Deuteronomy 33
ButlerDe. 33 1 AND this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of 2 Israel before his death. And he said,
The LORD came from Sinai,
And rose from Seir unto them ;
He shined forth from mount Faran,
And he came from the ten thousands of holy ones :
At his right hand was a fiery law unto them.
3. Yea, he loveth the peoples ;
All his saints are in thy hand :
And they sat down at thy feet ;
Every one shall receive of thy words.
4. Moses commanded us a law,
An inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.
5. And he was king in Jeshurun,
When the heads of the people were gathered,
All the tribes of Israel together.
6. Let Reuben live, and not die ;
Yet let his men be few.
7. And this is the blessing of Judah : and he said,
Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah,
And bring him in unto his people :
With his hands he contended for himself ;
And thou shalt be an help against his adversaries.
8. And of Levi he said,
Thy Thummim and thy Urim are with thy godly one,
Whom thou didst prove at Massah,
With whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah ;
9. Who said of his father, and of his mother, I have not seen him ;
Neither did he acknowledge his brethren,
Nor knew he his own children :
For they have observed thy word,
And keep thy covenant.
10. They shall teach Jacob thy judgements,
And Israel thy law :
They shall put incense before thee,
And whole burnt offering upon thine altar.
11. Bless, LORD, his substance,
And accept the work of his hands :
Smite through the loins of them that rise up against him,
And of them that hate him, that they rise not again.
12. Of Benjamin he said,
The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him ;
He covereth him all the day long,
And he dwelleth between his shoulders.
13. And of Joseph he said,
Blessed of the LORD be his land ;
For the precious things of heaven, for the dew,
And for the deep that coucheth beneath,
14. And for the precious things of the fruits of the sun,
And for the precious things of the growth of the moons,
15. And for the chief things of the ancient mountains,
And for the precious things of the everlasting hills,
16. And for the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof,
And the good will of him that dwelt in the bush :
Let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph,
And upon the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.
17. The firstling of his bullock, majesty is his ;
And his horns are the horns of the wild-ox :
With them he shall push the peoples all of them, even the ends of the earth :
And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim
And they are the thousands of Manasseh.
18. And of Zebulun he said,
Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out ;
And, Issachar, in thy tents.
19. They shall call the peoples unto the mountain ;
There shall they offer sacrifices of righteousness :
For they shall suck the abundance of the seas,
And the hidden treasures of the sand.
20. And of Gad he said,
Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad :
He dwelleth as a lioness,
And teareth the arm, yea, the crown of the head.
21. And he provided the first part for himself,
For there was the lawgiver’s portion reserved;
And he came with the heads of the people, He executed the justice of the LORD, And his judgements with Israel.
22. And of Dan he said,
Dan is a lion’s whelp,
That leapeth forth from Bashan.
23. And of Naphtali he said,
O Naphtali, satisfied with favour,
And full with the blessing of the LORD:
Possess thou the west and the south.
24. And of Asher he said,
Blessed be Asher with children;
Let him be acceptable unto his brethren,
And let him dip his foot in oil.
25. Thy bars shall be iron and brass;
And as thy days, so shall thy strength be.
26. There is none like unto God, O Jeshurun,
Who rideth upon the heaven for thy help, And in his excellency on the skies.
27. The eternal God is thy dwelling place,
And underneath are the everlasting arms:
And he thrust out the enemy from before thee,
And said, Destroy.
28. And Israel dwelleth in safety,
The fountain of Jacob alone,
In a land of corn and wine;
Yea, his heavens drop down dew.
29. Happy art thou, O Israel:
Who is like unto thee, a people saved by the LORD,
The shield of thy help,
And that is the sword of thy excellency!
And thine enemies shall submit themselves unto thee;
And thou shalt tread upon their high places.
