Moses in Rabbinic Literature - Wishes To Avoid Death

Wishes To Avoid Death

When God said to Moses that he must die, Moses replied: "Must I die now, after all the trouble I have had with the people? I have beheld their sufferings; why should I not also behold their joys? Thou hast written in the Torah: 'At his day thou shalt give him his hire' ; why dost thou not give me the reward of my toil?" (Yalk., Deut. 940; Midr. Petirat Mosheh, in Jellinek, l.c. i. 115-129). God assured him that he should receive his reward in the future world. Moses then asked why he must die at all, whereupon God enumerated some of the sins for which he had deserved death, one of them being the murder of the Egyptian (Ex. ii. 12; Midr. Petirat Mosheh, l.c.).

According to another version, Moses had to die so that he might not be taken for a god (ib.). Moses then began to become excited (Yalk., Va'etchanan, 814), saying he would live like the beasts of the field and the birds, which get their daily food only for the sake of remaining alive (Yalk., Deut. 940). He desired to renounce the entry into the promised land and remain with the tribes of Reuben and Gad in the country east of the Jordan, if only he might remain alive. God said that this could not be done, since the people would leave Joshua and return to him (Midrash Petirat Mosheh, l.c.).

Moses then begged that one of his children or one of the children of his brother Aaron might succeed him (ib. and Num. R. xxi. 15). God answered that his children had not devoted themselves to the Law, whereas Joshua had served Moses faithfully and had learned from him; he therefore deserved to succeed his teacher (ib.).

Then Moses said: "Perhaps I must die only because the time has come for Joshua to enter upon his office as the leader of Israel. If Joshua shall now become the leader, I will treat him as my teacher and will serve him, if only I may stay alive." Moses then began to serve Joshua and give him the honor due to a master from his pupil. He continued to do this for thirty-seven days, from the first of Shevat to the seventh of Adar. On the latter day he conducted Joshua to the tent of the assembly. But when he saw Joshua go in while he himself had to remain outside, he became jealous, and said that it was a hundred times better to die than to suffer once such pangs of jealousy. Then the treasures of wisdom were taken away from Moses and given to Joshua (comp. Sotah 13b). A heavenly voice (bat kol) was heard to say, "Learn from Joshua!" Joshua delivered a speech of which Moses understood nothing. Then, when the people asked that Moses should complete the Torah, he replied, "I do not know how to answer you," and tottered and fell. He then said: "Lord of the world, until now I desired to live; but now I am willing to die." As the angel of death was afraid to take his soul, God Himself, accompanied by Gabriel, Michael, and Zagziel, the former teacher of Moses, descended to get it. Moses blessed the people, begged their forgiveness for any injuries he might have done them, and took leave of them with the assurance that he would see them again at the resurrection of the dead.

Gabriel arranged the couch, Michael spread a silken cover over it, and Zagziel put a silken pillow under Moses' head. At God's command Moses crossed his hands over his breast and closed his eyes, and God took his soul away with a kiss (mitat neshika). Then heaven and earth and the starry world began to weep for Moses (Midr. Petirat Mosheh, l.c.; Yalk., Deut. 940; Deut. R. xi. 6).

Although Moses died in the territory of the tribe of Reuben, he was buried in that of tribe of Gad at a spot four miles distant from the place of his death. He was carried this distance by the Shekinah, while the angels said to him that he had practised God's justice (Deut. xxxiii. 22). At the same time the bat kol cried out in the camp of the people: "Moses, the great teacher of Israel, is dead!" (Sotah 13b).

God Himself buried Moses (Sotah 14a; Sanh. 39a) in a grave which had been prepared for him in the dusk of Friday, the sixth day of the Creation (Pes. 54a). This tomb is opposite Beth-peor (Deut. xxxiv. 6), in atonement for the sin which Israel committed with the idol Peor (Sotah 14a). Yet it cannot be discovered; for to a person standing on the mountain it seems to be in the valley; and if one goes down into the valley, it appears to be on the mountain (ib.).