Week 6: Moses

Week #6: Moses

Deuteronomy 34:10-12 (ESV)

And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 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, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

What would you do in your final day on earth?

What would you say?

Who would you talk to?

What would you talk about?

We come to the end of our quick 6-week journey through Deuteronomy as Moses gives his final blessings, then he walks up the mountain to die. We see at the end of chapter thirty-two that God told him he would say these final words, then he would “join his fathers” as Aaron had done.

I cannot even imagine the emotions that flooded the heart of Moses. The thoughts that must have racked his brain; the memories that flashed before his mind’s eye…

Let’s look at his final words, and then let’s relish his life.

Part 1: The final words spoken by Moses.

Deuteronomy 33:26-29 (ESV)

“There is none like God, O Jeshurun,

who rides through the heavens to your help, 

through the skies in his majesty.

The eternal God is your dwelling place,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.


And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, ‘Destroy.’

So Israel lived in safety, Jacob lived alone, in a land of grain and wine,
 whose heavens drop down dew.

Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you,
 

a people saved by the Lord,
the shield of your help,
    

and the sword of your triumph!


Your enemies shall come fawning to you,
    

and you shall tread upon their backs.”

·      “Jeshurun” actually means upright one or righteous one.

·      It is a pet name, nickname, or endearing name of Israel.

In Deut. 32:15, this term of endearment is used as an indictment of how “un-righteous” Israel had been.

Look at the “thoroughness” of the safety, protection, and presence of God in this portion:

·      “rides through the heavens” (above)

·      “your dwelling place” (around, surrounding)

·      “underneath are the everlasting arms” (below, under)

They are surrounded by the eternal God…above, around, and under.

One of my favorite words in this portion is help.

·      “Your HELP” and “the shield of your HELP”

I’m reminded so often that I need God’s help. I’m grateful that He runs to my aid. I love that God doesn’t step-in to cast me aside and do the thing on His own…He comes to be my help, a Helper.

I love what Beth Moore says about this:

“Whatever God has called you to do, He can do by Himself.”

God has called me to do certain things, you to do certain things…He will help us to accomplish those things; although He could do “that thing” better, quicker, less messy(!), and without us.

A wonderful example of God’s help coming to us is found in Joshua chapter ten when God holds the sun still in order that Joshua and his men would win the battle in Gilgal.

Has it ever crossed your mind that God could’ve simply ended the battle? Instead, he enables or HELPS Joshua do what he has been called to do. Next time we need help, let’s ask God…and as we cry out for help, take a moment to thank Him for using us to do the work.

Look at the word HELP in these passages:

Psalm 33:20 (ESV)

Our soul waits for the Lord;
 he is our help and our shield.

Psalm 118:5-7 (ESV)

Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
    

the Lord answered me and set me free.

The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.
    

What can man do to me?

The Lord is on my side as my helper;
    

I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

Psalm 115:9-11 (ESV)

O Israel, trust in the Lord!
    

He is their help and their shield.

O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord!
    

He is their help and their shield.

You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
    

He is their help and their shield.

Psalm 121 (ESV)

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
    

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,
    

who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;
    

he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel
    

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
    

the Lord is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,
    

nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    

he will keep your life.

The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Psalm 146:5-7 (ESV)

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,


whose hope is in the Lord his God,

who made heaven and earth,
    

the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;    

who executes justice for the oppressed,
    

who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;

Isaiah 41:10,13 (ESV)

fear not, for I am with you;
    

be not dismayed, for I am your God;


I will strengthen you, I will help you,
    

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand…

For I, the Lord your God,
    

hold your right hand;


it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

God is our help. Notice as well the use of the word SHIELD.

As we work, we can become vulnerable to attack…So, God comes to help us, but also to be a shield of protection. I love that!!!!

Lastly, in this passage, Moses makes two statements that are so very intertwined. He says there is no God like our God; therefore, there is no group of people like Israel!!!

·      “There is none like God…the eternal God”

o   Deuteronomy 32:4 (ESV)

The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. 
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
 just and upright is he.

o   Deuteronomy 32:31 (ESV)

For their rock is not as our Rock; our enemies are by themselves.

Moses reminds these people of the mighty works God has done, and the works He has worked on their behalf.

·      “Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD…”

o   Deuteronomy 7:6-9 (ESV)

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

o   Deuteronomy 26:18-19 (ESV)

And the Lord has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations that he has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.”

We’ve talked about how God chose Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…and Moses; He chose these people who were slaves in Egypt; and then he chose to bring this generation into the Promised Land. We talked about how Israel became valuable, a “treasured possession” as a result of their God and the love He set on them – NOT because of their value in and of themselves. They were “a people like no other” because of the God who had “set His love” on them.

Hallelujah!

Part 2: The Final Words Written About Moses.

Deuteronomy 34 (ESV)

Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. And the Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.

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. And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 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, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

·       “The LORD showed him all the land.”

·      “I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.”

Remember, God told Moses that he would not enter the Promised Land because of his sin at the waters of Meribah (Numbers 20). But God in his mercy, showed Moses a panoramic view of the land that He had promised.

·      “So Moses died there…according to the word of the LORD.”

This is so beautiful!!! In my study of this passage, I’ve learned this could literally mean a kiss from God or the kiss of death.

·      “Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated.”

Coupling this verse with 31:1-2, we understand that Moses was physically able to go into the Promised Land, physically he was fully capable of leading the Israelites into the Promised Land; however, at God’s command, he would not go in. This is so powerful. The Holy Spirit was intentional to let us – the reader – know that Moses was kept from the Promised Land solely on the basis of his sin against God.

·      “There has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face…”

Powerful words. The man of God that Moses was, he truly was one of a kind…however… In Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses himself says that God will “raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers – it is to him you shall listen…” We know that ultimately this will be Jesus Christ, who indeed knows God “face-to-face” and is the Ultimate One-of-a-kind.

In Exodus 2, we read of the birth of Moses. His mother trying to protect him during a very dangerous time for Israelite boys and hide him as long as she could, places him in a small basket among the reeds. The Egyptian princess finds him and offers to pay his own mother to nurse and raise him – my favorite part EVER!!! – until he is ultimately brought into the palace as one of Pharaoh’s own.

By the time God calls to Moses from the burning bush in chapter three, Moses is a murderer, a fugitive, a hero at the well, then married and a shepherd…far from the reaches of an angry Pharaoh.

When God calls to him – after Moses turns to see the bush that is not consumed – Moses argues with God, telling Him that he is incapable of doing what God has commanded. But, God will not let him off the hook. Even when God brings Aaron in to help Moses, Moses is still not able to refuse his calling.

This should really put us on alert to an important principle we see when it comes to God and His plan. There are things we are called to do, in general, as His people; however, there are things you and I are called specifically, by name to do. For example, Jonah was going to deliver God’s message to Nineveh regardless of how many fish God had to prepare to swallow him until he conceded. Gideon tried to convince God that he was too much of a shrimp to do anything big; but God would not move on to someone else when He specifically was calling Gideon by name.

Moses saw first hand the mighty acts of God, the great mercy and steadfast love of God, and the great terror of the Holiness of Almighty God. He had the audacity of asking to see the Glory of God, a request which God granted to a doable action. He knew the LORD face-to-face, a great privilege indeed!!!

Deuteronomy 32:45-47 (ESV)

And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Within this old book there are Words of Life that are full, not empty…may we heed their warning; treasure their richness; thirst for their refreshment; learn from their wisdom.

Oh blessed Word of God, speak…speak to us.

We are hungry to hear.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I pray you have been encouraged.

May God richly bless you by the power of His Word.