Before ascending Mount Nebo, to take a view of the land he was not permitted to enter and then to die, Moses took farewell of the people he had so long guided and ruled, by pronouncing on them a blessing in their several tribes. This blessing was probably spoken on the same day as the song recorded in the preceding chapter, and to the same assembly. The one may be regarded as the counterpart of the other. In the song, Moses dwells chiefly on the calamities that were to befall the people because of their apostasy; in the blessing, he depicts the benefits that were to be enjoyed by them through the Divine favor. The tone of the one is sombre and minatory; the tone of the other is serene and cheering. The one presents the darker side, the other the brighter side, of Israel’s fortunes. Both were fitting utterances for the occasion; the one the farewell warning, the other the farewell benediction, of him who had so long proved them and known their ways; who, while he desired their welfare, feared they might forfeit this by their folly and sin; and who sought, both by warning and by blessing, to encourage them to pursue that course by which alone prosperity and happiness could be secured. W. L. A.
This blessing follows the impulses of the great heart of Moses, now a patriarch of one hundred and twenty years, who had long outlived the associates of his earlier days; who had suffered and borne everything for his people and had labored for them more than a father for his sons and daughters. While the “Song” is largely in the minor strain—a sad prophetic vision of the nation’s future apostasies and consequent ca lamities, this chapter is pure benediction—the outpouring of hopeful prayers and heartfelt good wishes, with no shade of anticipated disaster, no foreseen calamities. H. C.—Like the blessing of Jacob (Gen. 49), to which it has an intimate though independent correspondence throughout, it is the solemn farewell of the earthly head of the race. A comparison will show how the blessings uttered by Moses over the several tribes partly repeat, partly enlarge and supplement, and sometimes modify or even reverse, the predictions of the dying Jacob. The characteristics of the blessing are such as distinctly suit the place which it occupies in the Pentateuch, both as to time and circumstance. The total absence of warning and reproof has been rightly noted as indicating that Moses is here speaking of the ideal Israel, of the people of God as they might and would have been but for their perverseness, rather than foretelling what would in fact be the fate and fortunes of the twelve tribes. As then the song sets forth the calamities with which God’s justice will visit Israel’s fall, so does the blessing describe the glory and greatness which would from his mercy crown Israel’s faithfulness. The song and the blessing are therefore correspondent, and mutually supplementary. The form into which the blessing is thrown exhibits the several tribes co-operating, each according to its peculiar characteristics and circumstances, for the accomplishment of the national mission. Moses when he spoke it had no doubt his coadjutor and successor Joshua by his side, who also shared in the prophetic spirit by which the blessing was dictated. Espin.
The blessing contains an introduction (verses 1-5); the benedictions pronounced on the tribes individually (verses 6-25); a conclusion (verses 26-29).
1-5. Introduction. The blessing opens with an allusion to the making of the covenant and the giving of the Law at Sinai, when the Lord revealed himself in glory and majesty as the King of Israel, in order at the outset to fix the minds of the people on the source whence alone blessing could come to them. God’s love to Israel is celebrated, and the intention and end of his choice and elevation of Israel to be his people is declared.
1. Moses the man of God. This appellation is applied to Moses only here and in Josh. 14:6 and the heading of Ps. 90. The phrase, “man of God,” indicates one favored with Divine communications, and employed as God’s messenger to men (cf. 1 Sam. 9:6; 1 Kings 12:22). In this heading, the author of the blessing is clearly distinguished from the person by whom it was inserted in this place. By describing Moses as “the man of God,” the author of this heading clearly distinguishes himself from Moses, and applies to him a phrase by which, apparently, it was customary at a later period to designate him (compare Josh. 14:6; Ps. 90:1). Moses must be accredited with the authorship of it; and if he was the author of it, he probably also committed it to writing—else how could it have been preserved? W. L. A.
The blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. Like the dying song, it is rich in poetry and full of majesty. It may be regarded as the crown of the Mosaic theology. The theology of the Pentateuch is marvellously comprehensive and complete. We are so accustomed to look upon the five books of Moses as but a small part of the Bible, that we often fail to realize how complete a revelation it is in itself. J. M. G.
2. Here begin the words of Moses. He commences by depicting the majesty of Jehovah as he appeared to Israel when he came to make the covenant with them and give them his Law. The Lord came from Sinai, and rose from Seir unto them. Seir is the mountain land of Edom to the east of Sinai. Mount Paran is probably the range of lofty hills which form the southern boundary of the promised land to the north of the desert of Et-Tih. These places are not mentioned as scenes of different manifestations of the Divine glory, but as indicating the extent to which the one manifestation given at Sinai reached. The light of the Divine glory that rested on Sinai was reflected also from the mountains of Seir and Paran (cf. Hab. 3:3; Judges 5:4). W. L. A.
