"A testament is of force only after the death of the testator [cf. Heb. 9:16-17]. So the Deuteronomic Covenant in it testamentary aspect . . . would not become operative until after the death of Moses. Only then would Joshua succeed to the role of vicegerent of God over Israel, and only then under the leadership of Joshua could the tribes, according to the declarations of the Lord, enter into their inheritance in Canaan. It was, therefore, appropriate that the Deuteronomic treaty should close with the record of Moses' death, which in effect notarizes the treaty. That the testamentary significance of Moses' death is in view is evidenced by the accompanying attention given to the land of Israel's inheritance and to Joshua's accession to the royal mediatorship of the covenant."359
Moses proceeded up Mt. Nebo as God had instructed him (32:48-52) and viewed the land across the Jordan River that God had promised to give to Abraham's descendants. What Moses saw was not all that God had promised Abraham (v. 4; cf. Gen. 15:18) but the part that Israel was about to enter and hopefully possess.
"It was necessary for Jesus to die before entering his rest, because he was the true Mediator who came to reconcile his sinful people unto God; Moses must die without entering the typical rest because as the OT mediator he had by official transgression disqualified himself for [sic] completing the mission which prefigured that of the sinless Son of God. Unlike Moses, who after his death was succeeded by Joshua (Deut 33:9), the Messianic Mediator would succeed himself after his death because it was not possible that death should hold him."360
"The fact . . . that the Lord buried His servant Moses [v. 6], and no man knows of his sepulchre, is in perfect keeping with the relation in which Moses stood to the Lord while he was alive. . . . If Jehovah . . . would not suffer the body of Moses to be buried by man, it is but natural to seek for the reason in the fact that He did not intend to leave him to corruption, but, when burying it with His own hand, imparted a power to it which preserved it from corruption, and prepared the way for it to pass into the same form of existence to which Enoch and Elijah were taken, without either death or burial.'"361
Another explanation for Moses' unusual burial is simply that God chose to bury His faithful servant rather than allowing the Israelites to do so. Such a burial is a testimony to the greatness of Moses.
"Most likely the sepulchre remained hidden precisely to prevent the Israelites from taking Moses' body with them to Canaan, thus violating the divine command to disallow Moses entry there."362
Another view follows.
"By the time this last chapter was written, the burial of Moses was so far in the past that the location of his grave was uncertain to the writer."363
Moses was 120 years old when he died (v. 7). He had begun his ministry of covenant mediator on one mountain (i.e., Sinai), and now he ended that ministry on another. The Israelites mourned for him for 30 days (v. 8) as they had done for Aaron (Num. 20:29). This long a period of mourning was evidently conventional for a great person,364though the normal time of mourning a loved one was apparently seven days (Gen. 50:10).
"The chapter provides the final statement regarding the Lord's refusal to allow Moses to enter the Promised Land. It thus links up with an important theme in the Pentateuch: Moses, who lived under the Law, was not allowed to enter into God's blessings because he failed to believe' (Nu 20:12). According to this chapter, Moses did not die of old age--'his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone' (Dt 34:7). His death was punishment, just as the generation that died in the wilderness during the forty years was punished (Nu 14:22-23). . . . From the perspective of the Pentateuch as a whole, Moses died young. He did not live the many centuries of the early patriarchs before the Flood. Thus at the close of the Pentateuch the life of Moses becomes the last example of the consequences of the Fall of the first man and woman. Like them, he was not allowed to enjoy the blessing of God's good land."365
Joshua then picked up the reins of leadership with the support of the Israelites (v. 9). God gave him special wisdom for his responsibilities.
"What is stressed here is that Joshua was filled with the spirit of wisdom' (34:9) and thus able to do the work of God. Like Joseph (Ge 41:37) and Bezalel (Ex 31:3), who were filled with the Spirit of God,' Joshua was able to do God's work successfully. Thus this last chapter of the Pentateuch returns to a central theme, begun already in the first chapter of Genesis: and the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep' (Ge 1:2). It is the Spirit of God that is the means of doing the work of God [cf. Ezek. 36:26]."366
The final verses in the book (vv. 10-12) and the Pentateuch give an evaluation of Moses' ministry. They are his literary epitaph (cf. 2 Sam. 23:1-7). Someone other than Moses probably added them after his death. Moses was remarkable in several respects that the writer identified. His intimate relationship with God was unique (cf. 18:15-22; Num. 12:6-8). The miracles God did through him in Egypt and the powerful acts he performed in the Israelites' sight were also noteworthy. He performed many of these signs when God gave the Mosaic Covenant at Mt. Sinai.
". . . Moses was never equaled by any subsequent prophet until the coming of Jesus Christ."367
