express our love and appreciation to them for the diligent work they do (1 Thess. 5:12-13).
HE HAD A SUCCESSION PLAN (9). As to who would lead the people after himself, God commanded him to choose Joshua (Num. 27:18,23). Yet, walk back through the Pentateuch and see all the ways Moses entrusted, mentored, and assisted him as he developed him as a leader. Moses paved the way for him, enduring the complaints and grumbling for forty years. In this regard, Joshua would have a much easier task with the next generation. Indeed, “listened to him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.”
HIS PLACE IN SACRED HISTORY IS SECURE (10-12). Moses was peerless in prophesy (10), proximity to God (10), performance (11-12), and power (12). Israel had a front row seat to this, from his dominance of Pharaoh to the great terror they experienced firsthand. Truly, well over a millennia later Peter would still revere him (Mat. 17:3-4).
For over a century of time, Moses walked the earth and established a legacy that long outlived him. He was far from perfect (Exo. 2:12; Num. 20:9-13), but he had such attributes as humility (Num. 12:3) and intimacy with God (Exo. 33:11). He exemplifies the living legacy of faith we should be building while we walk the earth. To be like Moses’ many times, great uncle Abel, who “offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks” (Heb. 11:4).
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