From the top of Mount Nevo, God shows Moshe the whole land, and there his journey ends.
The story
Moshe goes up from the plains of Moav to Mount Nevo, to the peak facing Yericho. There God shows him the whole land: Gilad as far as Dan, all of Naftali, the land of Ephraim and Menashe, all of Yehuda to the western sea, the Negev and the valley of Yericho, city of palms, as far as Tzoar.
וַיַּרְאֵהוּ ה׳ אֶת־כָּל־הָאָרֶץ
Devarim 34:1
God says to him: this is the land I swore to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov that I would give to their descendants. I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you will not cross over into it. Here the Torah records no word from Moshe.
הֶרְאִיתִיךָ בְעֵינֶיךָ וְשָׁמָּה לֹא תַעֲבֹר
Devarim 34:4
And there, in the land of Moav, Moshe died. Here the Torah calls him the servant of God, and says he died at the word of God. His burial was in the valley in the land of Moav, opposite Beit Peor, and to this day no one knows where his grave is.
וַיָּמָת שָׁם מֹשֶׁה עֶבֶד־ה׳
Devarim 34:5
When he died, Moshe was a hundred and twenty years old. His eyes had not dimmed, and his vigour had not left him. The children of Israel wept for him in the plains of Moav for thirty days, and then the days of weeping and mourning for Moshe came to an end.
וַיִּבְכּוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־מֹשֶׁה
Devarim 34:8
Yehoshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, because Moshe had laid his hands on him. The children of Israel listened to him and did as God had commanded Moshe. And the Torah testifies: no prophet has since arisen in Israel like Moshe, whom God knew face to face.
Moshe was a hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eye had not dimmed, and his vigour had not fled.
Words from the verse
וְלֹא־נָסand had not left, had not faded
לֵחֹהhis vigour, his freshness
What it teaches: Accepting God’s decree
Accepting what God decides even when the heart asks for something else.
Moshe sees the land and hears he will not enter it, and here the Torah records no word from him. He dies at the word of God, his eyes clear, his strength still in him. Accepting the decree looks like this: Moshe sees the goal from afar, and has already laid his hands on the one who carries on.
A question to sit with
Which goal in your life might you see only from afar, and who could reach it because of you?
Questions about the story
What does God tell Moshe about the land he sees from Mount Nevo?
That he will lead the people into it
That he may see it but not enter
That he will divide it among the tribes
Answer
b. That he may see it but not enter
God tells him: I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you will not cross over into it. Moshe sees the land, but will not enter it.
What does the Torah tell us about the grave of Moshe?
That it is on the peak of Nevo, facing Yericho
That the people marked it with a great stone
That to this day no one knows where it is
Answer
c. That to this day no one knows where it is
The burial was in the valley in the land of Moav, opposite Beit Peor, but the Torah says that to this day no one knows where his grave is.
The lesson
One who knows he will not reach the goal can still prepare a successor.
For this week
This week, try teaching someone to do something you have always done yourself, and trusting them to carry it on without you.
From the sources
Rashi explains that God showed Moshe the land so he would go and tell Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov that God had kept His oath to them. But, God tells him, “it is a decree from before Me” that he will not cross. Were it not for that decree, Rashi writes, God would have kept him alive until he saw the people planted in the land.
The verses are from Miqra according to the Masorah (Wikisource, CC BY-SA 4.0), via Sefaria, without the cantillation marks. On this site the four-letter Name is written ה׳.
