Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was clear, and he was as strong as ever. Why the Context "Where Two or Three Are Gathered" (Matthew 18:20) is So Important. FAQS.ORG reserves the right to edit your answer as to improve its clarity. At the age of 80, God appears to him in the form of a burning bush and commands him to go to Egypt to tell Pharaoh to let his people go (Exodus 3). And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. – Apologetic and Polemical Tendencies in the Story of Caleb in Josh 14” (VT) and “The Cruel Theology of Ezekiel 20” (ZAW). Exo.6:16-23,26; Abraham Gen.12:4; age 75, at 427 years after flood gets Promised Land covenant and Isaac has Jacob, #1. All rights reserved. [19] Likewise, the passage concerned with the decision about Moses begins with the expression “at that time” (×עת ××Ö´××, 3:23) which is a typical expression for recalling past events in this context (Deut 2:34; 3:4, 8, 12, 18, 21). How long will the footprints on the moon last? Thus, Deut 32:51, which does mention the sin of Moses and Aaron at Mei Meribah, is considered part of P and not D. [5] Broadly, these chapters are part of the D source, but more specifically, they are a (later) Deuteronomistic addition to the D source. 1 Kings 10:7–8), as well as to his great achievements and wealth (cf. [4] The ending of Deuteronomy, which is the ending of the Pentateuch as a whole, contains pieces from multiple Pentateuchal sources, many of which independently record Moses’ death. During this trek, Moses receives the Ten Commandments from God, a list of rules to abide by, on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19). He showed us what it looks like to faithfully obey God during scary circumstances and step way outside his comfort zone. Two of the statements refer to God’s reaction with the word ×ת×× ×£ (Deut 1:37, 4:21) whereas the verb ××תע×ר is used in the other statement (3:26). Numbers 33:38-39 (NASB) Aaron was not allowed to enter the Promised because both he and Moses sinned in the wilderness of Zin (Numbers 20, note v. 12-13, 23-29). ××××××, ×¢× ××ר×××; “because of you”, “because of your words”, 1:37, 4:21). Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Dorling Kindersley. This commentary seems to align with the same interpretation. But due to Israel’s celebration of idols and incessant complaining and disobedience, God prevents a great many of them from entering the promised land, and they wander the desert for 40 years, Moses included. McKenzie suggests understanding the divine anger with Moses as a reaction to the initiative of sending out the spies (v. 23), that supposedly reveals Moses’ doubts regarding God’s capacity and leads to the people’s sin. We can obviously learn a lot from Moses’ life. [20] The term is always positive and thus means “for your benefit.” This explains why the text did not choose the similar preposition ××¢××ר which seemingly could have fit better into the context as it contains the prominent root of the chapter (×¢×ר). He runs away into the wilderness, to Midian, meets his wife, and settles there for another 40 years (Exodus 2). Dr. Gili Kugler is a lecturer of Biblical Studies and Classical Hebrew at the Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies in the University of Sydney. Thus, by choosing the preposition ×××¢× ×× for Deut 3:26, the author conveys that God’s anger was for the benefit of the people, rather than a result of their deeds. How long was Moses alive for? and a graduate of Taylor University's professional writing program. [8] But the tendency to translate these statements of Moses with identical or similar wording misses the diverse terminology of the statements in the Hebrew text. Can you treat poison ivy with econazole nitrate cream? Exod 20:5; Deut. Her book, When God Wanted to Destroy the Chosen People: Biblical Traditions and Theology on the Move, was published in 2019 by De Gruyter. Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was clear, and he was as strong as ever. The frequency of the root ×¢×ר in God and Moses’ dialogue (3:23–28), as part of the broader context of Deuteronomy 3, indicates the authenticity of Moses’ sentence in the chapter. Another answer from our community:"So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab [Jordan], according to the Word of the Lord. Moses died as he was 120 years old, it was after Noah so the life span fell fom 900 years to 70 years.