INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF MOSES.

V. THE DEATH OF MOSES.

BY THE REV. G. SHORT, B.A.

"And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel; and he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day," &c.-Deut. xxxii. 45-52.

In the words of our text there are several things to be noticed. First, the rehearsal of the divine law in its general bearing, and the great importance of attending practically to its teaching. Next, the sin of the two venerable men at the head of this dispensation, a sin which was so greatly resented by God, and which led to the exclusion of both of them from Canaan. And lastly, the self-announced death of the legislator and the Pisgah view with which it should be solaced.

I. With reference to the rehearsal in this book, the first and foremost thing, and therefore the last, which Moses wished to impress on Israel, was, that the Lord their God was one God. To them, in their circumstances, the doctrine of the divine personality and the divine unity were of the highest importance. They were surrounded by people who worshipped mere local gods; gods whom they regarded as exclusively their gods, and gods whom they expected to regard them as exclusively their people. In Egypt there were so many as almost to run up into a system of pantheism; each class and trade, from the highest to the lowest, each city and each town, seem to have had particular and special deities; deities invented out of beasts, birds, fishes, fruits of the earth, seasons of the year, weather, sun, moon, and starsin fact, out of everything. Now the lessons of the plague had taught Israel, in conjunction with other things, that the Lord, He was the God, the only true and living God; the God not only of the waters, but also of the dry land; not only of the dry land, but also of the seas, of air and earth and sky, far off as well as near; that, whereas the heathen looked to one god to bless them in fine weather and another in foul, one to preside over the seasons and another over flocks and herds, one over this country and another over that, their God was the universal God, "the God of the whole earth should he be called." Very beautifully does the Apostle Paul apply these truths when he exhorts that prayer should be made for all people, and speaks of the one Saviour and the one great need: "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." Brethren, we have not travelled beyond the region of these great elementary truths; in our wisdom we oscillate between no-God and all-God, and a God of no manner of use, being either the slave of His own laws or else so far away that the prayer of want can never reach Him and the sufferings of mortals never attract His notice. Thank God, our instincts rebel against these illusions; and across the wastes, far down the ages, comes the loud voice of the legislator," Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one God." Another doctrine illustrated and enforced in this book is that of a perpetual and universal providence. Christians need to be reminded

of this doctrine; how much more men and women who not long ago were slaves! The Israelites left behind them a level country covered with a network of dykes and channels, and intersected by one large, deep, frequently overflowing stream, from which, as from a fountainhead, water was diffused over the adjoining land. Hence the passage which speaks of "watering with the foot; " which means, that the little dam is easily turned aside with the foot. "Now," says Moses "the land whither ye go to possess it" is not like that; "it is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven." But none the less he adds, "It is a land which the Lord thy God careth for; yea, he would seem to imply a land specially considered by God, in that "the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year." To you and me, the laws by which fluids evaporate and then condense in a mountainous region are no less certain than the laws by which they flow in a flat one. But the Israelites would not be so sure of that. It was necessary, therefore, they should again and again be told theirs was not a dead God but a living; or, which was next to being a dead God, One that was indifferent to the welfare of His people; or, One who interfered only now and then when there was some knot worthy of a God to untie, some great complexity to be unravelled or deliverance to be achieved, a battle to be fought or nation to be overthrown; but One "whose eyes" will be "always upon you from one year's end to

another. What a consolation to Israel and us! Israel's Guardian "neither slumbers nor sleeps."

A third thing taught by Moses in this repetition of the law was a consequence of this principle, namely, the acknowledgment that on God their national wealth and prosperity depended. As the result of good government and undisturbed possession of the land he sees that they may increase in cattle and crops and substance and all that makes an agricultural people prosperous. He does not say a single thing against it as some morbid moralists do when they get on the topic of money. He only warns them that, like other good things, it may be abused. He showed them there is a tendency which, alas, has frequently since then been illustrated when a nation has prospered, and flocks and herds and silver and gold are multiplied, to forget God and to say, "My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth." With the vividness of the historian he sketches what will be the consequence when such is the case; the captivities, the dreadful desolation, the siege. Very marvellous and instructive is the prophecy. If ever a nation ought to lay it to heart it is ours. Said to be the richest nation on earth, perhaps the richest nation that ever was on earth, we are not in a little danger of attributing our proud position to British pluck, British enterprise, British energy. And yet not Israel in the steps by which they climbed show a more wakeful supervision of divine providence than the British people. If we look at the conjuncture of the application of steam with the discovery of our great coal-fields, or again,

the discovery of Australian gold with the enterprising legislation which repealed our corn laws, or if we trace the waymarks of that constitution which is the admiration of the world, how can we say, "My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth!" No, no; there is a God in English as well as in Israelitish history, and may He forfend the day whenever we shall forget the fact.

II. With reference to the sin as well of Moses as Aaron. More than once it had been intimated to Moses that in consequence of his sin at the waters of Meribah he would not be permitted to set foot on the promised land. What that sin was does not appear to be clearly stated; but I think the following is tolerably correct. He had evidently indulged in immoderate and unbecoming wrath. He had spoken to the people, whereas it appears his orders were to speak to the rock. He had smitten the rock, whereas he should only have spoken to it. In the heat and flame of his anger he had done it twice, and what seems to have aggravated the offence, had done it with the rod which budded, which was important to preserve, and which was altogether unfit for such a purpose. His words, too, betrayed a vehemence and involved an implication which were altogether wrong: "Hear now ye rebels [or, ye fools], must we bring you water out of the rock?" Did he mean then to claim for himself and his brother Aaron the power of working miracles? It looks like it. Perhaps it was not the first time he had inclined to the dangerous assumption; perhaps with growing age, and an influence augmenting every day, there was not a little danger of his becoming testy, imperious, self-reliant, oblivious of his dependence on God and of his own mortality. Be that as it may, the Israelites must never be allowed to think the miracles were his rather than God's. What then would have come of all their remarkable education? and would they not after all be "a saintworshipping, miracle-mongering people," rather than a people who boasted a supernatural God and were supernaturally conducted? As it was, they were disposed to give quite honour enough to Moses; more than Luther was to the Germans, more than Napoleon was to the French, more, vastly more, than any name, ancient or modern, is to us, was the name of Moses to the Israelites; and that was a tendency which must be watched. A few lessons, however trite, from this painful episode.

