Moses is the only man God is said to have buried, "and no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day," but Michael the archangel evidently did so. It is possible that Michael, His highest heavenly servant, may have been the instrument of Jehovah to give His greatest of human servants the most honorable burial.
If it were then that the "contending" happened (Jude 99Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. (Jude 9)), it might be that Satan disputed his right to this high honor, considering that Moses’ sin, in speaking unadvisedly with his lips and smiting the rock instead of speaking to it, had caused not only his exclusion from the land of Canaan, but his death. Michael, standing before God, dared not bring against him a "railing accusation," but being overawed by the majesty of God said, "The Lord rebuke thee.”
Besides this, the context in Jude would lead us to infer that he also had respect for the original greatness, dignity and glory of the devil. In this Michael sets an example for us to have a respectful spirit when speaking of Satan, because of his greatness as a creature of God. And if we stand in God's presence with a profound sense of His majesty, we will not be found indulging the lawless spirit of the day that allows men to speak evil of dignities, whether earthly, heavenly or infernal. The maintaining of his servant ship in Jehovah's presence enabled him calmly to put Satan under the rebuke of the Lord and leave him there. Thus must we feel and act if we would resist the devil and have him flee from us, "whom resist, steadfast in the faith." "Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.”
Are we to be satisfied with the explanation given as to the ground of the contention? The object of their contention was "the body of Moses." Was the ground of it that he should be buried by God, or that the body of Moses should not be in Satan's power as having "the power of death" (Heb. 2:1414Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Hebrews 2:14))? Christ's death, which alone delivers, had not yet taken place. Or was it that it should be in the special keeping of Michael, so that Moses should appear in it on the transfiguration hill along with Elijah, also in his body, and Jesus in His glorious, transfigured body shining above the brightness of the sun in the midst?
When Satan's power over the bodies of the saints of God who slept in their graves was broken "through death" when Jesus died on Calvary, the right and title to deliverance from the domain of death appeared openly. It was in this way that "the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose" (Matt. 27:5252And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, (Matthew 27:52)), but they came out of their graves after His resurrection. He was the first to rise from the dead in the power of life, that could not be holden of death or of him that had the power of death, whom He through death destroyed (or annulled).
When the disciples were with Jesus on the holy mount, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him, and in order for the two men to be seen talking, they must have been there in their bodies. Then may we not conclude that the contention was that the body of Moses should be buried by God, angelically guarded all along by Michael from the devil's domain of death, and supernaturally brought forth, even before the death and resurrection of Christ, to appear with Jesus on the holy mount?
This greatest of God's pre-Christian servants, who was denied entrance into the terrestrial and transitory kingdom of Canaan as the leader of the tribes of Israel, was honored to enter it in company with Jesus the Son of God. He received from God the Father honor and glory, and there was given him a momentary vision of the coming of the kingdom of God in power and glory at the Lord's glorious advent. Then earth and heaven shall be united, and the dominion and the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be administered by Him to the glory of God the Father.
“The body of Moses" is then the body of the man Moses, and is not figurative, just as "the body of Jesus" was the body of the man Christ Jesus which Joseph the counselor begged of Pilate (Luke 3:50-53).