The Death of Moses; the Waiting Begins -- a study of Deuteronomy 33 and 34
- mww
- 2 hours ago
- 14 min read
Moses truly wanted his people to enjoy the blessings of God.
Bible Study Ideas and Commentary for Deuteronomy 33 and 34
In this final lesson about the life of Moses, we read his final words -- a blessing to his people -- before he climbs Mount Nebo and dies in the presence of God and the sight of the Promised Land. It's a bittersweet ending. It also kicks off generations of waiting for "the next Moses" which we know is fulfilled in Jesus (and then some).
How happy you are, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? (33:29)
Some of you will read this the day before Thanksgiving -- so, Happy Thanksgiving! Make sure your family sets your heart on God in thanksgiving :)
Getting Started: Things to Think About
Your Bucket List
Some people are more comfortable with this subject than others, and you might find it strange for a Thanksgiving/Advent lesson.
To keep this in line with this week's passage, I suggest going one of these two directions:
What's something "spiritual" that you want to do before you die? Maybe there's a certain person you want to lead to Christ. Or maybe there's a book you want to read or a passage you want to memorize or something you want to start at your church. (And the follow-up question to ask yourself is obvious: what are you doing to make that happen?) -or-
What's something you hope to be able to see before you die? Maybe it's something involving a family member or a milestone at your church or even something related to the Bible. What is that thing for you, and why?
In this week's passage, the end of Deuteronomy, Moses climbs a mountain from which God shows him the Promised Land, and then he dies. We'll talk about the why (if you don't know), but it's a bittersweet end to the book.
"The Next Great One"
This idea comes from what I keep hearing about Arch Manning, the quarterback at texas univ who is related to the very accomplished Manning quarterbacking family. There is just an unbelievable amount of pressure on him -- expectations that are so high that even I feel bad for him (and I refuse to capitalize his school's name).
Who are people that you believe have (or had) impossibly high expectations, and what happened? You can certainly list children of famous athletes and celebrities, or perhaps business leaders or even church leaders. Why were the expectations so high? And what eventually happened with that person?
In this week's passage, we're going to learn about the big shoes that Joshua had to fill (and did better than he probably got credit for) and the fact that from the moment of Moses' death, the people were looking for "the next Moses".
The point of this topic would just be to help your group consider what it's like to be compared to a transcendent leader and what kind of person it takes to meet (or exceed) those expectations.
(And yes, that means we're going to talk about Jesus this week!)
Moses and Advent
Our new Bible study material (the Gospel of Matthew!) begins on December 7, but Advent actually starts this Sunday, November 30 (our last week in Deuteronomy). Obviously, the beginning of Matthew coincides neatly with Advent, but I want you to find connections with Moses and Advent!
First, start with the "what is Advent?" question. (Lots of good resources out there, like this simple one: What is Advent? | GotQuestions.org)
Then, go to "what do you think Moses has to do with Advent?" Believe it or not, I think there's a valuable connection. [Note: What follows is more information than you probably need.]
At the end of his life, Moses said this:
Deut 18:15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.
Thus, from Moses' death, the people were looking for "the next Moses". That started with Joshua, who was thrust immediately into Moses' shoes. But according to the final editor of Deuteronomy,
34:10 No prophet has arisen again in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.
We don't know exactly when the final version of Deuteronomy was compiled, but we do know that in Malachi, they were still waiting for this prophet:
Malachi 4:4 “Remember the instruction of Moses my servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. 5 Look, I am going to send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
Not Joshua, not Samuel, not David, not Elijah, not anybody had filled this expectation. Since Moses' death, Jews have been waiting for the "next Moses" -- the leader who would again deliver them from their bondage.
But who were they waiting for? Peter tells us in his first sermon at Pentecost:
Acts 3: “18 In this way God fulfilled what he had predicted through all the prophets—that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, 20 that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah. 21 Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning. 22 Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to everything he tells you. 23 And everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from the people. 24 In addition, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, have also foretold these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, And all the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring. 26 God raised up his servant and sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”
And of course, Peter points the people to Jesus. Do you see the connection? Moses' death (in this week's passage) kicked of a season of waiting for the next Moses -- Jesus. But we now know that Jesus was greater than Moses:
Hebrews 3:5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ was faithful as a Son over his household.
I don't think anyone ever considered that the "next Moses" would actually be far greater than Moses!
Advent prepares us to celebrate the coming of Jesus. This week's passage helps us see "stakes" and expectations for this coming. And of course, Jesus surpassed them beyond anyone's wildest imagination.
Where We Are in Deuteronomy
What follows Moses' final speech to the people is a series of "final chapters" --
Joshua commissioned (31:1-8)
The law read (31:9-13)
Moses voices his hopes and fears (31:14-32:47)
The death of Moses (32:48-52 and 34:1-12)
Moses' final blessings (33:1-29)
And if you try to make the "too many endings / Return of the King" complaint, don't you think Moses has earned as many ending chapters as he wants?