Under a beautiful metaphor, borrowed from the dawn and progressive splendor of the sun, the majesty of God is sublimely described as a Divine light which appeared in Sinai, and scattered its beams on all the adjoining region in directing Israel’s march to Canaan. In these descriptions of a theophania, God is represented as coming from the south, and the allusion is in general to the thunderings and lightnings of Sinai; but other mountains in the same direction are mentioned with it. Jamieson.
Heart and soul, Moses was a legislator. He saw the grandeur, the eternity, the utility of law. The “ruling passion was strong in death.” The splendid manifestation of God’s majesty at Sinai again passed before the eye of memory. All those splendors of royal state were destined to illustrate the intrinsic majesty of law. That entire epiphany of God culminated in this significant act: “from his right hand went a fiery law”—a Divine force to soften, melt, purify, and consume. 3. To reveal to men his law is a Divine equivalent for largest blessing. God’s Law is the outcome of his love. The spring and motive of this stately display of law is deep and generous love. “Yea, he loved the people.” D. D.
5. The gathering together refers to the assembling of the people at Sinai, when Jehovah came forth as their King to give them his Law.
Verses 6-25.
With these may be compared the blessing which Jacob pronounced on his sons as representing the tribes of which they were the heads. The two resemble each other in many points; the differences are such as naturally arose from the different relations of the speakers to the objects of their address, and the changes in the condition and prospects of the tribes which during the lapse of centuries had come to pass.
6. Reuben. Though the rights of primogeniture had been withdrawn from Reuben, and Jacob had declared that he should not excel, Moses here assures the tribe of continuance, and even prosperity. Their number was not to be small; which was, perhaps, said to comfort them, in view of the fact that their numbers had greatly diminished in the course of their wanderings in the desert. W. L. A.—The tribe had decreased since the Exodus, and in later times its numbers, even when counted with the Gadites and the half of Manasseh, were fewer than that of the Reubenites alone at the census of Nu. 1. They took possession of a large and fertile district east of Jordan. Occupied with their flocks and herds, they appear soon after the days of Joshua to have lost their early energy; they could not be roused to take part in the national rising against Jabin (Judges 5:15, 16). They do not seem to have cared to complete the conquest of their own territory; and even the cities assigned them were wrested from them by the Moabites. From this tribe no judge, prophet, or national hero arose.
The tribe of Simeon, which would according to the order of birth come next, though of course comprehended in the general blessing bestowed upon the whole people, is not here named. This omission is explained by reference to the words of Jacob concerning Simeon (Gen. 49:7). This tribe with Levi was to be “scattered in Israel.” The fulfilment of this prediction was in the case of Levi so ordered as to carry with it honor and blessing; but no such reversal of punishment is granted to Simeon. Rather had this latter tribe added new sins to those which Jacob denounced (Nu. 25). Accordingly, though very numerous at the Exodus, it had surprisingly diminished before the death of Moses; and found eventually an adequate territory within the limits of Judah. The tribe is mentioned as making certain conquests along with Judah (Judges 1:17); and is probably “the remnant of the people” spoken of (1 Kings 12:23) as constituting, together with Judah and Benjamin, the forces of Rehoboam. Espin.
7. The blessing on Judah is in the form of prayer to Jehovah. As Jacob had promised to Judah supremacy over his brethren and success in war, so Moses here names him next after Reuben, whose pre-eminence he had assumed, and prays for him that, going forth at the head of the tribes, he might return in triumph, being helped of the Lord. W. L. A.
8-11. Moses is large in blessing the tribe of Levi, not so much because it was his own tribe (for he takes no notice of his relation to it), as because it was God’s tribe. H—The tribe of Levi as a whole became in a sense God’s “Holy One,” bearing in the person of Aaron these insignia. God had proved them at Massah and Meribah where the people murmured against Moses and Aaron. It was especially in the scenes of the calf-worship (Ex. 32) and of the Midianites (Nu. 25) that the tribe of Levi, and particularly Phineas, proved themselves true to God, with higher regard for him and his honor than for father, mother, brethren, or children; for they remembered and honored God’s Word and covenant. Let them therefore have the functions of the priesthood, to teach Jacob thy Law and to minister at the national altar. H. C.—The Levites were not only commissioned to instruct the people in the Law of Moses, but were also appointed by that law to be judges and interpreters of it in civil as well as in religious cases. They actually enjoyed this power in its full extent for many centuries. Durell.
