How old was Moses when he died?

The age of Moses at his death was 120 years, yet his eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished (v.7). He did not die of disease nor of old age, but God took his life at God's appointed time. What a life indeed of faithful devotedness to God in the face of almost every kind of opposition! Yet he was a man subject to the same sinful tendencies as we are. He is a striking proof of the fact that God will provide the necessary grace and strength for the carrying out of any responsibility that He may put upon any believer.

In one instance Moses failed. When without water, God told him to take the rod (namely, that of priesthood), and speak to the rock, and water would come forth. Moses took "the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him," and with Aaron said unto the people, "Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly." Moses then had to hear the voice of God saying "Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them." It was called the water of Meribah, that is 'strife.' Num. 20:7-13. After this Moses besought the Lord saying "I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon." But the Lord told him to speak no more to Him of that matter. He was to go up to the top of Pisgah, and view the land. There the Lord showed him all the land: after which he died in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor; but no man knew where. He "was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." Deut. 3:25-27; Deut. 34:1-7.

The final words of Moses to the people are full of tenderness and affection. There he stood, an hundred and twenty years old, a witness to the grace of His God. His eye was still the eye of youth, for it knew no dimness. And his frame was not bowed down by old age; there was no sign of feebleness about him (34:7). The words "I can no more go out and come in" are not in clash with the statement about his physical condition. He knew that he had to die because the Lord had told him so. He encouraged the people to trust in the Lord and assured them that the Lord would give them victory. "He it is who doth go with thee; He will not fail thee nor forsake thee." Precious words these! And the same Jehovah is on our side, never to leave nor forsake His people. May we walk in the obedience of faith and find that His promise is true. Then followed an impressive scene. Joshua is called and in the sight of all Israel Moses addressed him. Joshua would bring them into the land. The same words given to Moses by the Lord to address to Joshua were spoken again to Joshua by the Lord Himself (Josh. 1).

And what then? He fell asleep and was gathered to his people. He died, not as a withered and feeble old man, but in all the freshness and vigour of matured manhood. "And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." Striking testimony! Rare fact in the annals of our fallen race! The life of Moses was divided into three important and strongly marked periods of forty years each. He spent forty years in the house of Pharaoh; forty years "at the backside of the desert;" and forty years in the wilderness. Marvellous life! Eventful history! How instructive! How suggestive! How rich in its lessons from first to last! How profoundly interesting the study of such a life! To trace him from the river's brink where he lay a helpless babe, up to the top of Pisgah where he stood, in company with his Lord, to gaze with undimmed vision upon the fair inheritance of the Israel of God; and to see him again on the mount of Transfiguration in company with his honoured fellow-servant Elias, "talking with Jesus" on the grandest theme that could possibly engage the attention of men or angels. Highly favoured man! Blessed servant! Marvellous vessel!

Each of them had had his exodus, both unique and wonderful, when the time for them to go out was reached. Never before nor since had man died as Moses died. He was one hundred and twenty years old, but his eye was not dimmed nor his natural force abated. And when the time for his departure came, God would not allow those people whom he had led with such patience and faithfulness to see any diminution of strength in him. In ringing tones he pronounced that great benediction upon the people, "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Happy art thou, O Israel! Who is like to thee, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and the sword of thine excellency? Thine enemies shall come cringing to thee; and thou shalt tread on their high places." Then the Lord led him to the top of Pisgah to view the land of promise as He saw it, and there with His own hand closed his eyes in death. Satan desired to have his body when the life had passed out of it, for what purpose we cannot tell, but Michael, the great prince that stands for Israel, triumphantly withstood him, and there in the land of Moab, far from the habitations of men, he was buried by God, and no man knows his sepulchre to this day. That was a noble decease, the crown of a noble life — God's "Well done!" to a good and faithful servant, for God remembered in that hour all his labours, and precious in the sight of the Lord was the death of Moses, the saint of God.

Each of them had had his exodus, both unique and wonderful, when the time for them to go out was reached. Never before nor since had man died as Moses died. He was one hundred and twenty years old, but his eye was not dimmed nor his natural force abated. And when the time for his departure came, God would not allow those people whom he had led with such patience and faithfulness to see any diminution of strength in him. In ringing tones he pronounced that great benediction upon the people, “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Happy art thou, O Israel! Who is like unto thee, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and the sword of thine excellency? Thine enemies shall come cringing to thee; and thou shalt tread on their high places.” Then the Lord led him to the top of Pisgah to view the land of promise as He saw it, and there with His own hand closed his eyes in death. Satan desired to have his body when the life had passed out of it, for what purpose we cannot tell, but Michael, the great prince that stands for Israel, triumphantly withstood him, and there in the land of Moab, far from the habitations of men, he was buried by God, and no man knoweth his sepulchre unto this day. That was a noble decease, the crown of a noble life—God's “Well done!” to a good and faithful servant, for God remembered in that hour all his labours, and precious in the sight of the Lord was the death of Moses, the saint of God.

At this time (v.6) we are told that Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them, and no mention is made of any further complaints on their part. Their age is told us, - Moses 80 years and Aaron 83. We may wonder at their physical energy at that age, but even when Moses was 120 years “his eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished” (Dt. 34:7). It is Moses who wrote Psalm 90, which tells us “The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away” (v. 10). But God made Moses himself a striking exception!

Now fresh victory awaited Israel in the expedition against Midian. Twelve thousand went out to war. Twelve thousand returned victorious. Not a man was lost, though the five kings of Midian - Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba - were slain, and every Midianite likewise, besides Balaam the son of Beor, who, possibly, when discredited in the eyes of Balak, betook himself to the Midianites, and with them met his justly deserved doom. After all this the people were summoned to hear the terms of a covenant to which they were to be parties, and which they entered into in the land of Moab (Deut. 12 - 29:1). On the observance of it depended their continuance in the land, the western part of which under Joshua they were about to conquer. For the time for the departure of Moses had arrived. At the age of 120 he went up Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, saw the land west of the river, but never returned to Israel. He died there alone with God. Of his birthday he had spoken in Deut. 31:2. Near now was the day of his death.

The people were still on this side of Jordan in the wilderness. The second verse, containing a parenthetical statement, gives the story of their unbelief, as recorded in the Book of Numbers. "There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea." They might have reached the place they occupied now, facing Jordan and the land, in eleven days. It took them almost forty years. Unbelief had kept them back. It was towards the end of the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, that Moses began his wonderful addresses. In the first month of that memorable year Miriam had died (Num. 20:1). His brother Aaron had died in the fifth month (Num. 33:38). Moses was soon to follow him at the close of the fortieth year, at the ripe age of one hundred and twenty. Forty years were spent by Moses in the palaces of Egypt ; forty years he was a shepherd in the land of Midian and forty years he was the leader of God's people through the wilderness. Before he went to the top of Pisgah to behold the land and to die, he pours out his heart in the presence of all Israel. His words were "according unto all that the Lord had given him." All he had received from the Lord, he passed on faithfully to the Lord's people. "Moses verily was faithful in all God's house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things, which were to be spoken afterward" (Heb. 3:5). Once more, therefore, he placed the words of the Lord before their hearts. This is the blessed object of ministry, to make known what God has revealed. True ministry is to deliver the message received. "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received" (1 Cor. 15:3). Moses declared the Law unto them (verse 5). The Hebrew word "declare" means "to make plain." it is used in Habakkuk 2:2.

Deut. 34:1-7. "And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees unto Zoar. And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go thither. 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 a valley in the land of Moab over against Beth-peor but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated."