Moses: A Man of Selfless Dedication

by Charles R. Swindoll

After a death comes a burial, and so it was in the case of Moses. But verse 6 contains one of the most remarkable statements about the whole remarkable career of Moses: “And He [God!] buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day” (Deuteronomy 34:6, brackets mine). Moses is the only person in the Bible whom God personally buried. Did you know that? And then the Lord hid the tomb. Why did He do that? Because that grave would have become a second Mecca. They would still be beating a path up Nebo to this day, building shrines, selling popcorn and peanuts, offering all sorts of rides, maybe running a tram up there, with big banners announcing, “Moses’ burial place!” “No way,” the Lord said. “Put him in that grave, seal it over, and conceal it, so they’ll never know where it is.” This was so crucial to the Lord that it even sparked an angelic confrontation. Jude 9 contains one of the stranger accounts in the Bible concerning this event. Jude writes, “But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’” Apparently the devil had his own plans for Moses’ body, but God said, “Nope. His body is mine just as much as is his soul, and I’m burying the corpse where no one will ever find it. End of story.”