What is the significance of Mount Nebo in the Bible?

Probably the chain of mountains that lie 'beyond' or to the east of the Dead Sea and the lower Jordan. Num. 33:47-48. Deut. 32:49-50, shows that mount Nebo was connected with Abarim and that it was 'over against Jericho' and also that it was where Moses viewed the land and died. Num. 27:12-13. Deut. 3:27 connects this with Pisgah; so that Pisgah and Nebo apparently formed part of Abarim, in the land of Moab. Abarim is translated 'passages' in Jer. 22:20.

Mountain on the east of the Jordan. Balaam offered sacrifices there, and it was the spot from which Moses viewed the promised land, and near to which he died. It was associated with Nebo (q.v.), and was said to be 'over against Jericho.' Num. 21:20; Num. 23:14; Deut. 3:27; Deut. 4:49; Deut. 34:1. The peak called Ras Siaghah, 31 46' N, 35 43' E, is probably the site.

On the east of the Jordan, perhaps the highest point of Pisgah, from whence Moses viewed the promised land. It was opposite Jericho. Deut. 32:49; Deut. 34:1. Identified with Jebel Neba, 31 46' N, 35 44' E. It is about 2,643 feet high, and commands an extensive view of western Palestine.

Thus Moses has given his last message to Israel, so that this chapter is necessarily penned by a different writer. Moses, fully aware that he would die on Mount Nebo, goes with calm confidence in the living God to his appointed end. Evidently he went alone, and the writer of this history therefore received his information of this occasion directly from the Lord. Ascending to the top of Pisgah, which means "survey," he was there shown by God all the land of Gilead as far as Dan (v.1) at the extreme north of the land, all Naphtali, Ephraim and Manasseh and Judah as far as the Western Sea (the Mediterranean). These of course were the possessions that God had purposed for these tribes. The south of the land also was included and the plain of the valley of Jericho, which was much closer (v.3). Certainly all of this panoramic view would not normally be visible from that point, but God made it visible to Moses on this one occasion.

In this beautiful way the grace of God transcended His stern government. His government could not allow Moses to enter the land, but His grace enabled him to see it all, which he would not do by entering it, and which no Israelite who entered would see. More than this, in the New Testament (Mt.17:1-3) Moses is seen in the land, but with his interest not fixed on the land at all, but on the Lord Jesus, transfigured before his eyes. Marvelous blessing indeed for the deeply tried leader of Israel!

The Lord told Moses on Mount Nebo that this was the land He had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and to their descendants, and though Moses had seen it, he would not cross over the Jordan to enter it. Thus this faithful servant of the Lord died as the Lord had told him he would (v.5). But Israel could have no burial service for him. Instead, Moses had the unique distinction of being buried by God with no observer present. Not even Satan knew his burying place, for Jude 9 tells us that there was a dispute between Michael the archangel and the devil concerning the body of Moses, which was settled by Michael's wise words, "The Lord rebuke you." If Satan had known where Moses' body was buried, how likely it is he would have moved people to build a shrine of idolatrous worship there. But Moses, faithful man of God as he was, is not to be worshiped.

We see him for instance, in the Mount Pisgah, viewing the land of Canaan stretched out beneath him (Deut. 34). That was a new mount of God to him. It lay a little outside the promised land, but it afforded him a full view of it. It was a high eminence, the top of Pisgah on Mount Nebo, in the mountains of Abarim. The earth had now ceased to own Moses, Israel also knew him no more, the wilderness too had all been passed, and the Lord alone is his company on the hill that overlooked the land of promise. What an expression of the place of the church or heavenly glory, the whole of this is! On high with the Lord, Moses looks down on the earthly inheritance, the place of the tribes of Israel, Gilead and Dan, Naphtali, Ephraim and Manasseh, with all the land of Judah to the sea, the south too, and the valley of Jericho, with the city of palm trees unto Zoar! A place that could command such objects beneath, and in such company, is heavenly indeed. Moses is on high with the Lord, looking on the cities and plains where the redeemed and happy families of the earth were to dwell. It is from heaven alone that such blessing and occupation of the earth, in righteousness and peace, will be seen by the Lord and His children of the resurrection.*

