Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
•“The song which Moses and the children of Israel sung” (after the passage of the Red Sea). (Exodus
15:1-19)
•A fragment of the war-song against Amalek. (Exodus 17:16)
•A fragment of lyrical burst of indignation. (Exodus 32:18)
•The fragments of war-songs, probably from either him or his immediate prophetic followers, in
(Numbers 21:14,15,27-30) preserved in the “book of the wars of Jehovah,” (Numbers 21:14) and
the address to the well. ch. (Numbers 21:14) and the address to the well. ch. (Numbers 21:16,17,18)
•The song of Moses, (32:1-43) setting forth the greatness and the failings of Israel.
•The blessing of Moses on the tribes, (33:1-29)
•The 90th Psalm, “A prayer of Moses, the man of God.” The title, like all the titles of the psalms,
is of doubtful authority, and the psalm has often been referred to a later author. Character .—The
prophetic office of Moses can only be fully considered in connection with his whole character and
appearance. (Hosea 12:13) He was in a sense peculiar to himself the founder and representative
of his people; and in accordance with this complete identification of himself with his nation is the
only strong personal trait which we are able to gather from his history. (Numbers 12:3) The word
“meek” is hardly an adequate reading of the Hebrew term, which should be rather “much enduring.”
It represents what we should now designate by the word “disinterested.” All that is told of him
indicates a withdrawal of himself, a preference of the cause of his nation to his own interests,
which makes him the most complete example of Jewish patriotism. (He was especially a man of
prayer and of faith, of wisdom, courage and patience.) In exact conformity with his life is the
account of his end. The book of Deuteronomy describes, and is, the long last farewell of the prophet
to his people. This takes place on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year of the
wanderings, in the plains of Moab. (1:3,5) Moses is described as 120 years of age, but with his
sight and his freshness of strength unabated. (34:7) Joshua is appointed his successor. The law is
written out and ordered to be deposited in the ark. ch. 31. The song and the blessing of the tribes
conclude the farewell. chs. 32,33. And then comes the mysterious close. He is told that he is to
see the good land beyond the Jordan, but not to possess it himself. He ascends the mount of Pisgah
and stands on Nebo, one of its summits, and surveys the four great masses of Palestine west of
the Jordan, so far as it can be discerned from that height. The view has passes into a proverb for
all nations. “So Moses the servant of Jehovah died there in the land of Moab, according to the
word of Jehovah. And he buried him in a ’ravine’ in the land of Moab, ’before’ Beth-peor: but no
man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day... And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the
plains of Moab thirty days.” (34:5,6,8) This is all that is said in the sacred record. (This burial was
thus hidden probably— (1) To preserve his grave from idolatrous worship or superstitious reverence;
and (2) Because it may be that God did not intend to leave his body to corruption, but to prepare
it, as he did the body of Elijah, so that Moses could in his spiritual body meet Christ, together with
Elijah, on the mount of transfiguration.) Moses is spoken of as a likeness of Christ; and as this is
a point of view which has been almost lost in the Church, compared with the more familiar
comparisons of Christ to Adam, David, Joshua, and yet has as firm a basis in fact as any of them,
it may be well to draw it out in detail. (1) Moses is, as it would seem, the only character of the
Old Testament to whom Christ expressly likens himself: “Moses wrote of me.” (John 5:46) It
suggests three main points of likeness: (a) Christ was, like Moses, the great prophet of the
people—the last, as Moses was the first. (b) Christ, like Moses, is a lawgiver: “Him shall ye hear.”
(c) Christ, like Moses, was a prophet out of the midst of the nation, “from their brethren.” As
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William Smith