Where is Moses’ Tomb?

One of the recent shows I’ve been watching is “Chasing Mummies” on the History Channel. I’m a big history fanatic and, of course, with my love of God’s Word, anything that is somehow related to it–especially in a historical sense–I’m all over it. Though he can be a bit caustic at times, I really like Dr. Zahi Hawass.

Although Dr. Hawass’ interests are primarily in Egyptology, I’m confident that one mummy or one tomb he will never find is that of Moses.

Bold statement, I know, coming from a peon such as myself. The casual Bible reader or even the average Christian may not realize that the Bible is very specific on the burial site of Moses!

So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day. –Deuteronomy 34:5-6.

Two verses out of the Old Testament that many of us have probably glossed over. Did you pick up on what the text said?

“And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab.” The “He” is referring to God. The “him” is Moses. What is this passage saying?

God Himself buried Moses in the valley in the land of Moab!

Furthermore, the Bible explicitly says that “no man knows his burial place to this day.” Conclusion: Moses’ tomb will never be found without God revealing its location.

This verse leads to the inevitable question of “why?”

Jesus’ Half-Brother Weighs In

Probably one of the least studied books is Jude. I went through an podcast study of Jude earlier this year and it was just fascinating. I’d like to do a series on it at some point myself.

There is a verse tucked away in Jude that references the time period in Deuteronomy we just looked at.

But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” –Jude 9.

This is probably one of those verses that either we’ve read through and just accepted it at face value, or read it and didn’t think much about it, or read it and wondered “when did this argument take place?”

We don’t know for certain how Jude knew about this argument. Some commentators think that Jude was possibly given this revelation by God directly, or he read about it from the apocryphal book known as the Assumption of Moses. (Note: My personal belief is that it’s the former because Jude says in this letter, in verse 3, that he was initially intending to write about “common salvation” but the Holy Spirit guided him into a different direction.)

What is the Point?

We know that God must have buried Moses Himself because God must have a purpose for the body of Moses. Certainly there were occasions after Deuteronomy 34 where Moses appears (Matthew 17:1-3 notably). Some believe that one of the two witnesses in Revelation 11 might be Moses.

Either way, it would serve Satan’s purposes if he obtained the body of Moses. Had he done so, he could have: turned it into an object of worship for the Israelites, desecrated it so that it could not be used for either Matthew 17:1-3 or Revelation 11. We don’t know for sure, but we do know Satan’s tricks and his schemes and therefore we can deduce that–from the Deuteronomy 34 and Jude 9 passages–that God protected Moses’ body from Satan’s purposes.

Where is Moses’ Tomb? Clearly, only God Almighty knows!

Sorry Dr. Hawass.

May He Increase!