The Death of Moses and the Road to Joshua

"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 shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan… and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar." "I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over 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." Israel mourns thirty days.

"And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him." "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, In all the signs and the wonders… and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel."

Mount Nebo today

Mount Nebo (Siyagha, in Jordan) overlooks the Jordan valley and the Dead Sea; on clear days Jericho and the hills of Jerusalem can be seen. The pilgrim Egeria visited a church there in the late 4th century AD, and the Franciscan excavations uncovered a Byzantine church and monastery with fine mosaics. It is a long-standing place of memory, not an identified tomb: Deuteronomy itself says the grave is unknown.

"He buried him"

The Hebrew says "he buried him" (vayyiqbor), naturally read as God burying Moses. The Septuagint reads "they buried him" (in the library's French translation, "on l'ensevelit"). The Samaritan text in our library has the same consonants as the Masoretic, which can be read either way. Jewish tradition (Sotah 14a) says God Himself buried Moses, an act of kindness to imitate.

Who wrote the last chapter?

A Talmudic opinion says Joshua wrote the last eight verses; another, that Moses wrote them at God's dictation "with tears." "Unto this day" and "there arose not a prophet since" look back from a later time. Many scholars see the chapter as the work of later editors, ending the Torah and leading into Joshua. These views are presented without ridicule or certainty.

Later traditions

Jude 9 mentions the archangel Michael disputing with the devil "about the body of Moses," a story found in a lost work called the Assumption (or Testament) of Moses. At the Transfiguration Moses appears with Elijah (Matthew 17:3). These are later traditions; they are not evidence of the grave's location.