Deuteronomy 34 / Psalm 117 “The Death of Moses”

READ: Deuteronomy 34 / Psalm 117

Verse chosen for meditation: Deuteronomy 34:9-12

⁹ And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. ¹⁰ And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, ¹¹ none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, ¹² and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

REFLECT

The verses above constitute Moses’ epitaph (phrases written in memory of a person), forming a fitting conclusion to the Pentateuch, where the last four books talk about Moses’ ministry. The epitaph encourages us to reflect on Moses’ greatness. He was a spiritual pioneer, proclaiming the traits of God and preaching love as the impetus for obedience. He was the first to give us God’s laws, which are not meant to be chores to shackle us, but for us to live in a way so that we can enjoy God’s blessings fully and in fact, break free from earthly shackles that separate us from real joy.

Not meaning to be disrespectful, but sometimes at funerals, we paint too beautiful a picture of the dead. Yes, we should honour the dead during such times, but we sometimes make him/her out to be a far better person that he/she really was. The good things are magnified and the bad are rightfully glossed over. Lincoln once remarked at one of his general’s burial: “If he had known he would get a funeral like this, he’d have died sooner.” Here however, Moses fully deserved this epitaph. His greatness stood the test of time and is a relevant model even today, which should prompt us to regularly reflect and strive towards.

Great as Moses was, he was by no means perfect. Disobedience creeped in at crucial moments, like in Numbers 20:10-12. This was one of the reasons why God did not allow Moses to enter the promised land, but in His grace, showed Moses a glimpse of it (Deuteronomy 34:4). Unfortunately, it was also other people’s sins that caused him this consequence. Moses used the words “because of you” (Deuteronomy 3:26) to highlight the reasons for their deny of entry. This was not to scold them for implicating him, but to teach them a lesson on corporate responsibility: when we sin, other people are affected as well as ourselves. This seems harsh on Moses for all he had done, yet he was not bitter, fully accepting his punishment and was grateful for the glimpse of the promised land. This was important as he was able to die in the best way possible, in peace with God at his side (Deuteronomy 34:5 has been interpreted by rabis as “he died by the kiss of the Lord”).

Great as Moses was, he was also by no means indispensable and irreplaceable. God’s work continues after the Pentateuch and God replaced Moses with Joshua, who became an effective leader too with God’s enabling.

RELATE

There is more to Moses’ epitaph than just appreciating his greatness. What is it about Moses that made him able to do “signs and wonders” and wield “mighty power” and “great deeds of terror”? Why did a prophet like Moses never appear again? Until of course, someone more than a prophet in Jesus came along. Not anyone is allowed by God to wield such power for good reason. I reckon one of the required traits is the sheer humility and desire to always put God’s honour in place of his own. Never once did Moses get big-headed because of his unique accomplishments. Efforts in his interceding for the people were not only for the people’s safety, but for God’s reputation. He did not want the people to misinterpret God’s punishments as lack of love, but for the people to know the true nature of God, one where all actions are driven by love ultimately. Such was his tenacity for God’s honour over his own. Perhaps why “there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses” was because if they were given the same power, they would become too proud, leading to their doom and dishonour of God. This is important for us, to realise what is necessary to prevent arrogance and pride from seeping in, whenever God bless us with certain gifts and talents. Fame and power do change a person. Sadly, I’ve seen it in many friends. Indeed, a God-honouring, poor and humble in spirit attribute, is so needed to keep us grounded.

Another noteworthy person in today’s text is Joshua, Moses’ replacement. What gargantuan shoes to fill? If I were Joshua, the more time we spend discussing Moses’ greatness, the more I would cower in fear of what I had to do to match this greatness. This is where the wonder of God’s sovereignty comes in. As God chooses His leaders, it is not for us to worry whether we match up, as He will use even our weaknesses, so people know how great He is. It is a good thing that the Bible is honest about Moses’ imperfections, if not Bible characters would daunt us rather than inspire us. It would create a falsehood that these characters lived impeccable lives. Instead, these characters were very much defined by their frailties as much as their greatness. All along, when we are called to replace people, we are never called to match up. We are just called to step up. God has unique plans for unique individuals and both our strengths and frailties work in His favour.

Four things are said about Joshua. He was empowered, wise (v9), teachable and dependent. That basically forms the core ingredients to succeed in ministry, but many times, we add in our own self-imposed ingredients that cause us undue stress: being vocal, outgoing personality, intelligence amongst a long list. Here, despite Moses’ unique legacy, Joshua was still able to be an effective leader where people listened, because he was empowered and equipped by God (God has his own training plan). The spirit of wisdom was given him. Wisdom is different from intelligence. It is the ability to discern the mind of God in any situation. Joshua, in his inexperience, was also willing to learn, so teachability was crucial. In his inability, he relied on dependence in God. We then realise that being steeped in prayer and dependence on God is much more powerful than any of our honed abilities. Two of the ingredients are bestowed by God, to those who answer the call. The other two come from our realisation of how powerless we are, quite contrary to how capable we think we have to be to fill a role. Hopefully, this encourages and assures us all, who relate to the same fears regarding replacing someone, or filling a role for God.

REST

Dear God, we thank you for people like Moses, for us to model after. May we have the same spirit of people like Moses and Joshua, to be passionate about letting other people know your true nature, to share in the joy of this knowledge we already have. Amen.  

Chris Chong