12-17. Joseph, including Ephraim and Manasseh. The resemblance of this blessing to that pronounced on the same tribes by Jacob is obvious both in thoughts and words; and in both the exuberant fertility of the large districts allotted to the descendants of Joseph is a leading feature. Yet the words of Moses are far from being a mere reproduction of Jacob’s. The patriarch dwells with emphasis on the severe conflicts which these tribes would undergo; the Lawgiver seems to look beyond, and to behold the two tribes triumphant and established in their power. Espin.
16. Dwelt in the bush.** Many a time God had appeared to Moses, but now that he is dying, he remembers that time when his acquaintance with the visions of the Almighty first began, and his correspondence with heaven was first settled; that was a time of love never to be forgotten. It was at the bush that God declared himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and so confirmed the promise made to the fathers, that promise which reached as far as the resurrection of the body and eternal life, as appears by our Saviour’s argument from it (Luke 20:37). So that when he prays for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush, he has an eye to the covenant then and there renewed, on which all our hopes of God’s favor must be bottomed. H.
18,19. Zebulun and Issachar. Like Jacob, Moses places first the younger of the two tribes. Zebulun possessed a commodious seashore, and the fisheries of the lake of Tiberias; and was therefore to thrive by commerce, and to rejoice in his “going out”—i.e., in his mercantile enterprises. Issachar possessed a fertile inland district, and would therefore dwell at home and prosper in agriculture. Espin.—These two are, respectively, commercial (“going out”) and agricultural (“tents”) tribes. They possess great wealth, present the most costly gifts upon the holy hill, and furnish the other tribes with the commodities of foreign nations. C. G. B.
20,21. The territory of Gad lay in the east of the Jordan. It included several cities remarkable in the history of the patriarchs and of the judges, as Mahanaim, Ramoth, Mizpeh, Succoth, and Peniel; but it was pre-eminently remarkable because it contained the grave of Moses—a fact which so decidedly invested the province with a character of holiness that, though situated on the east of the river, it was regarded as one of the most honored parts of the promised land, from which the leaders of the people might legitimately arise. Kalisch,—The blessing of Moses, like that of Jacob, upon Gad, has a warlike ring about it. He is spoken of here as lionlike in courage and strength, and also as being charged with the execution of the justice of the Lord and his ordinances with Israel. The character of this tribe is described with remarkable vividness in the Book of Chronicles. It was strong, hardy, fierce, warlike, magnificent in heroism, invaluable to friends, terrible to foes. Among them were “strong men of might, men of war for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, their faces the faces of lions, and like roes upon the mountain for swiftness;” “the least of them more than equal to a hundred, and the greatest to a thousand” (1 Ch. 12: 8, 14). And amid all the conflicts which were inevitable to the Hebrews with the nations round about, such lionlike courage and hardiness would be invaluable in leading them on to victory, and in helping them through great crises of their political and military history. C. C.
22. Jacob compared Dan to a serpent that suddenly springs forth by the way, and bites the heels of a horse so that the rider falls backward. Moses here compares the tribe to a young lion that suddenly leaps from its lair in Bashan on the object of its attack. Both similitudes relate to the vigor and force which the tribe should display in conflict.
23. In Jacob’s blessing, Naphtali appears invested with the attributes of freedom, gracefulness, and graciousness; here Moses assures that tribe of the Divine grace and blessing, and promises to it prosperity and felicity. As the territory of Naphtali lay in the north of Canaan, and was far from the sea, the blessing here pronounced upon him must be understood generally of prosperity and felicity. He was to possess riches as of the sea, and genial and fructifying warmth as of the south.
