John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 34:7

"And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." — Deuteronomy 34:7 (ASV)

And Moses was one hundred and twenty years old. Again, he celebrates a special favor of God, namely, that all the senses of Moses remained unimpaired to extreme old age, so that he might be fit for the performance of his duties. For in this way it was manifested how dear to God was the welfare of the people, for which He so carefully provided.

Some, indeed, though very few, are found who are capable of public government, even to their one hundredth year. Already, however, at that period, the vigor of the whole human race had so diminished that, after their seventieth year, they dragged on their life in labor and sorrow, as Moses himself bears witness (Psalms 90:10).

It was, consequently, a conspicuous sign of the paternal favor with which God regarded His people that Moses should have been thus unusually preserved in vigor and strength. If the powers of Moses had failed him long before their entrance into the promised land, his debility would have been very inconvenient to the people; yet naturally, he would not have been sufficient for so long for the performance of his onerous duties.

It follows, then, that when God did not allow him to fail, He showed wonderful consideration for the people’s welfare. Mention is specially made of his eyes, by synecdoche; yet the sum of the matter is this: that he was neither impaired in mind nor feeble in body, for neither were the faculties of his mind exhausted, nor his body dried up.

I do not need to expound at any length what is added respecting the solemn mourning, because I have elsewhere shown,³³⁰ that the ancients were particular in their attention to the performance of funeral rites. Their faith, based on the measure of revelation they had received, was not yet so elevated as to allow them to easily forgo those external aids—aids for which there is not the same necessity under the Gospel.

It is natural for humans to mourn for the dead; and, besides, this mourning was justly instituted because of the loss which the Church had sustained. However, a ceremony is recorded here which was brought to an end with the fulfillment of the shadows of the Law. Our dead are, therefore, now to be buried in such a way that our grief may be restrained by the hope of resurrection so clearly revealed by the coming of Christ.

³³⁰ See on Leviticus 21:1, , vol. 2 p. 228..