The Man God Buried

The Man God Buried

Rogation Sunday*

Collect of the Day O Lord, from whom all good things do come; Grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Collect for Rogation Days Almighty God, Lord of heaven and earth; We beseech thee to pour forth thy blessing upon this land, and to give us a fruitful season; that we, constantly receiving thy bounty, may evermore give thanks unto thee in thy holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Old Testament: Deuteronomy 34

1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan,

2 and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah unto the utmost sea,

3 and the South, and the plain of the Valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.

4 And the Lord said unto him, “This is the land which I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it unto thy seed.’ I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.”

5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.

6 And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor; but no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day.

7 And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated.

8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.

9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him. And the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses.

10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face

11 in all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land,

12 and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel.

When a person dies at an advanced age often the family chooses  only a graveside service because there are so few friends left to attend a funeral. But on May 12 Susan and I attended, along with several hundred others, a memorial service for a 103 year old woman who never married. When she retired from government service at age 70, she started a catering business. Mabel was known all over Washington, especially for her chicken salad and world-famous sticky buns. When she fell asleep in her chair and died, her assistant had to cancel jobs in Mabel’s appointment book.

Mabel did not live so long as Moses, did not quite have his vigor to the end, and will not be remembered as he is. But she did have more people at her funeral.

1. Moses’ Life

Moses was born at a very dangerous time in Israel’s history.

God called Abraham to go to Canaan and promised to give him and his descendants the land. His son Isaac continued to live there, but during the life of Abraham’s grandson Jacob, there was a severe famine, and the 70 people of Jacob’s household moved to Egypt to survive. They remained there 400 years.

They not only survived; they thrived. The Egyptians became afraid of them, made them slaves, and treated them very harshly. Eventually the Pharaoh ordered all male babies to be killed either at the moment of birth or after birth thrown into the Nile River. It was during this time that Moses was born. To save his life, Moses’ mother made a basket from reeds, waterproofed it with tar, and floated it among the reeds at the river bank. She gave his older sister, Miriam, the responsibility to watch out for the baby.

One day Pharaoh’s daughter came to take a bath in the river. She discovered the basket and the baby and felt pity for him. Then Miriam came out of hiding and asked the princess if she would like for her to find a Hebrew nurse for him. The nurse she “found” was his mother. His mother took care of him until he was weaned, perhaps at 3 or 4 years old, and then gave him to Pharaoh’s daughter. For about 40 years Moses lived as a prince in Pharaoh’s court.

Then things changed radically. Moses did not forget that he was a Hebrew. One day he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave. Moses killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. The next day Moses saw two Hebrews fighting, and tried to stop the attacker. The man said, “Who made you our boss? Are you going to kill me like you did that Egyptian?” Moses’ killing the Egyptian was not a secret. When Pharaoh heard about it, he ordered Moses killed.

So Moses ran for his life. He left Egypt and headed east. He crossed the Sinai Peninsula, and then went further east and south into the Arabian desert, which is modern day Saudi Arabia. There he got married and and was a shepherd - for 40 years.

Meanwhile, Moses’ people back in Egypt were groaning under Egyptian oppression and calling out to the Lord for deliverance. The Lord saw their suffering and heard their cries for help.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and gave him an assignment he didn’t want - to go back to Egypt and lead God’s people out of bondage to the Promised Land. Reluctantly Moses went back to Egypt. God worked through him to get the people out of Egypt and on their way to Canaan. But then, on the verge of going into the Promised Land, the people got scared, rebelled, and wouldn’t go. So Moses spent 40 years leading Israel around the Sinai Peninsula until it came time for Moses to die.

All this is testimony to the Lord’s preservation, providence, and promises. In his providence, the Lord preserved his people in Egypt and prepared their deliverer, Moses. The Lord kept the remarkable promise he had made to Abraham so long ago:

Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions...And they shall come back here in the fourth generation... (Gen. 15:13-16).

We are the Lord’s people, together and individually. The Lord keeps us and guides through this world.  The Lord has made promises to us, and he will fulfill them. John Newton wrote:

The Lord has promised good to me,

His Word my hope secures;

• He will my Shield and Portion be,
• As long as life endures.
• Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
• And mortal life shall cease,
• I shall possess, within the veil,
• A life of joy and peace.

2. Moses’ Death

Moses was now 120 years old. Of the generation that left Egypt only 3 remained - Caleb, Joshua, and Moses. It was now time for Moses to die. Moses did not want to die then. This was more than the natural human desire to keep on living. Moses wanted to lead the people across the Jordan River and stand on the Promised Land. But the Lord would not let him.

Why? The Bible tells us about Moses: “Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3). Moses was a humble man, who was not always concerned his rights, prestige, and power. Once the Lord temporarily gave the elders of the people the gift of prophecy. Most of them soon stopped prophesying, but two continued. Joshua saw this as a threat and told Moses to stop them, but Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:29).

Moses was meek, but he had a temper. Once in the wilderness the people had no water supply. They grumbled against the Lord blamed Moses. Moses and Aaron humbled themselves before the Lord and asked what they should do. The Lord answered:

“Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle” (Numbers 20:8).

But, when Moses went back to the people, his temper flared, and he said:

“Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?”  And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock (Numbers 20:10,11).

The Lord responded immediately:

“Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them” (Numbers 20:12).

Moses pleaded with the Lord that he might be able to go into the land before he died. But the Lord said, “No. Don’t bring this matter up again.” Even the best of Christians and the best of leaders have their weaknesses, and sometimes, as happened with men like Moses and David, there is chastening from the Lord that cannot be removed but must be endured.

So, when the time came, Moses climbed Mt. Nebo to Pisgah, its peak. He looked at the land from the north to the south, from the east to the south, and then he died. God himself buried Moses. And the people mourned for him for 30 days.

It seems to be a very sad end to a great man’s life. But is it?

The Lord says about Moses:

And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land,and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

There was no one whom the Lord chose to know so intimately and speak to so directly as Moses. There was no one through whom the Lord worked such great miracles of judgment and deliverance as Moses. There was no prophet who received and spoke the Word of the Lord like Moses. There was no prophet greater than Moses until the coming of the Prophet like Moses but greater - Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. And on the Mount of Transfiguration Moses along with Elijah stood in the Promised Land and talked with Jesus about the salvation he would accomplish in Jerusalem.

Moses was not allowed to go into Canaan, but he and all God’s people will enter the true Promised Land, the new heavens and new earth, where we shall see our Savior face to face.

This Holy Supper is our Pisgah. From the vantage of this Table we get a glimpse of the land of glory God has promised us. At this Table we get assurance that our sins will not keep us out for Jesus died that our sins may be forgiven.

* The fifth Sunday after Easter, is Rogation Sunday. Rogation Sunday. and the three days that follow, in the Anglican tradition are a time to be reminded that God is the author of all blessings, material and spiritual, and to ask for God's continued blessings, especially upon the earth that it may bring forth abundant crops as seed is sown and cultivated during the the growing season.  Rogation Sunday is also a time when we are reminded to respect the property of others and to be content with what God in his providence gives to us.