Charles Ellicott Commentary Deuteronomy 34

Pisgah. See Numbers 21:20. The word seems to mean a height.

The Lord showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, and all Naphtali ... unto the utmost sea. That is, He showed him all the land that was to be given to these several tribes.

Whether He then showed it to him under the names that are given here or not is a question we cannot answer. Many deeply interesting queries suggest themselves here. Did Moses go up alone? Or did Joshua accompany him? Who wrote these particulars of what was shown to him, and how were the particulars known? I am disposed to believe that as Elijah and Elisha still went on and talked, until that chariot of fire appeared that parted them both asunder, so it was with Moses and Joshua. It seems likely that Moses’ minister attended him until Jehovah withdrew him from his sight.

But it speaks well for Joshua’s character. In fact, it is altogether characteristic of the man that in this record of the death of the great lawgiver, he concealed himself and every other figure from sight except Jehovah and His servant Moses.

Rashi, in his comment on this scene, says that the Lord showed Moses not only the land but also what would happen in it, in every part. But of this we know nothing. We know that the spectacle was complete. Probably the eye that was not dim was enabled to see farther than any human eye had ever seen from such a height before. The utmost sea is a full fifty miles away from that spot.

And the south — that is, the Negeb.

And the plain — that is, the plain of Jordan.

The valley of Jericho. — The city of palm trees may or may not be identical with that place.

This is the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, I will give it to your seed: I have caused you to see it. —“That you may go and say to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, The oath which He swore to you, the Holy One, blessed be He! has performed it,” is Raehi’s comment. But in Paradise they scarcely needed Moses to tell them of His faithfulness.

So (or better, and) Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. This is literally, upon the mouth of the Lord, and therefore the Jewish interpretation that he died by a kiss! But the language of the sacred narrative is too simple to need even this interpretation.

For many years it had been the habit of Moses to do everything “at the mouth of the Lord.” Only one fatal mistake mars the record of obedience. It was but one last act of obedience to lie down and die at the word of Jehovah. It is extraordinary, when we consider the story of Moses’ last days, how wholly self is cast aside.

There is no anxiety about the unseen world on Moses' part, and no positive expression of hope. St. Paul says far more than Moses about his prospects in the life to come. To Moses, death is a source of anxiety on account of his people, and a source of pain to himself, because he cannot go over Jordan and see the works of Jehovah on the other side. Beyond this, his reticence is absolute, and his calm silence is sublime.

But he died in the company of Jehovah, and may well have felt that he would not lose His presence in the other world. Underneath were the everlasting arms, as he had said just before. Jehovah was with him, and he feared no evil. He was so fearless, that it does not seem to have occurred to him to say that he did not fear.

And he buried him. —Moses is alone in this honour. The Son of God was buried by sinful men. Moses was buried by Jehovah.

But no man knoweth of his sepulchre. —I have always believed that the contention between Michael and the devil about the body of Moses (Jude 1:9) was, in fact, a struggle for his body—that Moses was to be raised from the dead, and that Satan resisted his resurrection. When the contest took place we cannot say. But Moses, who died and was buried, and Elijah, who was translated, "appeared in glory" on the holy mount, and the New Testament gives no hint of difference between them. We do not know how Moses could have appeared as a disembodied spirit so as to be seen by men.