Deuteronomy 34:6

Deu 34:6 And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.

Ver. 6. And he buried him.] Either the Lord or Michael. {Jdg 1:9} There lies the body of Moses as in a chamber of rest, or bed of down. {Isa 57:2} His very dust being precious; for Christ is not perfect without it. {Eph 1:23}

But no man knoweth of his sepulchre.] Though the devil made much ado about it, {Jdg 1:9} as desirous thereby to set up himself in the hearts of the living. So Chrysostom, Theodoret, Procopius, and others think: howbeit we find not anywhere that the Jews were addicted to this kind of idolatry, viz., of worshipping the relics of saints departed. {a} But of Michael’s dispute with the devil, about the body of Moses, we read in Origen {b} and others, {c} that (besides what Jude hath) there was in the primitive times a certain Apocryphal book, called Mωυσεως Aναληψις, the Assumption of Moses, wherein it was recorded, and where hence haply Jude had it.

{a} λειψανολατρια.

{b} Pερι αρχων, lib. iii. cap. 2.

{c} Abath R. Nathan.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu_34:6-12

He buried him, but no man knoweth of his sepulchre.

The burial of Moses

I. God will have no one, living or dead, to stand between His creatures and Himself.

II. God wishes men to see something more left of His servants than the outward shrine.

III. God takes the honour of His servants into His own keeping.

IV. God would teach men that he has a relation to His servants which extends beyond their death.

V. God would teach men from the very first that His regard is not confined to any chosen soil.

VI. The seeming failure in a true life may have at last a complete compensation. (John Ker, D. D.)

Divine burial

The same God that, by the hands of His angels, carried up the soul of Moses to his glory, doth also, by the hand of His angels, carry his body down into the valley of Moab to his sepulchre. Those hands which had taken the law from Him, those eyes that had seen His presence, those lips that had conferred so oft with Him, that face that did so shine with the beams of His glory, may not be neglected when the soul is gone. He that took charge of his birth, and preservation in the reeds, takes charge of his carriage out of the world. The care of God ceaseth not over His own, either in death, or after it. How justly do we take care of the comely burials of our friends, when God Himself gives us this example! (Bp. Joseph Hall.)

The burial of Moses

Never had any man a more wonderful burial. No human hands assisted at it. It was not left for the winds to cover with the dust of the mountain the stalwart form of the eagle-eyed leader; nor for the dew and the rain to moisten it; nor for the sunshine to waste and bleach it. It was not left unburied. Moses died, according to the word of the Lord, and He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab. (Alexander R. Thompson, D. D.)

So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses wore ended.

The worker removed-the work continued

And when these days were ended, straightway the career of Joshua opens, the tide of things rolls forward, and the march of events sweeps on. And is this the end of it all so far as Moses is concerned? We cannot think it. In some churchyards we see the broken column, and that we always understand as the emblem of a broken life. Where are the lives which are not broken? And over what graves shall the broken column not be raised? Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there, etc. That life falls; but the thread of its conjunction with the eternal purpose is not broken; that does not fall with the life. The streamlet fails, but the mighty river rolls on. Moses dies, and is buried, but Joshua takes up the staff and stretches forth the hand. What is the life of Moses, or any other life? It is safe with God, if in purpose, at least, and intention and drift it be lived in Him and for Him--safe with God while its mortal courses are running, and safe with Him when they are stayed. But while they are running He works by them, and when they are stayed He works without them, and by other lives. And it is when the soul of the man is in harmony with this fact, and governs itself by it, as the soul of Moses was in harmony with it--it is then that the true life will be lived, and no shadow of fear will rest upon the future. But indeed it is a great thing of which we speak, this harmony of mind with the purpose of God. It is the highest life of man. It is the fruit of long patience and much strife, and the triumph of the grace of the Almighty Spirit within the human soul. (D. Wright, M. A.)

Joshua . . . was full of the spirit of wisdom.--

Joshua and Moses

We have here a very honourable encomium both of Moses and Joshua; each has his praise, and should have. It is ungrateful so to magnify our living friends as to forget the merits of those that are gone, to whose memories there is a debt of honour due. All the respects must not be paid to the rising sun; and on the other hand, it is unjust so to cry up the merits of those that are gone, as to despise the benefit we have in those that survive and succeed them. Let God be glorified in both as here.

1. Joshua is praised as a man admirably well qualified for the work to which he was called.

(1) God fitted him for it. Herein he was a type of Christ, in whom are hid the treasures of wisdom.

