SEV Biblia, Chapter 34:1
¶ Y subió Moisés de los campos de Moab al monte de Nebo, a la cumbre de Pisga, que está enfrente de Jericó; y le mostró el SEÑOR toda la tierra de Galaad hasta Dan,
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 34:1
Verse 1. And Moses went up] This chapter could not have been written by Moses. A man certainly cannot give an account of his own death and burial. We may therefore consider Moses's words as ending with the conclusion of the preceding chapter, as what follows could not possibly have been written by himself. To suppose that he anticipated these circumstances, or that they were shown to him by an especial revelation, is departing far from propriety and necessity, and involving the subject in absurdity; for God gives no prophetic intimations but such as are absolutely necessary to be made; but there is no necessity here, for the Spirit which inspired the writer of the following book, would naturally communicate the matter that concludes this. I believe, therefore, that Deuteronomy 34., should constitute the first chapter of the book of Joshua. On this subject the following note from an intelligent Jew cannot be unacceptable to the reader:- "Most commentators are of opinion that Ezra was the author of the last chapter of Deuteronomy; some think it was Joshua, and others the seventy elders, immediately after the death of Moses; adding, that the book of Deuteronomy originally ended with the prophetic blessing upon the twelve tribes: 'Happy art thou, O Israel! who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord,' &c.; and that what now makes the last chapter of Deuteronomy was formerly the first of Joshua, but was removed from thence and joined to the former by way of supplement. This opinion will not appear unnatural if it be considered that sections and other divisions, as well as points and pauses, were invented long since these books were written; for in those early ages several books were connected together, and followed each other on the same roll. The beginning of one book might therefore be easily transferred to the end of another, and in process of time be considered as its real conclusion, as in the case of Deuteronomy, especially as this supplemental chapter contains an account of the last transactions and death of the great author of the Pentateuch."-Alexander's Heb. and Eng. Pentateuch.
This seems to be a perfectly correct view of the subject. This chapter forms a very proper commencement to the book of Joshua, for of this last chapter of Deuteronomy the first chapter of Josh. is an evident continuation. If the subject be viewed in this light it will remove every appearance of absurdity and contradiction with which, on the common mode of interpretation, it stands sadly encumbered.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 1. And Moses went up from the plains of Moab , etc.] Where the Israelites had lain encamped for some time, and where Moses had repeated to them the law, and all that, is contained in this book of Deuteronomy; and after he had read to them the song in ( Deuteronomy 32:1-43); and had blessed the several tribes, as in the preceding chapter: at the command of God he went up from hence, unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that [is] over against Jericho ; Nebo was one of the mountains of Abarim, which formed a ridge of them, and Pisgah was the highest point of Nebo, and this was over against Jericho on the other side Jordan, (see Deuteronomy 32:49); hither Moses went, to the top of this high mountain, for aught appears, without any support or help, his natural force not being abated, though an hundred and twenty years old; and hither he seems to have gone alone, though Josephus and the Samaritan Chronicle say, Eleazar, Joshua, and the elders of Israel accompanied him: and the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan ; the Word of the Lord, as the Targum of Jonathan, who appeared to him in the bush, sent him to Egypt, wrought miracles by him there, led him and the people of Israel through the Red sea and wilderness, and brought them to the place where they now were: and though the eye of Moses was not become dim, as was usual at such an age he was of, yet it can hardly be thought it should be so strong as to take a distinct view of the whole land of Canaan, to the utmost borders of it: no doubt but his natural sight was wonderfully strengthened and increased by the Lord, by whom he was directed first to behold the land of Gilead on that side of Jordan where he was, and which was the possession of the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh; and then he was directed to look forward to the land of Canaan beyond Jordan, to the northern part of it; for Dan is not the tribe of Dan, but a city of that name, formerly Leshem, which the Danites took, and lay the farthest north of the land, hence the phrase “from Dan to Beersheba”, (see Joshua 19:47); this city is so called by anticipation:
Aben Ezra thinks Joshua wrote this verse by a spirit of prophecy; and it is very likely the whole chapter was written by him, and not the eight last verses only, as say the Jewish writers: this view Moses had of the good land a little before his death may be an emblem of that sight believers have, by faith, of the heavenly glory, and which sometimes is the clearest when near to death; this sight they have not in the plains of Moab, in the low estate of nature, but in an exalted state of grace, upon and from off the rock of Christ, in the mountain of the church of God, the word and ordinances being often the means of it; it is a sight by faith, and is of the Lord, which he gives, strengthens, and increases, and sometimes grants more fully a little before death.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-4 - Moses seemed unwilling to leave his work; but that being finished, he manifested no unwillingness to die. God had declared that he should no enter Canaan. But the Lord also promised that Moses should have a vie of it, and showed him all that good land. Such a sight believers no have, through grace, of the bliss and glory of their future state Sometimes God reserves the brightest discoveries of his grace to his people to support their dying moments. Those may leave this world with cheerfulness, who die in the faith of Christ, and in the hope of heaven.
Original Hebrew
ויעל 5927 משׁה 4872 מערבת 6160 מואב 4124 אל 413 הר 2022 נבו 5015 ראשׁ 7218 הפסגה 6449 אשׁר 834 על 5921 פני 6440 ירחו 3405 ויראהו 7200 יהוה 3068 את 853 כל 3605 הארץ 776 את 853 הגלעד 1568 עד 5704 דן׃ 1835
