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Deuteronomy 34

Chapter 34 in 30 seconds

Moses climbs Mount Nebo, and God shows him the whole land. Then Moses dies there at 120, his eyes still sharp and his strength not gone. God buries him, and nobody knows where. Israel mourns thirty days, Joshua takes over, and the book ends with this: no prophet has ever been like Moses.

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In this chapterField Notes · ArchaeologyMount Nebo · after verse 12 The Big Question · Christians disagreeWho Wrote Deuteronomy? · after verse 12

The Death of Moses

¹Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which faces Jericho. And Yahweh showed him the whole land—from Gilead as far as Dan, ²all of Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, ³the Negev, and the region from the Valley of Jericho (the City of Palms) all the way to Zoar.

DT 34:1[FULFILLS]Moses and Aaron would not enter the Promised Land because of their unbelief at the rock ← NUM 20:12
DT 34:1[FULFILLS]Moses would see the land from far away but not enter it ← DT 32:52
DT 34:1[FIELD NOTES]See the Mount Nebo Field Notes page.

⁴And Yahweh said to him, “This is the land that I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you will not cross into it.”

DT 34:4[FULFILLS]Moses would see the land but not cross over. Joshua would lead the people in ← DT 3:27-28

⁵So Moses the servant of Yahweh died there in the land of Moab, as Yahweh had said. ⁶And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab facing Beth-peor, and no one to this day knows the location of his grave.

DT 34:6[NOTE]Jude 9 says the archangel Michael argued with the devil over Moses' body. Nobody knows where the grave is.

⁷Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak, and his vitality had not diminished. ⁸The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.

⁹Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites obeyed him and did as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ¹⁰Since that time, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face— ¹¹no prophet who did all the signs and wonders that Yahweh sent Moses to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his officials and all his land, ¹²and no prophet who performed all the mighty acts of power and awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

DT 34:10[NOTABLE]The last words of the five books of Moses. Israel waited for the Prophet like Moses that 18:15 promised, and the New Testament says Jesus is that Prophet, Acts 3:22.
DT 34:12[NOTE]WHO WROTE MOSES' DEATH? See the Big Question pages Who Wrote Deuteronomy?

Field Notes · Archaeology

Mount Nebo

Deuteronomy 3:27 · 32:49 to 52 · 34:1 to 6 · Jude 9

The hunting and herding mosaic in the baptistery of the Moses Memorial Church on Mount Nebo, dated by its Greek inscription to about AD 530. Photo Carole Raddato, CC BY SA 2.0.

WHAT IT IS: Mount Nebo is a ridge in Jordan, about 2,300 feet above sea level, across from Jericho. From here God showed Moses the land, and Moses died nearby, 34:1 to 5. Christians built a church on its western peak, Siyagha, to remember him.
HOW OLD IT IS: A pilgrim named Egeria visited about AD 384 and saw a small church there. It was rebuilt and enlarged in the 500s AD. The mosaic in the photo is dated by its own Greek inscription to about AD 530 and names three artists, Soelos, Kaiomos and Elias.
WHERE AND WHEN FOUND: The Franciscans bought the site in 1932 and began digging in 1933. In 1976 Father Michele Piccirillo found this mosaic hidden under a plainer mosaic floor in the church's north hall.
WHAT IT SHOWS: A shepherd fights a lion, horsemen hunt a bear and a boar, shepherds guard their flocks, and men lead an ostrich, a zebra and a camel. It decorated the room that also held the church's first baptism font.
THE VIEW: On a clear day you can see the Jordan Valley, Jericho, the Dead Sea and sometimes Jerusalem's hills. Deuteronomy 34:1 to 3 says God showed Moses the land from Gilead to Dan and as far as the western sea, more than eyes alone can see. Many read it as God giving Moses a special view.
WHERE IT IS TODAY: The church, now called the Memorial of Moses, is cared for by the Franciscans. Pope John Paul II visited in 2000, and the church reopened in 2016 after years of work.
THE BIG DEBATE: 34:1 says Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah. Some think Pisgah is the Siyagha peak, others a nearby ridge. And nobody knows where Moses is buried. 34:6 says no one knows his grave to this day.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: The church shows where Christians remembered Moses from the 300s AD on. It does not mark his grave, and nothing on the mountain comes from Moses' own time.

CONFIDENCE: HIGH FOR THE CHURCH, MEDIUM FOR THE EXACT PEAK

The Big Question · Christians disagree

Who Wrote Deuteronomy?

The Traditional View

Deuteronomy 1:1 · 31:9 · 31:24 · 34:5 to 12 · Mark 10:3 to 5

WHAT THE BOOK SAYS: These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel, 1:1. Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, 31:9, and when he finished writing the words of this law in a book, he had it put beside the ark, 31:24 to 26. But chapter 34 tells about Moses' death and burial, and says no prophet since has been like him.
MOSES WROTE IT: The traditional Jewish and Christian view is that Moses wrote Deuteronomy, as the book says. Jesus quoted it as what Moses wrote and commanded, Mark 10:3 to 5 and Matthew 19:7 to 8, and Paul did too, Romans 10:19, 1 Corinthians 9:9.
WHO WROTE CHAPTER 34?: The Talmud, Bava Batra 14b to 15a, says Joshua wrote the last eight verses. One rabbi there says Moses wrote them with tears as God told him what would happen. Others say a later prophet or Ezra added them. Philo and Josephus thought Moses wrote of his own death by prophecy.
OTHER LATER TOUCHES: A few lines sound like they were added later, like to this day in 3:14 and 34:6, and the note about Og's bed still being in Rabbah, 3:11. Many who believe Moses wrote the book see these as small updates by a later editor, like Joshua or Samuel.

Every View · The Scholarly View

2 Kings 22 · Joshua 1:7 to 8 · Nehemiah 8

THE JOSIAH VIEW: Since de Wette in 1805, many scholars say the core of Deuteronomy, chapters 12 to 26, was written in the 600s BC and is the book found in the temple in 622 BC. They point to its one place of worship rule, its style, and how closely it matches Josiah's reforms. See The Scroll Found in the Temple pages near chapter 31.
LAYERS OVER TIME: Many think the book grew in layers: old laws, then Josiah's edition, then more chapters added during the exile in Babylon, like 4:25 to 31 and 30:1 to 10, which talk about scattering and coming home. Martin Noth in 1943 linked Deuteronomy with Joshua through 2 Kings as one long history.
THE EARLY DATE VIEW: Other scholars, like Kenneth Kitchen and Meredith Kline, say its treaty shape fits the 1300s BC, its world fits the time before Israel had a king or a temple, and the book should be read as Moses' words.
WHAT THE OLDEST COPIES SHOW: About thirty copies were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, from the 100s BC on. They differ in small ways, but they are the same much loved book.
WHAT ALL SIDES AGREE ON: Deuteronomy presents itself as Moses' last words, Jesus and the apostles treated it as Scripture, and Christians who disagree on the date still read it as God's Word.

Deuteronomy 34

The Death of Moses

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