Go up into this mountain Abarim, mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, which is opposite Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession,
God's word to Moses here sends him up a mountain to look at a land he will never walk in. Two things stand together in the command: the discipline that shuts Moses out, and the kindness that shows him everything before he dies.
One writer ties the order to climb Nebo to a failure in the wilderness, and to God's rule over His servants.
At last poor Moses has to go up Mount Nebo, to see the land he cannot enter. In the wilderness he had not answered what the glory of God required, nor sanctified His name by faith. It is the unavoidable consequence of the just government of God towards a servant — I mean under the law. He does not get into the enjoyment of the promise. A single fault deprives him of it.
Another writer turns Moses' case into a question for the reader.
How solemn and soul-subduing is the government of God! It ought to make the heart tremble at the very thought of disobedience. God judged so eminent a servant as Moses for speaking rashly with his lips. What then will be the end of those who live day after day and year after year in deliberate, habitual neglect of the plainest commandments of God, and in self-willed rejection of His authority?
One writer explains why God could not simply pass over the fault.
God could not overlook the fault of Moses without weakening the authority of law. There was righteousness in the ways of God, but this did not in the least hinder the perfectness of His love to Moses. It was part of His government to discipline his fault; His grace to Moses remained entire.
The command that tells Moses to climb also settles where the climb ends.
In rich grace, God said to Moses, "Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo… and view the land of Canaan…" But the mountain where he was to view the inheritance of Israel was to be the place from which he would pass from his labours into the presence of God.
The verse calls Canaan God's gift, not Israel's conquest. That shapes what Moses saw from the summit.
Moses must not go over Jordan. It is not only that he cannot officially bring the people over, but he cannot even go himself. Such was the ruling of the government of God. But on the other hand, grace shines out with uncommon brightness. God's own hand leads Moses to the top of Pisgah. From there he sees the land of promise in all its magnificence — not merely as Israel would later hold it, but as God had first given it.
Entry would have meant seeing the land in man's hands, only partly won from the Canaanites.
Can that be compared with the blessedness of looking down on the land from beside Jehovah? He did not see it in the hands of man, only partly rescued from the Canaanites. God Himself was already calling it the land of this tribe and of that, and so He turned His servant's heart to the time when no Canaanite should be in the land.
One writer points to a second reason, built into Moses' role.
Yet God told him he would see the land without entering it (v.52). There is a deeper reason than Moses' disobedience for his not entering the land. He was the lawgiver, and law cannot bring the people of God into their inheritance. Joshua was the leader into the land of promise. His name in Hebrew is the same as the Greek name Jesus — Jehovah Saviour — and he speaks of the grace that is in Christ Jesus, in contrast to law.
Moses' story does not end on Nebo. One writer sets this mountain next to a later night scene, where Moses stands with the Son of God.
His great desire was to go into the land of promise. But God said, "Go up this mountain… you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there." Poor Moses! I think he was heart-broken because he was not allowed to go into the land. If he had gone into the land then, he would have gone into it in very poor company. Where do we see him in this night scene? He is in good, yes, the best of company. He is in the company of the Son of God… He got far more than he missed.
- Government. One fault kept Moses out of the land. God's rule over His servants is real, and it should make disobedience unthinkable to us.
- Grace. God's discipline never touched His love. The same command that shut Moses out led him up, by God's own hand, to see the whole land and then to be with God.
- Gift. Canaan is what God gives, not what Israel wins. So Moses saw it as God gave it, not as men would later hold it.
- Guide. There was a deeper reason than his failure: the lawgiver could not bring God's people into their inheritance. Joshua led them in, and his name means "Jehovah Saviour."
- Gain. Kept out of the land, Moses later stood in the company of the Son of God. He got far more than he missed.
and die on the mountain whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy peoples, as Aaron thy brother died on mount Hor, and was gathered unto his peoples;
The song of Moses is finished. On that same day God tells him where he will die — on a mountain, in sight of the land he may not enter, as his brother Aaron died on Mount Hor. The words are short and final. Yet commentators find in them both the sternness of God's government and a surprising kindness.
The command comes to Israel's own leader, and it is not softened. One writer hears in it a warning about how God rules His servants:
How solemn and soul-subduing is the government of God! Surely it ought to make the heart tremble at the very thought of disobedience. Moses was an eminent servant, yet God judged him for speaking rashly with his lips. What then will be the end of those who live from day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year like this? They neglect the plainest commandments of God, deliberately and as a settled habit, and they reject His authority outright, by their own will.
Scripture does not quietly drop the reason for this death sentence. A writer contrasts how people write biographies with how God writes them:
We see here the way in which the Lord is able to tell of the sins of the saints — to record the failures of the saints. Let one man write the life of another, and he tries to hide the failures. Why? Because he wants to exalt the man. Let the Holy Spirit write the life of a saint, and He records the sins and failures of that saint. Why? Because He exalts the grace of God. It is a blessed thing too, beloved, when we can use even our failures to exalt the grace of God.
One writer sees more here than one man's misstep. Moses gave the law, and his exclusion pictures what law can and cannot do:
Moses is in his own person an example of the condemning power of the law. He can only see from a distance what he is forbidden to own. And if it shuts out Moses, whom will it not shut out? So for the true blessing we must go beyond law. We must go beyond the old covenant to the new, and beyond every earlier way God has dealt with people, to the one in which Israel really enters her inheritance.
God points Moses to his brother's death as the pattern for his own:
We also have a witness to the heavenly glory of Aaron, Moses' companion. He dies as a priest on the top of the hill, the earthly people below him, knowing him only as a priest in the high places.
Meribah is where Moses spoke rashly; Pisgah is the height where he died. One writer sets the two side by side:
Truly, if the solemn decree of the throne at Meribah overawes the spirit, the matchless grace on the top of Pisgah thrills the heart. The Lord's government kept Moses out of Canaan. The Lord's grace dug a grave for Moses in the plains of Moab. Was there ever such a burial? May we not say that the grace which dug the grave of Moses is only outshone by the grace that filled the grave of Christ?
Being gathered to his people was not the end of Moses. One writer follows him up the mountain and into the grave:
There was to be nothing in this world for Moses but the wilderness and a sight of Canaan. The earth was to be no Canaan to him. His foot was never to tread a land flowing with milk and honey. "Die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people," said the Lord to him. And Moses did so. He went up from the plain of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, and died there. But did he die the death of all men? No — it was the Lord Himself who put him to sleep. The dead may bury the dead, but the Lord buried Moses. The earth does not own the body of Moses to this day. Like others it has returned dust to dust, but the Lord Himself buried it with the sure and certain purpose of raising it in glory. In Moses He has given to all who may be called to sleep in Jesus a sure pledge that their bodies are not forgotten in the grave.
The same writer sees the mountain as a picture of where Moses was really being taken:
The earth had now stopped owning Moses, Israel knew him no more, the wilderness was all behind him, and the Lord alone is his company on the hill overlooking the land of promise. On high with the Lord, Moses looks down on the earthly inheritance.
- Cause — One rash word at Meribah cost Moses the land. God does not bend His government for favourites. Scripture keeps the record of the failure on purpose.
- Limit — Moses gave the law, and the law shut him out. Law lets a man see the inheritance from a distance. It never brings him in.
- Gift — Government kept him out of Canaan; grace brought him up Pisgah and dug his grave. Both are God, and neither cancels the other.
- Company — He dies as Aaron died, alone on a height with the Lord, the people below him — the earth no longer claiming him.
- Result — "Gathered to your people" is not an ending. The Lord Himself put Moses to sleep and buried him, with the sure purpose of raising that body in glory.