Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan, all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea, the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar. Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”
And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.
Deuteronomy 34
Moses was one of God's greatest servants. He was set adrift in a basket to save him from Pharaoh's genocide of the Hebrews. He was taken in by Pharaoh's daughter and raised in the palace, but when he was old enough to understand, he rejected the riches of Pharaoh's court to live in poverty with his people.
When he was about 40 years old, he killed an Egyptian abusing one of the Hebrews and fled into the wilderness of Midian. There he met his wife Zipporah and his father-in-law, Jethro the High Priest. He became a humble shepherd there for many years.
Then one day the LORD appeared to him in a burning bush and commissioned him to be his emissary to Pharaoh. Moses was to order the most powerful man on earth to let the Hebrews go on God's authority. When the king of Egypt refused, Moses was given authority to do wonders and call down the plagues of God to terrify the Egyptians (and later, the world) into knowing there is a God more powerful than they or their gods.
God delivered his people out of Egypt with a mighty hand, led them through the Red Sea on dry land, and drowned the army of Egypt which had come after them.
God met with Moses on Mount Sinai, the mountain of fire, and across a crystal bridge delivered to him the twin tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments written by God's own finger. God showed his "goodness" to Moses, a display so amazing that Moses' face was glowing when he came down from the mountain.
God kept Moses in charge of His people through many trials and many acts of disobedience on the part of the Hebrews during their wanderings. We are explicitly told that Moses and God were friends. Many times God sought to destroy the Hebrews for their disobedience, but Moses would always intercede for them. God listened to Moses, though ultimately God would be proven right about that generation, and they would die in the desert.
Moses remained the leader of their descendants, living to a very old age, until the time came for the people of God to enter the Promised Land.
But Moses stumbled as all humans do. He was ordered to go to a rock and speak to it, at which point God would cause it to open and give water to the Hebrews. However, when the rock did not immediately respond, and the people grumbled, Moses struck the rock in anger.
God could no longer allow Moses to lead his people after so publicly disobeying Him. It would shipwreck their faith. So when the time came, God took him up on a mountain to see the Promised Land from afar, but told him he could not enter it with the people. That task would fall to Joshua.
Then Moses, full of years, died on the mountaintop alone. No, not alone. God was with him. And then God did something unprecedented. He buried Moses.
We know well that God appeared in a human form to people in the Old Testament. We call this the pre-incarnate Christ. The God-Man Jesus did not begin at his birth in Bethlehem. The God-Man has always existed.
He appeared to Abraham and had dinner with him before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. He appeared to Joshua as the Lord-of-angel-armies in the land of Canaan.
I believe that the God-Man, God the Son, appeared here also. To be with Moses, his good and faithful servant, as he died, because He was his friend. To watch one last sunset with him, to hold his wrinkled hand. When Moses breathed his last, the Creator of the universe lovingly wrapped his body, manually dug a grave in the sand, gently laid him to rest, and covered the body again. God told no one where his grave was, for it was a special place known only to Him.
God can do anything - He made the universe by speaking. But sometimes something is so special to Him that He comes down as the Son to do something with his own hands. When He created humans, He did not use words. He came down and took clay in his hands and fashioned the man. Then he leaned over him and personally breathed life into him. Here, with Moses, it is the same. He buried him. God the Son used his muscles and sweat to dig a grave and placed his friend in it. There can be no greater funeral, no greater honor, than to be buried by God.
God loves us. Not in some distant way. He loves us. When we cry, He cares. He catches our tears in a bottle. They are special to Him. When we pray, He listens to us. When we ask for help, He helps us and does not find fault. And when we die, He is there waiting to receive us.
No one who knows God dies alone.
