The Communal Rule of Love

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

¹ Then Moses hiked up from the Moabite plains to Mount Nebo, the peak of the Pisgah slope, which faces Jericho. The LORD showed him the whole land: the Gilead region as far as Dan’s territory; ² all the parts belonging to Naphtali along with the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, as well as the entirety of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea; ³ also the arid southern plain, and the plain—including the Jericho Valley, Palm City—as far as Zoar. ⁴ Then the LORD said to Moses: “This is the land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I promised: ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have shown it to you with your own eyes; however, you will not cross over into it.” ⁵ Then Moses, the LORD’s servant, died—right there in the land of Moab, according to the LORD’s command. ⁶ The Lord buried him in a valley in Moabite country across from Beth-peor. Even now, no one knows where Moses’ grave is. ⁷ Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyesight wasn’t impaired, and his vigor hadn’t diminished a bit. ⁸ Back down in the Moabite plains, the Israelites mourned Moses’ death for thirty days. At that point, the time for weeping and for mourning Moses was over. ⁹ Joshua, Nun’s son, was filled with wisdom because Moses had placed his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to Joshua, and they did exactly what the LORD commanded Moses. ¹⁰ No prophet like Moses has yet emerged in Israel; Moses knew the LORD face-to-face! ¹¹ That’s not even to mention all those signs and wonders that the LORD sent Moses to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to his entire land ¹² as well as all the extraordinary power that Moses displayed before Israel’s own eyes!