Some people don't like to think about ″negative″ things like death. But when people do not prepare adequately for their departure, those who are left behind face many difficulties. Moses was not such a leader. The whole book of Deuteronomy marks his attempt to prepare and equip the Israelites so that they would not be at a loss when he died. Besides, for Christians, death is not a negative thing, but, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, ″the supreme festival on the road to freedom″.

Moses died after he was given a glimpse of the land west of Jordan (Deuteronomy 34:1-5). But ″no one knows where his grave is″ (v. 6). There is no monument for this great leader of Israel, who grew up in a palace in Egypt, the nation that made pyramids to remember its rulers.

Instead, Moses left behind the commands and laws of God through which succeeding generations were able to know and follow God's ways (v. 9). Moses' greatness lay in his obedience to God. That is why he is called ″the servant of the Lord″ (v. 5), 37 times in the Bible.

The ″thirty days″ of ″weeping and mourning″ for Moses (v. 8) was in keeping with the customs of the Israelites (see Numbers 20:29) and the early Christians (Acts 8:2). While death is a victorious event for Christians, it is also a sad time of loss and an occasion to honour the dead person. We rejoice in the victory of Christ over death. We also need to have culturally appropriate practices to lament our loss and honour the dead. Non-Christians sometimes accuse Christians of dishonouring the dead at their funerals.

Moses is praised only in the last three verses of Deuteronomy in words written after his death by someone else. He is described as one ″whom the Lord knew face to face″ (Deuteronomy 34:10). When Moses came from meeting God, he had to wear a veil, because the people could not bear the sight of God's glory reflected on his face (Exodus 34:33-35). Such was Moses' intimacy with God that God would ″speak face to face″ with him (Numbers 12:8).

While Moses was unique among Israel's prophets (Deuteronomy 34:10-12), he looked forward to a greater prophet who would do more than redeem the people from Egypt. He would transform their hearts to obey the Lord (18:15-18). This hope was fulfilled by Jesus. Like Moses, He performed ″signs and wonders″ (34:11), but His miracles included the supreme miracle of rising from the dead. While Moses mediated God's Word, Jesus is himself the Word. Today, a leader no longer has to wear a veil when he returns from speaking with God. We who believe in Christ can ″with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory″ (2 Corinthians 3:18). The intimacy with God and obedience to Him that characterised Moses can be ours as well.