Deut. xxxi. 14. And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die.
" TO man there is an appointed time upon earth." But the precise measure of our days is in mercy hid from us. On some occasions, however, God has been pleased to make it known, and to declare with pre- cision the near approach of death, that so the persons whose fate was made known might employ their re- maining hours in perfecting the work which he had given them to do.
The intimation here given to Moses, we shall con- sider,
I. As addressed to Moses in particular —
In this view, it comes with peculiar weight to those churches which have been long under the superin- tendence of an aged minister.
Moses had long watched over Israel —
[For the sake of Israel he had renounced all that the world could give him, and subjected himself to many trials, and exposed himself to many dangers: " He had refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter," and abandoned all the pleasures and honours of a court ; " choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; and esteeming the reproach of Christ greater
riches than all the treasures of Egypt." From a regard for them, he had braved all the wrath of Pharaoh in his most infuriated state ; and had led them forth, unarmed and unpro- vided, in the hope of bringing them to a land flowing with milk and honey. As God's appointed instrument, he had made known to them the will of God ; and had shewn them, by a great variety of ordinances, the means which God had pro- vided for their acceptance with him. He had for the space of forty years together fed them with bread from heaven and with water out of the stony rock. Times without number had he interceded for them, when if his hands had hanged down, and his heart had fainted, their ruin would inevitably have ensued. In a word, he had lived but for them. In all that space of time, not a day had occurred which he had not occupied in their service : and could he but see them happy, nothing that he could forego, nothing that he could do, nothing that he could suffer, was regarded by him as worthy of a thought ; so entirely were his interests and happiness bound up in theirs.]
But now his care over them must cease — [God had determined that he should not go over Jordan a. This was in part the punishment of his sin at Meribah, when, instead of sanctifying the Lord in the eyes of all Israel by a believing expectation of water from the rock in answer to his word, he struck the rock, yea, struck it twice, with an unhal- lowed irritation of mindb. But, in part, this exclusion was intended to shadow forth the nature of that dispensation ; and to shew, that one violation of the law was sufficient to exclude a soul from Canaan; and that all who would obtain an entrance into the promised land, must turn from Moses to Joshua (the Lord Jesus Christ), who alone can save any child of man.
Moses was now a hundred and twenty years of age : but he was still, as far as natural strength was required, as com- petent as ever to watch over the people, and to discharge his duty to them. But his time was come ; and he must transfer his office to another. Happily for him, and for all Israel, there was a Joshua ready to fill his place ; and God had ordained him to occupy the vacant post, and to take on him the oversight of this bereaved people. And could tve but see that the charge we vacate would be so supplied, verily, a sum- mons into the eternal world would be a source of unquahfied joy. The most painful thought in the separation of aged ministers from their people is, that they know not on whom the care of them shall devolve, whether on one who will watch for their souls, or on one, who, content with a mere routine of duties, will leave them to be scattered by every one that shall choose to invade the fold.