24,25. Asher, the prosperous one, as his name implies, was to be rich, and honored, and strong, and peaceful. W. L. A.—The record proves how he was blessed with children; the olive-yards on the southwestern shores of Lebanon are, to this day, the most extensive in the country; and in the foundries and copper and bronze work of Tyre and Sidon were the iron and brass for his shoes. The consequence of this mingling among the heathen is soon evident in the subsequent history. First, there is the long catalogue of cities (Judges 1: 31) from which Asher did not drive out the inhabitants; but whereas, in the case of most of the other tribes which did not gain complete possession of their cities, we are told either that they could not drive them, or that they put them to tribute; of Asher alone we have the significant remark, “The Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out” (Judges 1: 32). One name only of the tribe of Asher shines out of the general obscurity—the aged widow “Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser,” who, in the very close of the Jewish history, “departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day,” till at the age of eighty-four she was rewarded with the sight of the infant Messiah. H. B. T.
25. As thy days, so shall thy strength be.** The original here has two words only, of which the latter is not found elsewhere. The sense is, “Thy strength shall be continued to thee as long as thou shalt live; thou shalt never know feebleness and decay.” Espin.—The day is often in Scripture put for the events of the day; and taking it so here, it is a promise that God would graciously support them under their trials and troubles, whatever they were. And so it is a promise sure to all the spiritual seed of Abraham, that God will wisely proportion their graces and comforts to the services and sufferings he appoints. H.—All seasonable succor and support shall be equal to the trials and exigencies of every day. And believers have found this to be the case through all generations. They have had their days of persecution, days of affliction, days of want. They have had seasons of temptation, of darkness, and of duty; but seasonable and suitable strength has been received; their strength has been in proportion to their day; so that they have not really been in want of anything for their good. So it is with the Christian now. R. Hall.
Perhaps there is no promise of God’s Word which has more deeply touched the hearts of his people, or more frequently proved itself a balm in care, than this one. There is a distinct promise made to Joshua, “I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee;” but yet the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews bids the people whom he is addressing to make that promise their own.
And so assuredly may the people of God in every age and land do with the promise before us. They have done so hitherto, and will do so till the end. C. C.—A precious promise this of universal application. Our days are under Divine inspection; our circumstances are under Divine control. It is better for the man every way that his strength should be increased than that the trial should be abated. The outcome is that the man emerges stronger, nobler, more highly developed. The supply is always adjusted to the particular need. D. D.
26. The points and accents direct that this should be read, There is none like God, O Jeshurun; and though all the ancient versions read as does the Authorized Version, the Masoretic punctuation is vindicated here by the following thy help, which shows that Israel is here addressed. W. L. A.
The glories of Sinai are still in his mind when he speaks of God’s “riding upon the heaven, and in his excellency on the sky.” But observe in what character the majesty of God presents itself to him. It is not as a dreadful thing. Not at all: “who rideth upon the heaven in thy help.” Moses is a true believer. He knows that even that fiery grandeur of Sinai was in his people’s help, and the same thought rises in his soul as sprung up afterward before the rapt spirit of the great apostle to the Gentiles, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Sinai has no terrors for the aged believer, whose feet are firmly planted on “the Rock of Ages.” J. M. G.
26-29. Conclusion. God’s glory and power, and the consequent safety and prosperity of God’s people, form the climax, as they do the basis, of the blessing which the lawgiver has to pronounce. Espin.—These words of unsurpassed sublimity and most exquisite poetry set forth the glories of the God of Israel and the blessedness of the people who enjoy such a Father and live under such a Protector. Perhaps we cannot give them higher praise than to say they are worthy of the pen of Moses—worthy even to be his last words—the noblest utterances of one who above any other mere man had communed with God face to face as man does with his dearest friend. The English translation is almost faultless, constituting one of the grandest passages to be found in English literature. In the last clause of verse 27, the high behest of Jehovah, hurling the enemy forth from the land of his people, is best expressed in the emphatic word, Destroy! H. C.
