The History of the Old Testament Methodized, Chapter 4 · Section 93
SECT. XCIII.
MOſes now having ſpoken all that he intended to ſpeak to the Children of Iſrael, Ch. XXXIV and having pronounced his laſt bleſſing upon them,This laſt Chapter of of Deuteronomy was written after Moſes's death, but whither by Joſhua, or Eleazar, or what other holy man is uncertain. So the concluſion of the Book of Jeremy was written after his death, ſee Jer. 51.64. and (as 'tis like) taken his ſolemn leave of them, went up from the Plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the higheſt top whereof called Piſgah, lay over againſt Jericho, Joſhua and Eleazar (as ſome*Moſ… morituro adfuiſſe Joſhuam & Eleazaram traedit Joſephus, Antiq. lib. 4. Cum que poſt mutuos Complexus Eleazaro, & Joſhuae ultimum vale diceret, interloquendum repentina nube circundatus foreign, ex oculis illorum in quandam vallem eſt ablatus. think) accompanying him. And as a weary Labourer at night goes to his Chamber to take his reſt, ſo this holy man, after all his great and weariſome Labours in the Governing this people, at the Commandment of God went up to Mount Nebo there to die, and ſo to reſt from his Labours. But before he died, the Lord was pleaſed to give him a ſight of the promiſed Land. And firſt, He ſhewed him all the Land of Gilead unto Dan. Gilead was on the outſide of Jordan, Dan †Formerly call'd Leſhem, Joſh. 19.47. or Laiſh, Judg. 18.27.was a City in the furtheſt part of the Land within Jordan Northward; Then He ſhewed him the portion of Naphtali which was near unto it; Then the Land of Ephraim and Manaſſeh which was in the midſt of Canaan; Then the Land of Judah which was the Southern part of the Country, and then the Plain and Valley of Jericho which was on the Eaſt-Coaſt, and the Midland-Sea (called the Outmoſt-Sea) which was the Weſtern-Coaſt. This view therefore that Moſes had of the whole Land was by the miraculous power of God ſtrengthening his ſight ſo wonderfully; for by the ordinary power of Nature, it was not poſſible that from one place he ſhould have beheld ſo large a Country, therefore verſ. 4. 'tis ſaid, God cauſed him to ſee it with his eyes, and told him, This was the Land which he ſware to Abraham, Iſaac, and Jacob, to give it unto their Seed. Moſes having had a full proſpect of this earthly Canaan, there died, and his Soul went to the heavenly, being an 120 years old, his eyes not being dim, nor his radical moiſture abated. Of this time he had ſpent near a full third part in his Government of this people, departing this life in the laſt month of the Year called Adar, and the ſeventh day *For Aaron dying in the 40th year, 5th month, firſt day of it, Numb. 33.38. and that compar'd with the months mourning for Moſes, Deut. 34.8. and three days preparation to paſs over Jordan, Ch. 3.2. and their coming out of Jordan on the firſt month, tenth day, Joſh. 4.19. do ſhew that Moſes died in the twelfth month, and ſeventh day of it, and ſo ſeven months and ſeven days after Aaron.of it. Moſes's Soul being gone to Heaven, Jehovah or Michael the Son of God [Jude, v. 9.] tranſlated his body out of the place where he died, into a Valley of the Land of Moab †That Land was ſo called, becauſe it did formerly belong to the Moabites, and was lately taken from them by Sihon King of the Amorites, as we ſhewed on Numb. 21.26. and was now poſſeſſed by the Iſraelites.over againſt Beth-Peor, and there buried it; Neither doth any man know the place where he laid it to this day. And this the Lord ſeems to have done, that the Iſraelites might not in a prepoſterous Zeal give ſuperſtitious honour either to his dead body or Sepulchre. Indeed 'tis ſaid, Jude, v. 9. That Michael the Arch-Angel contended with the Devil, and diſputed about the body of Moſes, whereby it appears that the Devil would have had the place of his burial made known, that it might have been the occaſion of Idolatry, as Chryſoſtome in his Firſt Homily on Matthew and Theodoret upon Deut. queſt. 43. with others do conjecture, but the Lord prevented the Devils deſign herein. And poſſibly God foreſaw that if the Iſraelites had known the place where the body of Moſes was buried, they would in an unwarrantable way have taken it up, and carried it with them into the Land of Canaan (as they did Joſeph's bones) whereas God had declared, He ſhould not come thither.
Moſes being dead, the Iſraelites mourned for him 30 days. *So long they mourned for Aaron, Numb. 20.28.And there was great reaſon for it; for there aroſe not a Prophet ſince in Iſrael like unto Moſes whom the Lord knew face to face; that is, ſpake to in a wondrous familiar manner, with an audible articulate Voice as one friend ſpeaketh to another, and diſcovered to him more of his Glory than ever he did to the eye of mortal man, ſee Exod. 33.20. There was none like unto him, if we conſider the great Miracles which the Lord inabled him to do in the Land of Egypt, before Pharaoh and his Servants, and the wonderful Works of mighty Power which he ſince performed in the Wilderneſs in the ſight of all Iſrael, whereby the Lord magnified his own Majeſty and Power, and put a great honour on his Servant Moſes, and his Miniſtry. But though this great Moſes was gone, yet God left not his people without a Governour, for He had before-hand appointed Joſhua to ſucceed him, who was a man endued with a great meaſure of wiſdom, which the Holy Ghoſt had given him, for the right execution of his Office. For Moſes had laid his hands on him according to Gods Command, Numb. 27.18. by that Ceremony conſecrating him unto God, and engaging him faithfully to adminiſter the Charge and Office He was appointed unto. And the Children of Iſrael hearkned unto him, and obeyed him as the Lord commanded Moſes to injoyn them.