Chapter LXXVII.

THE LAST WORDS OF MOSES, AND HIS DEATH.

WHEN the time drew near that Moses was to die, he again called together the children of Israel, and he spoke these words to all the people.

He said, "I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in : also the Lord hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan. Joshua shall go before thee, as the Lord hath said. Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be afraid: for the Lord thy God, He it is that doth go with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”

Then Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and of good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And the Lord thy God, He it is

that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will not fail thee nor forsake thee: fear not."

After this the Lord spoke to Moses, and told him to bring Joshua with him, and present him in the tabernacle of the congregation, that He might give him a charge. And the Lord appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud, and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle.

Then the Lord gave Joshua, the son of Nun, a charge, and said, "Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee."

Moses wrote all the words which he had spoken to the children of Israel in the plains of Moab, in the book in which he had written the other things which God had commanded him to write. And then he delivered this book to the priests, the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. This book was called the Law. And Moses commanded that once in seven years they should read this law

before all Israel. He said, that they should gather all the people together, both men and women, and children, and the strangers that were with them, that they might hear, and learn, and observe to do all the words of this law; and that their children which had not known anything, might hear, and learn to fear the Lord their God.

And the Lord spake unto Moses that same day, and said, "Get thee into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh."

But before Moses went up into the mount, he gathered together the children of Israel for the last time, that he might bless them before his death.

And Moses blessed each tribe of the children of Israel; he gave to each tribe its blessing; and

when he had finished, he said, "Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help! and thine enemies shall be subdued unto thee."

Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah. And the Lord showed him all the land which He had sworn unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, to give it to their seed for ever. And Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there according to the word of the Lord. Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died.

And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days.

Deut. xxxi. xxxii. 48-52; xxxiii. 1. & 29; xxxiv.

In the book of the law, which Moses wrote, and delivered to the priests and elders of Israel, were written the first five books in our Bible-Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; except the last chapter of Deuteronomy, This chapter, in which we read of the death of Moses, was added by Joshua. And the Holy Spirit of God guided Moses in all that he wrote.

Mount Pisgah and mount Nebo were parts of the same mountain, which was called mount Abarim.

Chapter LXXVI.

MOSES THE TYPE OF CHRIST.

AFTER Moses, the ruler of God's people, had died, God raised up from time to time among the children of Israel, many other prophets to teach His will to His chosen people, and to foretell things which were about to happen. But among all these prophets, until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, "there arose not a prophet like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face."

To other prophets God made known His will by visions, or by angels, or He spoke to them in dreams. But to Moses God spake "mouth to mouth, plainly, and not in dark speeches';" we read that "the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." And Moses was with the Lord forty days and forty nights upon mount Sinai. There he was brought very near to God, and he beheld a part of God's

1 Deut. xxxiv. 10. 2 Numb. xii. 6-8. 3 Exodus xxxiii. 11.