The Mountain Where Moses Said Goodbye

Moses had told the people about the prophet God would send them, and a great deal more besides. Now the talking was done.

From the camp the people could see the hills of the promised land on the far side of the Jordan. Moses could see them too, but he knew he would never set foot there.

The reason went back to a second time the water ran out, years after the first rock, at a place that was also called Meribah. The people were thirsty and furious, and God told Moses, "Take your staff, and speak to the rock while they watch. It will pour out water." But Moses was furious too. He raised his staff and shouted, "Listen, you rebels! Must we bring you water out of this rock?" Then he hit the rock. WHACK. And again. Water gushed out. But Moses had not done it God's way, and in front of the whole crowd he had acted as if the water came from him.

"Because you did not trust me," God said, "and did not show the people that I am holy, you will not lead them into the land I give them."

Moses called Joshua to stand before everyone and put his hands on Joshua's head. "Be strong and courageous," Moses said. "You will take these people into the land. The LORD himself goes ahead of you. He will never leave you."

Then Moses left the camp and started up Mount Nebo.

(At a hundred and twenty, most people need help with the stairs. The Bible says Moses' eyes were still sharp and his strength had not gone.) Up he went, all the way to the peak called Pisgah.

There God showed him everything: north to Gilead and far-off Dan, west over the hills of Judah to the sea, south to the dry Negev. And right below him lay the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, so near he could almost count the trees.

"This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," the LORD said. "I told them, 'I will give it to your children.' I have let you see it with your own eyes. But you will not go over into it."

Moses looked for a long time.

Then Moses died there on the mountain, just as the LORD had said. God himself buried him in a valley in Moab, and no one has ever found the place.

Down in the camp the people waited, and Moses did not come back. They wept for him for thirty days. No prophet who came after him was like Moses, who talked with the LORD face to face.

Then they dried their eyes and listened to Joshua, whom God had filled with wisdom.

Joshua took them over the river. But even in the good land there were enemies to fight and graves to dig. Year after year the people looked for the prophet Moses had promised, someone who would do more than see the good land from a mountaintop.

The prophet Moses promised did come, and he talked with God as his own Father. He carried a cross up a hill outside Jerusalem, and there he died. Moses' grave was hidden in a valley no one could find. This prophet's tomb was in a garden, and on the third day his friends found it empty. Jesus had gone through death and come out the other side, and now he leads his people home.