It is very remarkable, and indeed eminently impressive, to find our chapter closing with another reference to Jehovah's governmental dealing with His beloved servant Moses. "And the Lord spake to Moses that self-same day" — the very day in which he uttered his song in the ears of the people — "saying, Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, to mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel for a possession; and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered to thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered to his people; because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither to the land which I give the children of Israel." (Vers. 48-52)

Let us look at the three instances to which I refer. The first is Deuteronomy 3:23-27. "I besought the Lord at that time, saying, O, Lord God, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand; for what God is there in heaven or in earth that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me; and the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes; for thou shalt not go over this Jordan."

"I besought the Lord:" it is very remarkable; almost the very same words as those used by the apostle in the Epistle to the Corinthians. But his earnest prayer was not granted; the only answer was, "Speak no more unto me of this matter." There was a double reason, no doubt, why His servant Moses should not cross the Jordan and enter the land of Canaan. Dispensationally the law could never bring the people of God, such as they were, into the rest of God; it remained for Joshua, the type of Christ in resurrection, to do this. And the moral reason, of course, every one is acquainted with; "he spake unadvisedly with his lips." You may ask, How did God do a better thing for him than giving him his request, when He took him up to the top of Pisgah, instead of letting him go into the land, allowing him to see it all, which could only tantalize him? But do you not remember how in the New Testament, we read, that when the Lord Jesus Christ was seen on the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses was seen there with Him; there he stood in the land; he saw it in company with Christ in glory, and was not that far better than if in Israel's days he had crossed the Jordan? He did not say one word about it now; he could only speak about Christ. He got a far better thing than his heart could have conceived or his lips uttered. And it is just the same principle with God and His people now.

Moses (Deut. 34) goes up to the top of Pisgah, and there Jehovah points out to him the land in detail. It was impossible that the fault of Moses could be slighted without weakening the authority of law. There was surely righteousness in the ways of God; but this did not in the smallest degree hinder the perfectness of His love to Moses. It was part of His government to chasten his fault: His grace to Moses remained entire. Had it been possible, consistently with the ways of God (which it was not), that Moses should have entered the land, what grief to Moses to have beheld the unfaithfulness of His people, their slighting of His law, their imperfect conquest of the enemy, their readiness to turn back to iniquity and idolatry even in that land! Can this be compared with the blessedness of looking down on it from beside Jehovah — not seeing it in the hands of man, imperfectly rescued from the Canaanites, but God Himself calling it already the land of this tribe and of that, and thus giving His servant's heart to look to the time when no Canaanite should be in the land?

Does this lower Moses in our estimation? The very reverse; it raises him immensely. It is morally lovely to hear his confession; to see how meekly he bows his head to the governmental dealings of God; to mark the unselfishness of his acting toward the man who was to succeed him in his high office. There was not a trace of jealousy or envy; no exhibition of mortified pride. With beautiful self-emptiness, he steps down from his elevated position, throws his mantle over the shoulders of his successor, and encourages him to discharge with holy fidelity, the duties of that high office which he himself had to resign.

"He that humbles himself shall be exalted." How true was this in Moses' case! He humbled himself under the mighty hand of God. He accepted the holy discipline imposed upon him by the divine government. He uttered not a murmuring word at the refusal of his request. He bows to it all, and hence he was exalted in due time. If government kept him out of Canaan, grace conducted him to Pisgah's top, from whence, in company with his Lord, he was permitted to see that good land, in all its fair proportions — see it, not as inherited by Israel, but as given of God.

It is the Lord who buries Moses, and after a time He brings him out (as we have seen) in the glory of the Lord Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. We find there, not Joshua, the one who led Israel into the land, but Moses, the one to whom this was denied.

Beloved, let us remember that it was a little thing, an unadvised word that occasioned to Moses the loss of Canaan. And let us remember, moreover, that the governance of the tongue is more pressed upon us in the New Testament than almost anything else. "By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." (Matt. 12:37.) Seeking to exalt ourselves is rebellion against God.