^ How constantly the heroes of other nations have become their gods; how naturally the tomb becomes an altar, and the
DEUTERONOMY xxxiv. 5, 6 107
shrine a temple. Never was there hero that might more readily receive the idolatrous regard of a nation than he whose memory was so immediately associated with their religion, to whom they owed their national existence, their very liberties, their lives, their hopes. How easily would the burial-place of such a saint and hero become a place of pilgrimage and an object of worship. Seven hundred years afterwards Hezekiah is distinguished as the bold reformer who broke in pieces the serpent of brass which Moses had made. "Unto those days," we are told, "the children of Israel did burn incense to it." Thus is it that for Israel's sake Moses is led up the mountain-height away into that utter loneli- ness ; and there he dies, and God buries him, and no man knoweth the place of his sepulchre unto this day.^
3. In the history of the greatest and the best, the tomb is often remembered and the life forgotten. It is an easier thing to revere the dust than to follow the example. There is an admonition in the Bible, " Kemember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God : whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation " (Heb. xiii. 7) ; and here, at the commencement of the lengthened roll, God inscribes it on an emphatic act. He takes away the grave of Moses that they may have before them, in full and undis- turbed relief, the man himself. His words, living and dying, his walk with God till God took him, all that he was to God and to them, in self-devotion and affection, these survive him and can never die. If they came to his grave, they approached the creature and its fleeting part; but in coming to his words and his life they come to Moses himself and to God.
Men are liable to underrate the great and good in their life- time, but after their departure they discover their goodness, and seek to compensate for their own neglect by extolling their memory. This is often true regarding men of genius. During their lives they have been misunderstood by those who cared not for their aims ; but when they have passed away, the world has discovered its loss, and sought by posthumous praise to atone for its neglect. Many a gifted spirit, in uttering the truth by which he has been inspired, has met with mockery and malicious misrepresentation, but when death has stilled the restless heart of the thinker, the men who reap the results of his work attempt
^ M, G. Pearse.
io8 THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF MOSES
by laudation to obliterate their opposition ; and many a servant of God has worn out life and hope in self-sacrificing labour, and been opposed by those he was trying to help; and it has not been until God has taken His servant home that they have discovered the true nature of his work.
^ The sepulchre of the greater Prophet than Moses is equally unknown, and may we not wonder that Christians, under a system of spirit and life, have been more slow than Jews to learn the lesson ? Once, and once only, were men invited to " see the place where the Lord lay," that they might be assured it was empty, and refrain from seeking any more the living among the dead. If research the most patient has hitherto done aught, it has been to show that the spot has left no trace upon our earth. God has made the march of armies and the desolation of centuries do for the sepulchre of Christ what His own hand did for the grave of Moses.^
4 The lonely death and the lost grave are signs of honour.
(1) Notice the title given to Moses : " So Moses the servant of the Lord died." It is a title given to him by Jehovah Himself : " My servant Moses " (Num. xii. 7). What an honourable title it is ! And Moses was this of choice, for he willed to be the servant of God, rather than to be great in the land of the Pharaohs. Such he was most perseveringly throughout the whole of his life. Such he was most intensely; for he waited upon God for his directions, as a servant waits upon his master; and he endeavoured to do all things according to the pattern which was shown him in the holy mount. Though he was king in Jeshurun, he never acted on his own authority, but was the lowly instrument of the Divine will. Moses was faithful to God in all his house, as a servant. You neither see him overstepping his office nor neglecting it. His reverence for the Lord's name was deep, his devotion to the Lord's cause was complete, and his confidence in the Lord's word was constant. He was a true servant of God from the time when he was appointed at the burning bush until the hour when he surrendered his keys of office to his successor, and climbed the appointed mount to die.
*[[ As Abraham received in Scripture, as his special designation, the title of " the Friend of God " (2 Chron. xx. 7 ; Isa. xli. 8 ; Jas.