Two great thoughts quite fill his lofty soul in its last moments. The first of them is this:
“There is none like unto the God of Israel;” and the second is like unto it: “There is none like unto the Israel of God.” Israel’s God and God’s Israel; the Saviour and the saved: are not these the two great factors of the Mosaic era? The great doings of God “when Israel was a child” make the grandest picture which the Old Testament affords us of the great salvation. How appropriate, then, that we should find at the close of these records of the times of Israel’s childhood so lovely a miniature, setting forth so beautifully the glory of Israel’s redeeming God and the blessedness of his redeemed people. J. M. G.—In this magnificent concluding passage it is the ideal not the actual Israel which stands before the great lawgiver’s eye, and the language applies to the actual only in so far as it was also the ideal people of Jehovah. Its full application is to the Church of Christ—the Church catholic and invisible. Orr.
27. God is the Refuge or Dwelling-place of his people, their protection amid the storms of life, and the unfailing Source of comfort and blessing to them in their pilgrimage state. Over them is his sheltering protection, and underneath them the support of his everlasting arms. W. L. A.
We need to have our eyes opened, thought set to work, faith made more real. If that were given, then should we know, as we had never known before, how wonderful, how sublime, how infinitely grand a thing it was to have this God as our refuge, and to know that underneath us were these everlasting arms! Orr.
Every Israelite indeed is at home in God; the soul returns to him, and reposes in him as its resting-place (Ps. 116:7), its hiding-place (Ps. 32:7). And they that make him their habitation shall have all the comforts and benefits of a habitation in him (Ps. 91:1). Though they may be oppressed, they shall not be overwhelmed by any trouble. How low soever the people of God are at any time brought, everlasting arms are underneath them to keep the spirit from sinking, from fainting, and the faith from failing, even when they are pressed above measure. The everlasting covenant, and the everlasting consolations that flow from it, are indeed everlasting arms, with which believers have been wonderfully sustained, and kept cheerful in the worst of times; Divine grace is sufficient for them (2 Cor. 12:9). H.
With this promise of the unparalleled friendship, the continual shelter, the unceasing stream of wealth the defence of God, the final triumph over all enemies, does Moses conclude his blessing. This blessing will only be rightly understood by connecting it with the foregoing prophetic song; and we draw the conclusion, that the people of Israel, which has these eternal promises, is the new covenant-people which comes forth from the old. Gerl.
It was due to the standpoint of Moses, looking forth across the Jordan upon the earthly Canaan, beholding the earthly Israel just then entering there; Jehovah the shield of their help, the sword of their excellency, the scourge of their foes—this mighty God riding sublimely upon the heavens for their help, his everlasting arms underneath them forevermore—that this view should be primarily of scenes in the present life and not in the future; of earthly and material relations rather than of spiritual. Yet the manifestations of God in blessings of earthly sort foreshadow like manifestations in the spiritual life. The God who saves his people here in things of earth, in ways so grand, with power so transcendent, in a spirit so parental and so tender, may surely be trusted to save and shield and bless with his own God-like wisdom and power against spiritual foes and for the other world no less than for this. Surely there is none like the God of Jeshurun who comes in the tenderness of infinite pity to wipe away the penitent tear; to bind up hearts broken for sin; to place underneath all feeble souls his own everlasting arms; to bid away every spiritual foe with the mandate Destroy; and to gather home his redeemed in his own best time to his Canaan above, of which that ancient land of promise gives us only some poetic images and some illustrations of God’s faithfulness and love. It is quite well, therefore, to exchange the earthly sense of this sublime passage for its spiritual significance and transfer its imagery to that world whose glories are worthy of sublimer strains than even these. H. C.
With these grand poems Moses closed his long administration of Israel’s government. For forty years he had been “king in Jeshurun,” and the time had now come for his departure. With wistful, gazing eyes he soon afterward surveyed from the summit of Pisgah the length and breadth of the promised land, and then calmly died. It was a grand mysterious death, such as well became one of the greatest among the master spirits whom God from time to time raises up to fashion the destinies of mankind, and who in the truest sense are his “servants,” sent to do his will. R. P. S.—The life of Moses—the whole choice and purpose and labor of a life of one hundred and twenty years, witness to his full and glorious faith in the future life. The men who deny to him this faith stultify not Moses, but themselves. H. C.
COMMAND TO ASCEND NEBO, THERE TO DIE. THE ASCENT. THE VISION FROM THE TOP OF PISGAH. THE DEATH, THE BURIAL, AND THE ENCOMIUM OF MOSES.