This Week's Big Idea: The Death of Moses
If you do an art search for "the death of Moses", you'll find quite a few pieces
I find the stories behind the art interesting, so I encourage you to look some up. the idea of this man's death stirs up emotions in a wide range.
I think my favorite is this one by Frederic Edwin Church. I don't think it's very accurate, but I like how small and alone Moses looks -- puts the bigger story in perspective.
According to chapter 34, Moses sees the Promised Land from Mount Nebo. Here's a photo of Mount Nebo from Wikipedia, as well as a travel blog showing a photo from there:
Anyway, in 32:48-52, God reminds us,
48 On that same day the Lord spoke to Moses, 49 “Go up Mount Nebo in the Abarim range in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan I am giving the Israelites as a possession. 50 Then you will die on the mountain that you go up, and you will be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people. 51 For both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites at the Waters of Meribath-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin by failing to treat me as holy in their presence. 52 Although from a distance you will view the land that I am giving the Israelites, you will not go there.”
God refers to the event in Numbers 20 that we studied a few weeks ago --
The line that still stirs up interest, though, is this:
5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the Lord’s word. 6 He (the Lord) buried him in the valley in the land of Moab facing Beth-peor, and no one to this day knows where his grave is.
[Fun fact: this is the first time anyone is called "the servant of the Lord".]
This was still a part of Jewish consciousness in the early church days! You might remember this topic from our study of 2 Peter / Jude --
Jude 9 Yet when Michael the archangel was disputing with the devil in an argument about Moses’s body, he did not dare utter a slanderous condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
Here's your important question: why did God not allow anyone to find Moses' body? God didn't do this with anyone else from that era (the people buried Aaron's body). So, why with Moses? Or, perhaps a different way to ask this would be, "What was God preventing by not allowing anyone to find Moses' body?"
Part 1: Who's Your King? (Deuteronomy 33:1-5)
This is the blessing that Moses, the man of God, gave the Israelites before his death. 2 He said:
The Lord came from Sinai and appeared to them from Seir; he shone on them from Mount Paran and came with ten thousand holy ones, with lightning from his right hand for them. 3 Indeed he loves the people. All your holy ones are in your hand, and they assemble at your feet. Each receives your words. 4 Moses gave us instruction, a possession for the assembly of Jacob. 5 So he became King in Jeshurun when the leaders of the people gathered with the tribes of Israel.
Let's be honest. This is a weird choice of passage for our last lesson in Deuteronomy. There are an awful lot of questions about the text, and we have to answer those before we can make sense of the text.
For starters, realize that this entire chapter is Moses' final blessing on the people. It matches Jacob's final blessing in Genesis 49 (but whereas Jacob blessed the sons, Moses blessed the tribes that came from those sons).
The editor of Deuteronomy calls Moses "the man of God" -- a fitting and powerful title -- which gives even more weight to these blessings.
This is the only time "Sinai" appears in Deuteronomy, and this is pretty much the only time Israel is called "Jeshurun" in the Bible (more on this below), and this is the only time "holy ones" appears in the Torah. You had better believe that this creates all kind of debate among Bible skeptics. Of course, they'll debate anything.
"Seir" is Edom (see Gen 36), and "Paran" is the southern border of Canaan (see Num 13).
In other words, God appeared to the people at Sinai, and He was with them through the wilderness.
"Ten thousand holy ones" could be a reference to an angel host (see Jude 14) or a human host (see Psalm 34:9), and this is the first time the phrase appears in the Bible. And indeed, many conservative scholars believe that "holy ones" refers to angels in verse 2 and humans in verse 3. That's awkward to us, but it would have been no problem to Moses. God brought His angel army to help protect His people in their travel. God does not consider His people to be lesser than angels.
So, God brought His people to the Promised Land and gave them the law. This we know. But remember that Moses is giving one final "recap" of the Israelites' experience.
Who became "king" -- Moses or God? This would be the first time in Deuteronomy that God is called "king" over His people (and why would God need to be called "king"?), but there's no doubt that Moses would be horrified at being called a king.
Take a step back -- all the uses of "he" in this section are to God; the only reason this might be confusing is the previous sentence has Moses as its subject.
Why would Moses call God a "king"? Remember that Moses has already mentioned that the people would one day want a king (Deut 17 and 28) (and how badly that will go), so this is his final warning that the people's true King is God.
"Jeshurun" is interesting. This title first appeared in the previous chapter --
32: 12 The Lord alone led him, with no help from a foreign god. 13 He made him ride on the heights of the land and eat the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and oil from flinty rock, 14 curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat; you drank wine from the finest grapes. 15 Then Jeshurun became fat and rebelled—you became fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
The word means "upright one" and it's either a term of endearment or it's one of those nicknames you don't really want. "Does my handsome boy need a nap?" or "Everything was going great until Butterfingers there got involved." Maybe it's something like that.
