Deuteronomy 34:9 - Meaning and Application

Here we have a very honorable tribute to both Moses and Joshua. Each receives praise, and each deserves it. It is ungrateful to praise our living friends so much that we forget those who have died, whose memory still deserves honor. At the same time, it is unfair to praise the dead so highly that we despise the good we have in those who survive and succeed them. God should be glorified in both, as he is here.

Joshua is praised as a man wonderfully fitted for the work God called him to do (verse 9). Moses brought Israel to the edge of Canaan and then died, showing that the law could not make anything complete (Hebrews 7:19). The law brings people into the wilderness of conviction, but not into the settled peace of rest. It is an honor reserved for Joshua, a type of our Lord Jesus, to do what the law could not do, because the law was weak through human flesh (Romans 8:3). Through Christ we enter rest, both the inward rest of conscience and the eternal rest of heaven.

Three things showed clearly that Joshua was truly called to this great task. God fitted him for it, because he was full of the spirit of wisdom. He needed that wisdom, since he had to lead a stubborn people and conquer a shrewd one. Skill in leadership is as necessary for a commander as courage. In this, Joshua pointed to Christ, in whom are hidden the treasures of wisdom.

Moses, by God’s direction, had also appointed Joshua to succeed him. He had laid hands on him, setting him apart as his successor, and had prayed that God would equip him for the work. This helps explain why God gave Joshua such an unusual measure of wisdom. His appointment was God’s own act, and those whom God uses he also makes fit for their task in some measure. It was also the very thing Moses had asked God to do for him when he laid hands on him. In the same way, when Christ’s bodily presence left his church, he asked the Father to send another Comforter, and he received what he asked.

The people also gladly accepted Joshua and submitted to him. A leader’s place in the hearts of the people is a great advantage and a great support in any public duty. It was also a great mercy to Israel that when Moses died, they were not left like sheep without a shepherd. They had a man already among them whom they could all agree to follow with full confidence.

Moses is also praised, and with good reason (Deuteronomy 34:10-12). He was truly a great man, especially in two ways. First, he was close to the God of nature. God knew him face to face, and Moses knew God in a way no one else did, at least among the Old Testament saints (Numbers 12:8). He saw more of God’s glory than anyone else did in that age. He had freer and more frequent access to God, and God spoke to him not by dreams or sleepy visions, but when he was awake and standing before the cherubim. Other prophets were usually filled with fear when God appeared to them (Daniel 10:7), but Moses kept his calm whenever he received a message from God.

Second, Moses had great authority and power in the world God made. The judgment miracles he performed in Egypt before Pharaoh, and the merciful miracles he performed in the wilderness before Israel, showed that he had a special favor from heaven and a unique commission for his work on earth. No one in Israel had more reason to love him, and no enemy of Israel had more reason to fear him. The historian calls these works signs and wonders, done with a mighty hand and great terror. This may also point to the terrors of Mount Sinai, where God fully confirmed Moses’s commission and proved it beyond doubt in the sight of all Israel.

Moses was greater than any other Old Testament prophet. They were all men who mattered in heaven and had influence on earth, but none of them could be compared with him. No one before him, and none after him until prophecy was closed, showed or carried out a commission from heaven like his. This praise of Moses seems to have been written long after his death, yet even then no prophet like him had risen. Through Moses, God gave the law and shaped the Jewish church. Through the other prophets, God gave only special rebukes, instructions, and predictions. The last prophet ends by telling the people to remember the law of Moses (Malachi 4:4). Christ himself often appealed to Moses’ writings and called Moses a witness, since Moses saw Christ’s day from far off and spoke of him.

Yet as far as the other prophets fell short of Moses, our Lord Jesus went beyond him. Christ’s teaching was better, his miracles were more glorious, and his fellowship with the Father was more intimate. He had been in the Father’s bosom from eternity, and through him God now speaks to us in these last days. Moses was faithful as a servant, but Christ as a Son. The story of Moses ends with him buried in the plains of Moab, and with the close of his rule. The story of our Savior ends with him seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and we are assured that his kingdom and peace will keep growing without end.

The apostle proves at length in Hebrews that Christ is greater than Moses, and that is a strong reason why we who call ourselves Christians should be obedient, faithful, and steadfast in the holy religion we profess. God, by his grace, make us all so.