DEVOTION - MONDAY, MARCH 19, 2012

DEVOTION – MONDAY, MARCH 19, 201

Holy Land Devotional

by Steve Herman, Richwood UMC, NJ

Read Deuteronomy 34

The Death of Moses

"¹ Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan, ² all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, ³ the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar. ⁴ Then the LORD said to him, "This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it."

⁵ And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. ⁶ He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. ⁷ Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. ⁸ The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.

⁹ Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.

¹⁰ Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, ¹¹ who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. ¹² For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel."

Few places in the world offer as thrilling a view as Mt. Nebo. It is not that tall of a peak, but it is the tallest peak in Transjordan, and the place where God took Moses before he died to view the Promised Land. On a clear morning one can still see the entire Jordan River basin from the peaks of Mt. Hermon in the north to the Dead Sea (the lowest elevation of earth) in the south. Directly east one can see Jericho, and on the horizon are the mountains of Jerusalem.

It always seemed sad to me that Moses was not able to enter the Promised Land. It would have seemed the fitting culmination of his life’s work. But Joshua was the leader for that task. Moses had been faithful in his time; he had delivered the children of Israel from the land of Egypt and brought them through the wilderness to the edge of the Promised Land. Now it was time to pass the torch of leadership onto another. All any of us can do is be faithful in our time. We all are links in a chain of God’s redemptive plan for this world, and none of us truly begin a ministry, or end one; we are all merely faithful in our time. But now and then, God allows us, as he did Moses, a glimpse of the future, and as with Mt. Nebo, the view is breathtaking!