1. That the best of men have faults. They are like "spots upon a vestal's robe, the worse for what they stain," the more need to be remarked. As frequently is the case, Scripture remarks them in tho very things in which these holy men were most conspicuous. Abraham in his faith, Job in his patience, David in his spiritual mindedness, Peter in his courage, Moses, the meekest man of all the earth, in respect to meekness. Alas, alas, such confessedly is man! There is only One radiant exception to the rule. "I have seen an end of all perfection." Do you

2. That the best of men for these faults are not spared.

spare a generous vine which is evidently running to waste? Rather, for the very excellency of it, are you not the more desirous it should be carefully and regularly pruned? So "every branch that beareth fruit" the heavenly Husbandman "purgeth, that it may bring forth more fruit." The most precious stone requires often the greatest amount of polishing. If God did not love His children, He would not take the trouble to correct them. Like the Syrophoenician's faith, He sees that theirs will come out the stronger and purer for the trial. He adapts the discipline to the patient, and ever teaches that not those who lack it are the parties favoured; rather those who have it. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.'

3. That God guards most jealously His honour. Not even Moses shall be allowed to trench on the honour due to God. He was a great man, perhaps, next to the Son of man, the greatest and the best. Had it not been that Scripture singles out his meekness, we should not have known what feature was most eminent.

"This was the grandest warrior

That ever buckled sword;
This the most gifted poet

That ever breathed a word;

And never earth's philosopher
Traced with his golden pen,

On his deathless page, truths half so sage,

As he wrote down for men."

And yet he is not to be worshipped. No temple is to rise over his bones, no lamp to be kindled at his shrine, no priest to minister in his name, no miracle to be attributed to his relics, no man to invoke his intercession. The people whom he as God's instrument brought out of Egypt and made free from the slavery of the body, were equally to be left free from the more degrading bondage of the soul.

III. With reference to the circumstances of his death. It was on the same day on which he finished his sublime song on God's faithfulness, that he received the mandate, "Get thee up into this mount Abarim . . and die." Now, Abarim is a mountain-chain to the north east of the Dead Sea, Nebo is the particular mountain, and Pisgah the particular peak. It is barren, presenting in itself nothing remarkable; but, like most of the sacred mountains, embracing an extensive survey, and therefore one of surpassing interest. What were the feelings of the aged patriarch as he climbed from peak to peak, and at last stood alone upon the summit, it would be vain to conjecture. On the right he would trace the Jordan to the hills of Gilead and rich fields of Northern Canaan. On the left, looking downward, he would observe that same river, till it was lost in the dreary waters of the Dead Sea. While before him, almost at his feet, lay Jericho embosomed in palms; a little farther on, the hills and plains of Benjamin and Ephraim; and, still farther, the dim blue waters of the Mediterranean. It is not for us to say how much by prophecy was revealed, or how long he was permitted to gaze; but there, with the

L

rock for his only couch, and the blue sky his only covering, he lay down to die.

"And the Lord buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor; but no man knoweth his sepulchre unto this day.' A few things may be remarked.

1. This was a lonely death. All death to a great extent must necessarily be so. The experience of the parting, the real condition of the soul when on the verge of the eternal world, who can describe ? The solemn individuality of that experience must always be an affecting consideration to each and all. Each one for himself will have to face the spectre called death, and to deal with its solemn issues. Our friends may accompany us a certain distance up the steep or down the valley, but beyond, as far as their company is concerned, we must go alone. There is only one Friend who can go through the death-valley, and if He is with us, we may make it ring with the voice of triumph, just as old Hebron's did with the voice of the shepherd-lad: Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

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The

2. This death was beyond a doubt peaceful. Death always may be encountered without dread when heaven can be anticipated without fear. That such was the case with Moses, we may be sure. land which he surveyed, with the intense eagerness of a dying man, was only a faint type of the better land to which he was going. My brethren, if we wish to have a death equally free from anxious dread, we must not only, as Moses did, each one according to his light, depend on the great Atonement, but we must also, like him, be obedient to the divine mandate. I find, as a rule, according to the life so is the death. If while professing faith in the Lord Jesus our lives are racked and riven" with worldly pursuits, we can scarcely expect a triumphant end. A ready-to-halt, time-serving, facing-bothways kind of professor is not likely to have a very heroic death.

3. This death was in all probability sudden. To the worldly man there is something peculiarly shocking in a sudden death; to the Christian it is often the reverse. How much is the good man spared! It is the survivor dies. It is well to leave it, singing with Dr. Alford,

"He holds me while the billows smite:

I shall not fall.

If sharp, 'tis short, if long, 'tis light :

He tempers all."

Whether slow or sudden, may we be always ready! Korniloff, the Russian general, who fell at the capture of Sebastopol,

a pleasant thing to die when the conscience was quiet. can alone be through the blood of Jesus.

said it was But that

4. It was a death preceded by Pisgah glances. This is often the case with the truly good man. Says Dr. Payson, when approaching the end of life, The celestial city is full in view. Its glories