Deuteronomy 31-34
THE time was almost come for Moses to die. The Israelites were very soon to go into Canaan, but Moses was not to go there, with them.
Moses had written a great many books while he had been in the wilderness; and now he had almost finished them. Should you like to know what Moses had written about in these books?
He had written about how God made the world, how Adam ate the fruit, how Cain killed Abel. He had written about Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; he had written about sweet Joseph and his wicked brethren; he had written about himself, how he had been saved from the water when he was a baby. He had written about the ten plagues, and the Ten Commandments, and the tabernacle; he had written about his own sin. All I have told you, Moses had written down in five books: they have all been copied in other books, and we can read all Moses wrote, for it is in the Bible.
But how did Moses know all these things? He was not born when God made the world. How could he write about things he never saw? Could anybody have told him how God made the world? No one was born when God made the world; no one but God could tell him, and God did tell him.
God spake to Moses by His Spirit. While Moses was writing with his pen, God was putting thoughts in his mind; so he always knew what to write.
Moses did not write in such books as you have seen.
His paper was rolled up like a piece of cloth at the shop. He wrote five rolls; and these he called his books. If you had read in Moses' book, you must have unrolled it as you read it.
When Moses had done writing his books, he called the priests, and told them to take care of his books. Moses said to them, "You must read these books to all the Israelites, to the men, the women, and the little children, that they may know how to please God.”
Moses knew that he must soon leave the Israelites. He wished very much that some good man should take care of them after he was dead; for he loved them very much, though they had behaved so ill to him. So Moses begged God to give them to the care of some good man; and God heard his prayer, and said to Moses, "I have found a man who will take care of the children of Israel after you are dead.”
Who do you think this man was? It was Joshua, one of the good spies; he had helped Moses to do God's work for forty years; so that Moses had taught him a great deal. Moses was very glad that Joshua would take care of the Israelites when he was dead.
Moses called Joshua, and said to him, "God will let you take the children of Israel into Canaan: you must be very brave, for you will have to fight against the wicked people; but God will help you; so do not be afraid. God will never leave you, nor forsake you.”
Moses wished to speak to the people before he died and advise them to be good; so Moses called all the people together, and told them he was going to die.
I am very old, "said he;" I am a hundred, and twenty years old this day. I offended God, and I must not go into the land of Canaan; but Joshua will take you there. Remember to obey God, and to love Him, and He will always bless you; but if you worship idols, and are wicked, God will punish you.
God told Moses to teach the people a song, that they might sing it after he was dead. This song was about God's kindness to the children of Israel.
My dear children, you learn pretty songs or hymns about God. Do you know why you are taught to repeat them? It is to help you to think of God, that you may love Him. Some children repeat their hymns as soon as they wake in the morning.
After Moses had taught the people the song, he blessed them, and then he left them forever.
God said to Moses, "Go up that high mountain alone. I cannot let you go into Canaan, but I will let you see the beautiful land of Canaan from the top of that mountain.”
Moses was glad that he might see Canaan, though he might not go in. So Moses went up the mountain quite alone. He was very old, yet he was not weak; he could walk as well as when he was young, and he could see as well; for his eyes were not dim: he read, and wrote, and saw things far off. God had not let him grow weak or blind.
I think the Israelites must have felt very sad when they saw Moses go up that mountain, all alone, and when they knew they should see him no more.
I hope they felt sorry for having behaved so ill to him, and for having so provoked him at the rock. What a kind friend Moses had been to them!
When Moses was at the top of the hill, he looked and saw the land of Canaan a great way off. It was a beautiful land, and full of green hills, and rivers, of fields ripe with corn, and of trees laden with fruit. Moses was glad that the children of Israel would live in such a sweet land, where they might worship God.
When Moses had looked at the land, he died. No friend was near to close his eyes, or to hear his last sigh; no brother's hand was there to wrap him in his grave-clothes, or to cover him with the green earth; Would God leave Moses' body to be eaten by the wild beasts, to be pecked by the birds of the air? No; God Himself buried Moses, not upon the top of the hill, but in some secret place under the hill. No one knows where Moses lies but the angels who carried his soul to God: they know, for they watch over God's dear children in the dust. When the last trumpet sounds, Moses will rise from that grave and shine like the stars in the sky.
Thus Moses died. He was the only man to whom God talked as to a friend; God spoke to Moses face to face, as friends talk to each other.
I shall tell you no more of Moses; but you will see him in heaven if you go there. You remember that he might have been a prince in the land of Egypt. King 'Pharaoh's daughter saved him from the water, and she gave him fine things, and called him her son. But Moses wished to help the poor children of Israel, and he did not choose to be a prince in Egypt.
Was it not much better that Moses should, help the poor children of Israel, than that he should be rich and grand?
You see that God loved Moses, and made him His friend, and took him to heaven when he died.
Now, my dear children, I hope you will be like Moses. I hope that when you are grown up, you will try to help poor people, and teach them about God. Think, dear children, how kind Jesus has been to you. He left heaven that He might save us, and that we might know God.
Hymn 32
"O beauteous land of cooling streams,
And mountains crowned with flowers!
How oft have I, in pleasant dreams,
Worshipped within thy bowers!
“I love the land where Abraham reared
The altars to his God;
And where the Lord has oft appeared,
Where angels' feet have trod.
“I see from far a joyful morn
Dawn on that land of rest;
For there a Savior shall be born,
To make all nations blest.
“Though now I die at God's command,
This hope sustains my heart;
And to a fairer, purer land
I joyfully depart.”
What though no earthly friend was near
To close the prophet's eyes;
No children laid him in his biers,
With loving tears and sighs,—
A heavenly train his soul conveyed
To mansions of the blest,
His precious body gently laid
Where none should break his rest.
No eye has seen the grassy bed
Where now the prophet lies;
But when the trump shall wake the dead,
How glorious shall he rise!