In any event, this is just the summary of events -- in poetry, not prose. (Note: because it's poetry, there is a wide range of translations suggested for different phrases. Poetry tends to include unique names and flowery wording.)
God gave the law, God has the army, God is the people's King. Will they act as such?
Aside: The Blessings
In vv. 6-25, Moses blesses each tribe (again, echoing Genesis 49). Reuben is still first, but his tribal numbers have been dramatically waning. Judah is now second, which should only make sense. Simeon (the second-born) used to be listed second; now he's gone(!). That tribe was basically swallowed up by Judah (see Josh 19). Levi -- who mostly sided with God in the wilderness -- has a long section of blessing. Joseph stands in for the tribes of his sons Ephraim and Manasseh both of which receive a significant blessing.
The Expositor's Bible Commentary has a really nice explanation of these verses, and we have a copy of that in our church library (if you're interested).
Bonus: Two Strange Phrases
I mentioned that poetry lends itself to translation confusion (which should only make sense -- we have enough trouble understanding English poetry!). Here are two lines that have a wide range of translations:
The end of verse 2: "with lightning from his right hand for them" (CSB)
"from the south, from his mountain slopes" (NIV)
Yep, those are translations of the same Hebrew phrase. A most wooden translation might be, "From his right hand he had a fiery law for them." The challenges of poetry. I think the CSB has the right of it, believing that the imagery of God on the mountain is what's in the background.
The second phrase of verse 27: "and underneath are the everlasting arms" (CSB and NIV)
"He spread out the primeval tent; he extended the ancient canopy" (NAB)
"He subdues the ancient gods, shatters the forces of old" (NRSV)
Woah. That's even more jarring than verse 2. In this case, the other translations actually stretch the likely meaning of the words. I think the CSB is definitely right. Besides, we get a great song out of it.
Part 2: What Could Be (Deuteronomy 33:26-29)
26 There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your aid, the clouds in his majesty. 27 The God of old is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you and commands, “Destroy!” 28 So Israel dwells securely; Jacob lives untroubled in a land of grain and new wine; even his skies drip with dew. 29 How happy you are, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is the shield that protects you, the sword you boast in. Your enemies will cringe before you, and you will tread on their backs.
Again -- poetry. Because there is no God like the only God, there is no people like His people. How happy they will be! (Read: blessed.)
Think back on our "blessings and curses" lessons -- this is a picture of what could be. This is what Moses wants for his people. (And this is what they will choose to reject.)
When I read "who is like you?", it always gets my attention. We named our son "Micah", which is the Hebrew word for "who is like?" (the more common name is Michael -- Micah-el -- "who is like God?"). My favorite appearance of the name is in Micah 7:18, "Who is a God like you, forgiving iniquity and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance?"
In this case, "who is like you?" refers to the people of Israel! Who are they that they should get to call the One True God their God? (And that they should despise that blessing . . .)
So here's my next Advent connection -- a very different kind of "who is like?"
Luke 1: 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Then she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and your child will be blessed! 43 How could this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy inside me. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill what he has spoken to her!”
46 And Mary said: My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 because he has looked with favor on the humble condition of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and his name is holy. 50 His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear him. 51 He has done a mighty deed with his arm; he has scattered the proud because of the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has toppled the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. 53 He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he spoke to our ancestors.
Elizabeth and Mary experienced the kind of blessing that Moses talked about, and they recognized it and praised God for it and realized that they didn't deserve it. It brought them joy, it brought them closer to God, and it helped them see what God had been doing for His people all these generations. "Who am I that God should do this for me?"
Nostalgia time -- this makes me think of that great Casting Crowns song "Who Am I?" (Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth would care to know my name? Would care to feel my hurt?)
Why did Christmas happen? Because God loves you and me so much that He sent Jesus to pay the price for our sins and make a way for us to again be God's children -- not because of what we've done, but because of who He is.
Because of Jesus, the blessings of Moses now belong to us. That's something to celebrate this Advent!
Wrapping Up Deuteronomy
Make sure your group has a good picture of Deuteronomy -- not just a list of rules, but a picture of what the Ten Commandments would look like in a society. And the blessings of God that such a society would enjoy.
Moses shared his heart to the people -- life and blessings from one choice, death and curses from the other. Do we see life in such simple terms? It begins with salvation in Jesus, but it continues in obedience which is anchored by faithfulness. Do we take that seriously today?
But go through the end of the book. Chapter 34 is very short and very bittersweet. Think about what it means -- Moses spent the last 40 years of his life wandering in a desert with a bunch of whiny rebels who constantly complained to him. That's . . . rough, buddy.
God disciplined Moses for Moses' failures, but that didn't change the love God had for Moses. My takeaways -- (1) don't complain about how rough you have it, but (2) remember that God disciplines those He loves.
Next week, the Gospel of Matthew!