Deuteronomy is one of the most often quoted Old Testament books in the New Testament. There is much there of great significance. Moses is a larger than life figure who demonstrates again how God can take a reluctant ordinary man and turn him into a great person carrying out God’s work.
A term that has appeared often in Deuteronomy and had bothered me for years is “fear of the Lord”. The connotation here is a negative one but really what is meant is as indicated in the glossary of The Disciples Study Bible: “No single English word conveys every aspect of the word fear in this phrase. The meaning includes worshipful submission, reverential awe, and obedient respect to the covenant-keeping God of Israel.”
Thus we have finished the five books of the Penteteuch (Torah). And " Then, leaving the Plains of Moab, Moses went up Mount Nebo, the peak of Pisgah opposite Jericho, and Yahweh showed him the whole country: Gilead as far as Dan, 2 the whole of Naphtali, the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, the whole country of Judah as far as the Western Sea, 3 the Negeb, and the region of the Valley of Jericho, city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. 4 Yahweh said to him, ‘This is the country which I promised on oath to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying: I shall give it to your descendants. I have allowed you to see it for yourself, but you will not cross into it.’ 5 There in the country of Moab, Moses, servant of Yahweh, died as Yahweh decreed; 6 he * buried him in the valley, in the country of Moab, opposite Beth-Peor; but to this day no one has ever found his grave. 7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye undimmed, his vigour unimpaired. ” The New Jerusalem Bible. New York : Doubleday, 1985, S. Dt 34:1-7
J. Vernon McGee has this intriguing note: “Why was his sepulchre unknown? Because of the fact that Moses was to be raised from the dead and brought into the Promised Land. You will remember that when the Lord Jesus was transfigured on the mount, both Moses and Elijah appeared with Him and spoke about His approaching death. So, you see, Moses did get to the Promised Land eventually. The Law could not bring Moses into the land, but the Lord Jesus Christ brought him in. McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary: The Law (Deuteronomy). electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1991 (Thru the Bible Commentary 09), S. 207
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