(2) Moses by the Divine appointment had ordained him to it; he had laid his hands upon him, so substituting him to be his successor, and praying to God to qualify him for the service to which He had called him. And this comes in as a reason why God gave him a more than ordinary spirit of wisdom, because his designation to the government was Gods own act; and those whom God employs, He will in some measure make fit for the employment. When the bodily presence of Christ withdrew from His Church, He prayed the Father to send another Comforter; and obtained what He prayed for.

(3) The people cheerfully owned him, and submitted to him. An interest in the affections of the people is a great advantage, and a great encouragement to those that are called to public trusts of what kind soever. It was also a great mercy to the people, that when Moses was dead they were not as sheep having no shepherd. Moses is praised (verses 10, 11, 12), and with good reason.

(1) He was indeed a very great man upon two accounts among others--

(a) His intimacy with the God of nature; God knew him face to face, and so he knew God (Num_12:8). He saw more of the glory of God than any (at least) of the Old Testament saints ever did; he had more free and frequent access to God; and was spoken to, not in dreams and visions and slumberings on the bed, but when he was awake, and standing before the cherubims.

(b) His interest and power in the kingdom of nature. He was greater than any other of the prophets of the Old Testament; though they were men of great interest in heaven, and great influence upon earth, yet they were none of them to be compared with this great man; none of them either evidenced or executed a commission from heaven so as Moses did. (Matthew Henry, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 34:6. And he — That is, the Lord, the immediate and only antecedent to the pronoun he; buried him — Using, no doubt, the ministry of angels for this purpose. Some, indeed, who are of opinion that there was nothing miraculous in his death or burial, propose rendering the words, He was buried, urging in defence of this interpretation, that active verbs in the Hebrew are often taken passively. This may be true; but still upon the very face of the narrative it evidently appears, that the manner both of his death and burial was miraculous. He died, it is said, according to the word of the Lord — Who commanded him to go up to the mount and die there, as soon as he had viewed the promised land, (Deu 32:49-50,) and that at a time when his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated, (Deu 34:7,) and when certainly he had no symptom of any disease or weakness about him. And if there was nothing miraculous in his burial; if the Lord did not bury him, but he was buried by some of the people, and if by some, no doubt by thousands and myriads, why is it said, nay, how could it with truth be said, as it is in the next clause, No man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day? Surely, the plain and obvious meaning of this is, not, as the same persons would interpret it. “That, when this was written, time, which brings all things to decay, had left no footsteps of Moses’s monument, or had worn out the remembrance of the place where his body was laid,” but that no man ever knew of his sepulchre, as well as that none knew of it then. And the reason which has generally been assigned for God’s concealing from the Israelites the place where he was interred, namely, to prevent their superstition and idolatry, must be thought sufficient by those who recollect how these Israelites burned incense, long after this, to the brazen serpent which Moses made, and would probably much more have paid some superstitious, if not religious honour to his body, or the relics thereof, if they could have been found. Nor is the interpretation that, with a reference hereto, has usually been put upon Jdg 1:9, which speaks of Michael contending with the devil about the body of Moses, so unreasonable or unlikely, as some would insinuate. But of this when we come thither.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

34:6 Beth-peor was where Israel engaged in pagan ritual (see 3:29; 4:3; Num 25) and where Moses presented his farewell address (see Deut 4:44-46). • The phrase to this day refers to the time of Deuteronomy’s final composition (see Genesis Book Introduction, “Authorship”).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That the Jews might not have occassion thereby to commit Idolatry.

To wit, the Angel of the Lord, Jude 9.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

he buried him--or, "he was buried in a valley," that is, a ravine or gorge of the Pisgah. Some think that he entered a cave and there died, being, according to an ancient tradition of Jews and Christians, buried by angels (Jde 1:9; Num 21:20).

no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day--This concealment seems to have been owing to a special and wise arrangement of Providence, to prevent its being ranked among "holy places," and made the resort of superstitious pilgrims or idolatrous veneration, in after ages.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. He buried him] It is probable that the reason why Moses was buried thus privately was, lest the Israelites, prone to idolatry, should pay him Divine honours; and God would not have the body of his faithful servant abused in this way. Almost all the gods of antiquity were defiled men, great lawgivers, eminent statesmen, or victorious generals. See the account of the life of Moses at the end of this chapter. See Clarke on De 34:10.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(6) And he buried him.—Moses is alone in this honour. The Son of God was buried by sinful men. Moses was buried by Jehovah.

