Who killed Moses in the Bible?

The same day that Moses gave Israel the words of the song, God commanded him to go up to Mount Nebo and die on the mountain. He did not die from illness or old age, but God simply took his life from him because he had disobeyed God's orders at the Waters of Meribah, striking the rock instead of speaking to it (Num.20:7-12).

Yet God told him he would see the land without entering it (v.52). There is a deeper reason than Moses' disobedience that he would not enter the land, for he was the lawgiver, and law cannot bring the people of God into their inheritance. Joshua, whose name in Hebrew is the same as the Greek name Jesus -- Jehovah Savior -- was the leader into the land of promise, for he speaks of the grace that is in Christ Jesus in contrast to law. The death of Moses did not take place, however, before he blessed all the tribes of Israel (ch.33).

Moses came from Egypt through the wilderness; as it is written of him, "This was he that was in the church in the wilderness" (Acts 7:38). He stood on the borders of the land of promise, which was destined soon to be God's world, or that part of the earth which God was about to separate to Himself. But Moses was to go no further. There was to be nothing in this world for Moses but the wilderness and a sight of Canaan. The earth to him was to be no Canaan. His foot was never to tread a land flowing with milk and honey. "Die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people," said the Lord to him (Deut. 32:50). And Moses did so. He went up from the plain of Moab unto the mount of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, and died there. But did he die the death of all men? Died Moses as a fool dieth? No, it was the Lord Himself who put him asleep; the dead may bury the dead, but the Lord buried Moses. "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" (Deut. 34:6). Though He showed His care in another way, yet it was equal care for the body of Moses as had been shown for that of Enoch, and because they were to be equally children of the resurrection. Some sleep, but they which are alive and remain shall not prevent them which are asleep, but all shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:15-17). The earth does not, to this day, own the body of Moses. Like others, it is true, it has returned dust to dust, but the Lord Himself buried it with sure and certain purpose of giving it a resurrection unto glory. It was not the power of death that had oppressed Moses. Though a hundred and twenty years old, his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. The Lord could have said of him (as of all the children of the resurrection), "If I will that he tarry till I come;" for death is abolished to them all. But He was otherwise minded, and graciously so; for in Moses He has given to all those who may be called to "sleep in Jesus" a sure pledge that their bodies are not forgotten in the grave, but though sown in corruption, they shall be raised in glory; though once in the image of the earthly, they shall be found in the image of the Heavenly.

The mother of Moses doubtless closed her eyes in death long before she could have realized the remarkable history her son would have. Trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, military and otherwise; disciplined in the backside of the desert for forty years by God; taught the presence of God and His commission to serve Him at the burning bush: behold him facing Pharaoh, bringing judgment upon judgment upon the land of Egypt, and leading the Israelites through the Red Sea on the passover night. Behold him on Sinai’s awful mount receiving the law by the disposition of angels, and with it all these wonderful types and shadows that spoke of the coming Christ and His work upon the cross. Behold him leading God’s people across the waste howling desert for forty years, and then with strength unabated and eye undimmed, viewing from Pisgah’s height at the behest of God the promised land, and dying at God’s appointment—God the sole Spectator of his demise, God burying him, perhaps by the agency of angel hands, no man knowing his sepulchre to this day.

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.

But Moses and Aaron at this moment stand apart from the congregation; not in faithfulness as on previous occasions. They do not apprehend the sovereign grace of God. It is now their testing time; and they both fail, for neither had learnt the import of "the" rod. In anger Moses took his own rod, but what right had he to be angry when God would show only mercy? Both he and Aaron must die in the wilderness. "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." How did they fail to sanctify God? Not doing as commanded. The truth of priesthood as taught by the rod was set aside as if of no avail for the people, and with no more significance than confirming Aaron in his office, or in fact merely of use as a "token" against the rebels. But God is most jealous of all and every thing that interferes with His grace. God remembered mercy, Moses thought of their sin. God looked at the rod as a pledge of grace, Moses saw only the "token." Not seeing the mercy side of the rod, what wonder that he took his own rod, symbol of the righteous government of God and said "Hear now, ye rebels" — a word that Jehovah did not put into His mouth?

