Moses’ death
1 From the barren plain of Moab, Moses went up to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pis gah, opposite Jericho. And Yahweh showed him all the Land: from Gi lead to Dan,
2 the whole of Naph tali, the land of Ephraim, and of Manas seh, the whole land of Judah, as far as the Western Sea,
3 the Ne geb, the Plains, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.
4 And Yahweh said to him: “This is the land about which I swore to Abraham, Isa ac and Ja cob, promising it to their des cendants. I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you shall not enter it.”
5 Moses, the servant of God, died there in the land of Moab, according to the will of Yahweh.
6 They buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but to this very day, no one knows where his tomb is.
7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died. He did not lose his vigor and his eyes still saw clearly.
8 The children of Israel mourned for him in the plains of Moab for thirty days.
9 But Jos hua, son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands upon him. The children of Israel obeyed him and did as Yah weh had commanded Moses.
10 No prophet like Moses has appeared again. Yahweh conversed with him face to face.
11 What signs and wonders he worked in Egypt against Pharaoh, against his people and all his land!
12 What a powerful hand was his that worked these terrible things in the sight of all Israel!
------------------------------------------------------------
Comments Deuteronomy, Chapter 34
• 34.1 The book concludes with the death of Mo ses. There is something grandiose in this solitary end of the leader and founder of Israel. God had separated him from his people, when he shared his secrets with him and gave him his own authority. Moses alone had to bear the responsibility and the burden of Israel before God, to the point of becoming identified with Israel.
No prophet like Moses has appeared again (v. 10). All our faith is affirmed in the revelation of the only God to Moses and in the election of Israel under his leadership. However, this does not mean that revelation ceased. Isra el knows that no prophet has appeared though they continue to expect a prophet like him (18:18). This means that faith is not locked in the faithfulness to a book, even if such a book is the Old Testament. God’s people continued to discover the ways of God and the contemporaries of Jesus had to see in him the expected “Prophet.” As for us, our faith is also rooted in the faith of the Church and, with the Church, we discover everyday the teaching of the Spirit.