But no man knoweth of his sepulchre.—I have always believed that the contention between Michael and the devil about the body of Moses (Jud_1:9) was in fact, a struggle for his body—that Moses was to be raised from the dead, and that Satan resisted his resurrection. When the contest took place we cannot say. But Moses, who died and was buried, and Elijah, who was translated, “appeared in glory” on the holy mount, and the New Testament gives no hint of difference between them. We do not know how Moses could have appeared as a disembodied spirit so as to be seen of men.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. he buried] He can only be Jehovah, for no man knew the grave; hence the rendering they buried, though possible, so far as the grammar goes, is contrary to the sense.

the valley … Beth-peor] See on Deu_3:29.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he buried him,.... Aben Ezra says he buried himself, going into a cave on the top of the mount, where he expired, and so where he died his grave was; but though he died on the mount, he was buried in a valley: Jarchi and so other Jewish writers (d) say, the Lord buried him; it may be by the ministry of angels: an Arabic writer says (e), he was buried by angels: it is very probable he was buried by Michael, and who is no other than the archangel or head of principalities and powers, our Lord Jesus Christ, for a reason that will be hereafter suggested, see Jde 1:9,

in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor; where stood a temple dedicated to the idol Peor, see Deu 3:29,

but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day; to the time when Joshua wrote this, or, as others think, Samuel: if Moses is the same with the Osiris of the Egyptians, as some think (f), it may be observed, that his grave is said to be unknown to the Egyptians, as Diodorus Siculus (g) and Strabo (h) both affirm; and the grave of Moses is unknown, even unto this our day: for though no longer ago than in the year 1655, in the month of October, it was pretended to be found by some Maronite shepherds on Mount Nebo, with this inscription on it in Hebrew letters, "Moses the servant of the Lord"; but this story was confuted by Jecomas, a learned Jew, who proved it to be the grave of another Moses (i), whom Wagenseil conjectures was Moses Maimonides (k); but some think the whole story is an imposition: the reason why the grave of Moses was kept a secret was, as Ben Gersom suggests, lest, because of his miracles, succeeding generations should make a god of him and worship him, as it seems a sort of heretics called Melchisedecians did (l): the death and burial of Moses were an emblem of the weakness and insufficiency of the law of Moses, and the works of it, to bring any into the heavenly Canaan; and of the law being dead, and believers dead to that through the body of Christ, and of the entire abrogation and abolition of it by Christ, according to the will of God, as a covenant of works, as to the curse and condemnation of it, and justification by it; who is Michael the archangel, and is the end of the law for righteousness; he abolished it in his flesh, nailed it to his cross, carried it to his grave, and left it there; the rites and ceremonies of it are to be no more received, nor is it to be sought after for righteousness and life, being dead and buried, Rom 7:6.

(d) Misn. Sotah, c. 1. sect. 9. Pirke Eliezer, c. 17. (e) Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 32. (f) See Gale's Court of the Gentiles, B. 2. c. 7. p. 94. (g) Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 18. (h) Geograph. l. 17. p. 552. (i) See Calmet's Dictionary, in voce "Sepulchre". (k) Not. in Sotah, p. 327. (l) Epiphan contr. Haeres. l. 2. Haeres. 55.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

No man knoweth of his sepulchre - Hardly, lest the grave of Moses should become an object of superstitious honor, because the Jews were not prone to this particular fore of error. Bearing in mind the appearance of Moses at the Transfiguration Mat 17:1-10, and what is said by Jude Jud 1:9, we may conjecture that Moses after death passed into the same state with Enoch and Elijah; and that his grave could not be found because he was shortly translated (transported) from it.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He buried him, viz., by the ministry of angels, and would have the place of his burial to be unknown, lest the Israelites, who were so prone to idolatry, might worship him with divine honours. (Challoner) --- St. Michael therefore contended with satan about his body, Jude 9. Some have maintained that Josue and Eleazar performed these last rights to their deceased lawgiver. (Calmet) --- But then some men would have known where he was buried. (Haydock) --- Day. It is pretended that Jeremias discovered the place, 2 Machabees ii. 4, 5. He found, indeed, a hollow cave....and so stopped the door. Yet this does not prove that he found the sepulchre of Moses, (Calmet) who was buried in some valley over against Phogor, but it is not said in a cave. (Haydock) --- Cajetan infers from the body of Moses not being buried in the mountain, that it was conveyed by angels to some vale, where his attendants could not see him.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He, i.e. the Lord, last mentioned, buried him either immediately, or by the ministry of angels, whereof Michael was the chief or prince, Jud 1:9.