No doubt, it was a fresh lesson of mercy and forbearance, and deeper than Moses had yet seen, for his rod must give place to the intercessory power of the priest. He was told to "speak" to the rock; but he "smote" the rock and in his anger smote twice. Moreover, so jealous was he for authority that he for the moment forgot his own place as servant. "Must we fetch you water out of this rock?" Where was the honour due to God in his saying "WE?" None so meek as Moses; but here he failed and did not sanctify God in the people's eyes. His own place and authority filled his mind: there was no room at that moment for the thought of grace; yet had he not learnt enough of the people and their sin, that nothing but grace could bring them through the wilderness? His indignation might be righteous but his words were hasty, and the gravamen of his sin was interfering with God's grace. God would be sanctified according to His grace, not then by judgment. Therefore Moses could not enter the land. He mourned over this exclusion to his last days. "I must die in this land." Did he fully judge his own failure as the righteous reason why he should not pass the Jordan? "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" (Deut. 3:26; 4:22). But God lays it upon him and Aaron, "Because ye trespassed against me." The people no doubt were the occasion, but the trespass was their own; Moses and Aaron, in a certain sense, we would say it with submission, disobeyed too (Num. 20:24; Deut. 32:51).

But here Moses, completely losing sight of the infinite grace of God in this wondrous transaction and provision for His people, and falling back on the principle of judgment, misrepresented the God that he had sought to magnify, and whose grace it was his greatest joy to reflect. It was not so now, and hence a grievous failure. It became sin to death to Moses, for God most of all resents a grave misrepresentation of Himself on the part of one who ought to have known Him well. It was precisely because Moses and Aaron were so near to God, because they had entered (Moses particularly) into the grace of Jehovah, that now under these circumstances total failure on their part became the occasion for setting aside Moses as a vessel that had done its work. He was not fit to lead them into the land — the goodly land. It was a sore trial; it was a deep pain, you may be sure, to Moses's heart, though he never distrusted Jehovah after this, I am persuaded, but bowed with beautiful grace to His will, as we shall see in the history that follows. At the same time Moses felt and was meant to feel it all. But it is a sorrow that one who had conducted them so truly according to God, and who had stood so firm in circumstances yet more trying, should have failed, as it were, when close to the very brink of the land — when drawing near to the point from which they were to enter on the Canaan of Jehovah's choice. But so it was. Moses failed, departed from the rich grace of God, fell back on judgment; and judgment accordingly dealt with him. Moses did not act according to Jehovah. He lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice. Jehovah did not withhold the supply. The water came out abundantly; but this was to God's own praise, and in nowise an endorsement of Moses's failure. "And Jehovah spake to Moses and Aaron, 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."

So with Moses, grace brought him to the top of Pisgah and showed him the land; but government sternly and absolutely forbad his entrance thither. Nor does it, in the least, touch this mighty principle to be told that Moses, in his official capacity, as the representative of the legal system, could not bring the people into the land. This is quite true; but it leaves wholly untouched the solemn truth now before us. Neither in Numbers 20, nor in Deuteronomy 1, have we anything about Moses in his official capacity. It is himself personally, we have before us; and he is forbidden to enter the land because of having spoken unadvisedly with his lips.

It was the government of God which, with stern decision, forbade the entrance of Moses into the Promised land, much as he longed to do so. He spoke unadvisedly with his lips; he failed to glorify God in the eyes of the congregation at the waters of Meribah, and for this he was forbidden to cross the Jordan and plant his foot on the promised land.

"But Jehovah spake unto Moses and Aaron, 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. This is the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel strove with the Lord and He was sanctified in them." Moses and Aaron sanctified Him not, but gave up grace for the vindication of their injured authority. Had this been God's feeling, they had fetched no water out of the rock. Jehovah was sanctified; but it was in maintaining His own word, His own grace, notwithstanding the failure of Moses and Aaron: a failure which brought immediate reproof on themselves, and the sharp chastening of dying outside the land, the land of Canaan, whither grace was conducting the people.