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Pentateuch Part VII: Lesson 16: Summary Note

The death of Moses on Mount Nebo is sobering. He has gone through so much, even as the last verses
attest: “For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did
in the sight of all Israel (34:12).” We are invited to think back to all those weary trips up and down
Mount Sinai and to Moses pleading for the lives of his people. We are reminded of Moses flat on his face
in front of a nation about to stone him or a nation complaining again and again about some need. We
can imagine his life as he watched those same people he loved so much die, one by one, a whole
generation in the wilderness. We understand something of the sustaining hand of God as Moses would
speak to him face-to-face, yet the glow of God’s presence always wore off.

We are sobered and wonder about ourselves. Our lives are precious to us. The lives of others are
precious to us. Christ is precious to us. What summary lesson might we take from all these chapters in
all these five books of the Pentateuch?

Perhaps our best summary comes from another poem of Moses, Psalm 90, his only contribution to that
book. Commentators often notice the links between the Psalm and Deuteronomy. “There occurs a series
of striking allusions to the Pentateuch, especially to the poetical passages, and above all others to Deut.
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32.” We might simply note “generations” (Ps. 90:1; Deut. 32:7), creation (Ps. 90:2; Deut. 32: 18), and
ways or deeds of God (Ps. 90:16; Deut. 32:4).

Moses celebrates the frailty of people in contrast to God. We are turned back to dust while to God a
thousand years is as one day (vv. 3-4). Humans are compared to grass, springing up in the morning and
withered by evening (v. 5-6). We are consumed by God’s anger over our sins (vv. 7-8). Even seventy or
eighty years are not enough (v. 10). The point of knowing our sinfulness and shortness of life is to learn
wisdom. It is good to “number our days (v. 12).”

The result is a compassionate relationship with YHWH (v. 13). We can know satisfaction in his unfailing
love and even sing for joy all our days despite any affliction that comes our way (v. 14-15). We can
witness the splendor of God’s work, now that we are not impressed so much with ourselves, even
passing on such a concept to our children (v. 16). Yes, God’s beauty can rest on us and on the work of
our hands (v. 17).

These words of Moses, certainly written toward the end of his life, are good for us to understand at the
end of our study. All this work, all this knowledge, all our energy, and all our best intentions are empty
without God’s presence and honor. May we live daily conscious of our constant need of his loving-
kindness!

147 J. J. S. Perowne, The Book of Psalm (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), 2:163.

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