No man knoweth of his sepulchre, i.e. of the particular place of the valley where he was buried; which God hid from the Israelites, to prevent their superstition and idolatry, to which he knew their great proneness. And for this very reason the devil endeavoured to have it known, and contended with Michael about it, Jud 1:9. And seeing God would not endure the worship of the relics or tomb of so eminent a person as Moses was, it is ridiculous to think God would permit this honour to be given to any of the succeeding saints, who were so far inferior to him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. And he buried him — We understand the subject of the sentence to be Jehovah. It is true that although the verb is in the singular the passage might be rendered as it is in the Septuagint, (εθαψαν αυτον,) they buried him. Jehovah gave his servant this signal honour. The statement that follows, “But no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day,” would hardly be consistent with the idea that the people buried him. For in that case his grave must have been known. He whom Jehovah had known face to face was buried by him, not to keep the Israelites from superstitious reverence for his grave. Abraham’s sepulchre was known. Jacob had been brought up from Egypt with imposing pageant and buried. Joseph’s bones were then in camp on their way to the sepulchre. We nowhere read in the Hebrew records of any thing like idolatrous worship paid at any of the tombs of the patriarchs. The view of Kurtz is worth considering. He says, (History of the Old Covenant, vol. iii, p. 495:) “If Jehovah would not suffer the body of Moses to be buried by men, it is natural to seek for a reason in the fact that he did not intend to leave him to corruption, but at the very time of his burial communicated some virtue by his own hand which saved the body from corruption, and prepared for the patriarch a transition into the same state of existence into which Enoch and Elijah were admitted without either death or burial. On account of the one sin at the water of strife at Kadesh, Moses was sentenced by the ruthless severity of the justice of God to pass under the same ban of death as the whole generation of those who despised the covenant and promise.… In the sight of the people the leader and lawgiver of the nation was visited with a punishment which must have convinced them far more strongly of the unsparing character of the judicial severity of God than the most powerful admonition could possibly have done; but at the same time, though punished, he received honour in their sight, that they might see the sun of mercy bursting through the storm of the judgments of God. As an example of justice Jehovah caused him to die before the people entered the land of rest and promise; but as an example of grace he prepared for him an entrance into another, as yet unknown, land of promise and of rest.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The valley in which God is supposed to have buried Moses was probably some depression on the Pisgah range, upon or close by Nebo. The rabbins say that Moses was buried by retiring into a cavern, where he died and where his body remained. It is probable that, like Enoch and Elijah, he was transferred to the invisible world without seeing corruption. Hence his appearance along with Elijah in bodily form on the Mount of the Transfiguration; and hence also, perhaps, the tradition of the contest for the body of Moses between Michael and Satan. (Jud_1:9) If the body of Moses was actually buried, the concealment of his grave so that no man knew of it may be justly regarded as "the first instance on record of the providential obliteration, so remarkably exemplified afterwards in the gospel history, of the "holy places" of Palestine; the providential safeguard against their elevation to a sanctity which might endanger the real holiness of the history and religion which they served to commemorate" (Stanley). The reverence which the Jews paid to graves shows that there was no small danger of their coming under a superstitious regard to that of Moses had it been known.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He - The Lord, buried him either immediately, or by the ministry of angels, whereof Michael was the chief or prince. Of his sepulchre - Of the particular place where he was buried: which God hid from the Israelites, to prevent their superstition and idolatry, to which he knew their great proneness. And for this very reason the devil endeavoured to have it known and contended with Michael about it, Jude i, 9. God takes care even of the dead bodies of his servants. As their death is precious, so is their dust. Not one grain of it shall be lost, but the covenant with it shall be remembered.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

ויקבר אותו AND HE BURIED HIM — i.e. The Holy One, blessed be He, in His glory, buried him (Sotah 14a). R. Ishmael, however, said, It means: “He buried himself”. This (the word אותו) is one of the three cases of את with a pronominal suffix which R. Ishmael explained thus (as being reflexive and not accusative pronouns). Similar to it is: (Numbers 6:13; see Rashi thereon) “On the day when his naziritehood is fulfilled, he shall bring אותו”, i.e. he shall bring (present) himself. Similar to it is, (Leviticus 22:16) “And they will burden אותם with iniquity of trespass”. But did others burden them (the priests) with that iniquity? But the meaning is that they burdened themselves (Sifrei Bamidbar 32).

מול בית פעור OPPOSITE BETH PEOR — His grave was prepared there ever since the six days of Creation, to atone for the incident regarding Peor (see Numbers 25) (Sotah 14a). This (Moses' grave) was one of the things that were created “between the twilights” on the eve of the Sabbath [in the week of the Creation] (Pirkei Avot 5:6; Pesachim 54a).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.