John Kitto Morning Bible Devotions: May 16

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John Kitto Morning Bible Devotions: May 16


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Death and Character of Moses

Deuteronomy 34

The day approached when Moses must die. The people for whom he had so long cared, and whom he had so anxiously led, were now ready to enter the promised land; but he was forbidden to go in with them. His work was done; his great task was accomplished; and it only remained for him to render up his life.

Yet it was fit that before this venerable servant of God laid down his charge, he should see that part of it which could be transmitted, deposited in proper hands, that he might die in the comfortable assurance, that the great work he had undertaken might be vigorously prosecuted after his decease. Ever since the fatal day of Meribah, the prophet knew that he was doomed to die, without setting the sole of his foot upon the land which was to form the heritage of his people. But now he receives a distinct intimation, as his brother had before, that the appointed time was come, and like him, he is directed to ascend the neighboring mountain, there to render up his life. Observe well how he receives this intimation. What is the foremost thought in his mind? Nothing that concerns himself—no regret of his own; all his thought is for the welfare of the people—“Let Jehovah, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may go out before them, and who may go in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd.” Here is the same loftiness of spirit, rising above every thought of self—the same zeal for the honor of God—the same devoted concern for the welfare of the people, which had hitherto marked his whole career. “We may wade through folios of history and biography, narrating the mighty deeds of warriors, statesmen, and professed patriots, before we find another case equal to it in interest.” Note: Smith’s Sacred Annals, i. 104.

The suit of Moses was heard; and Joshua, who had already had opportunities of distinguishing himself by his faithfulness and his courage, was directed to be solemnly inaugurated at the tabernacle as the future leader of the Hebrew host. Nothing then remained for Moses to do, but to pour out his heart before the people in lofty odes and eloquent blessings. Then he retired to the appointed mountain, that he might, before his death, survey the goodly land in which the people were to establish that noble commonwealth which he had so laboriously organized.

This was the only privilege allowed him, when, in the most touching language, he had, at the time his sentence was first pronounced, deplored this exclusion from the consummation of his hopes: “I pray thee let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.”—Deu_3:25. Who can tell the eagerness of the glance which he now threw westward, and southward, and northward, over the magnificent country that opened to his view. Following with his eye the course of the Jordan upon his right hand, he beheld the hills of Gilead, and the rich fields of northern Canaan shut in, upon the remote distance, by the dim and shadowy Lebanon. Upon his left, below where the Jordan is lost in the Dead Sea, the vast and varied territory, afterwards Judah, detained his view, until it was lost in the haze of the southward deserts. At, his feet, upon the other side of the Jordan, he beheld Jericho amid its palm trees; and, traversing the hills and plains of Benjamin and Ephraim. his undimmed eye Note: “His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” might, perhaps, discover the utmost limit formed by the clouds which rise from the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Upon this scene his eye closed, and in the recesses of the mountain, out of the sight of the host, in a hollow of the hilly region, where he died, his corpse was deposited. Had the spot been known, it would, without question, have become first the goal of pious pilgrimages, and then, perhaps, by the apotheosis of one so venerated, a scene of idolatrous worship. It is in harmony with the, self-renouncing spirit which his whole life displayed, that means were taken to prevent the place of his last rest from being visited by the coming generations, which would have such good cause to revere and bless his name.

Here we leave him. But we quit with reluctance the man whose career and character, as connected with, and developed in, a large and important part of Scripture, have engaged so much of our attention. The various incidents which have passed under our notice, and the principles of action we have had occasion to examine, leave us but little need to expatiate upon the character of one whom all must regard as the greatest of woman born—with the exception of One only, and that One more than man. As the mind tries, however, to rest, as it were unconsciously, upon the prominent points of the character which his career evinces, and which we discover in most other men, we find ourselves unexpectedly baffled. All the great men of sacred as well as of profane history, possessed some prominent virtue or quality, which stood out in bolder relief than their other perfections. We think of the faith of Abraham, of the conscientiousness of Joseph, of the contrition of David, of the generosity of Jonathan, of the zeal of Elijah—but what do we regard as the dominant quality of Moses? It is not to be found. The mind is perplexed in the attempt to fix on any. It is not firmness, it is not perseverance, it is not disinterestedness, it is not patriotism, it is not confidence in God, it is not meekness, it is not humility, it is not forgetfulness of self. It is not any one of these. It is all of them, His virtues, his graces, were all equal to each other; and it was their beautifully harmonious operation and development which constituted his noble and all but perfect character. This was the greatness of Moses—this was the glory of his character. It is a kind of character rare in any man—and in no man, historically known, has it been so completely manifested. The exigencies of even those great affairs which engaged his thought did not, and could not, call forth on any one occasion, all the high qualities with which he was gifted. It is rarely possible to see more than one high endowment in action at the same time. But we find Moses equal to every occasion—he is never lacking in the virtue which the occasion requires him to exercise; and by this we know that he possessed them all. When we reflect that Moses possessed all the learning of his age, and that he wanted none of the talents which constitute human greatness—while we know that such endowments are not invariably accompanied by high character and noble sentiments—we honor his humility more than his glory—and above all, venerate that Divine Wisdom which raised up this extraordinary man, and called him forth at the moment when the world had need of him.