This small group Deuteronomy 34 Bible study guide contains commentary, discussion questions, cross-references, and application to encourage life change. Visit our library of inductive Bible studies for more in depth inductive studies on this and other books of the Bible you can use in your small group.
Deuteronomy 34 Bible Study And Discussion Questions – Moses’ Death
Outline
I. The death of Moses (1-12)
Discussion Questions
• What does this passage teach you about God’s heart?
• How long before had God made this promise to Abraham?
• What does this teach us about God’s promises?
• How do you think Moses felt looking at the land?
• Who buried Moses? Why did God do it this way?
• How could Moses be so vigorous at 120 years old?
• What can you learn from the leadership transition?
• Why is discipleship and training up new leaders so important?
• What made Moses unique?
• Why could Moses accomplish so many amazing things for God?
• What made him such a great prophet?
• What was the main theme of the book of Deuteronomy?
• What are the highlights of the book of Deuteronomy for you? What key verses, lessons, and principles do you want to remember moving forward?
• How has this book deepened your understanding of God?
• How is God calling you to obey Him based on what you have learned in this book?
Cross-References
Joshua 1:9 – Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Exodus 33:11 – Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
Verse by Verse Commentary
1. God shows Moses the land and reminds him of his promise to Abraham – The Lord showed Moses the Promised Land from the top of Mount Nebo. We can presume it was a very clear day! From this mountain, Moses was able to see “Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.”
At the same time, God reminded Moses of the promise made to Abraham. This promise was made more than 500 years before.
Genesis 12:7 – Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
It is a reminder that God always keeps His promises. Time does not make Him forget or render Him powerless. The longer the time gap, the greater the evidence of God’s faithfulness and sovereign power.
The writer of Hebrews mentions the certainty of God’s promises in Hebrews 6:13-20. He describes God’s promise as “a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.”
Reflect – What promises has God fulfilled in your life?
Application – We can trust firmly in God’s promises. Sometimes we don’t immediately see evidence of their being fulfilled. But we can know based on His character and past actions that He does not forget. He cannot lie. His will cannot be thwarted. Neither does He change His mind. This should build up our confidence and remind us to rest calmly in Him without fear of the future.
Romans 8:38-39 – For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Elapsed time and evil rulers could not stop God’s promises to Abraham from coming to pass. Neither will they stop any of God’s promises to us from being fulfilled.
2. Moses died there – Moses was so close to the Promised Land, but so far. He could see it but not go in. It must have been a bittersweet moment for Moses. On the one hand, he was comforted that God’s promise was going to come to pass. His people would have a home after hundreds of years of slavery and wandering in tents. The end of this long sojourning was in sight. That was the sweet part.
The bitter part was that Moses could not physically enter or be the one to lead his people in. The consequences of his anger and disobedience at the rock in Meribah-Kadesh had caught up to him.
No leader, no matter how spiritual, powerful, or important, is immune to the consequences of sin.
3. The Lord buried him – If you are ever asked the trivia question, “Who is the only person in the Bible whom God buries?” the answer is “Moses.”
Why did God do this?
The Bible does not say. Here are some possible answers.
• God did not want Moses’ body to become a source of idolatry or worship to the people. Egyptians mummified their rulers and would even worship them after death. Temples and structures were often built at the location of the dead bodies to facilitate that worship. God buried Moses to prevent his body or grave from distracting the people or becoming a stumbling block. God alone is to be worshipped, not great men, dead or alive.
• He loved Moses. It was a sign of great respect and care for a person whom He treated as a friend.
In Jude, we learn of another strange encounter over the body of Moses.
Jude 1:9 – But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
The devil was interested in Moses’ body. It could be that he wanted to use Moses’ body as a means to ensnare Israel in occult worship. In other words, he may have been trying to undo what God had done in the secret burial.
This is what GotQuestions says about this dispute, “Perhaps Satan was opposed to the future resurrection of Moses, accusing him of the sin at Meribah and other sins. Perhaps Satan wanted to bury the body in a more accessible place and mark the spot to tempt the people to build a shrine. Whatever the reason for the dispute, Satan lost the battle.”
Source – https://www.gotquestions.org/death-of-Moses.html
What lessons can we learn from this?
• Satan will seek every possible way to ensnare people, tempt them, and distract them from the true worship of God. We need to be alert.
• Funerals are important and we need to make sure that when we bury a loved one, the memorial service points to Christ. Death can bring about powerful emotions. Satan may seek to use those emotions to embitter people against God, stroke the human ego, or spread false teachings (such as the lie that everyone goes to heaven no matter if they believe the gospel).
• God’s ways are not our ways. We would likely seek to honor such a person as Moses after death. God knew something that Israel didn’t. He protected them from temptations they likely would not have even known they would have faced.
Application – We don’t know all of the reasons God did this, but we should trust Him. God does not always explain Himself to us and in those areas where we don’t understand, our job is to have faith in His good purposes.
Deuteronomy 29:29 – The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
4. Moses was vigorous at 120 – God sustained him to give him the energy and strength for the daunting task he had to accomplish. Though the Lord strengthened him far beyond normal for that age, when it was his time to die, he died. Life and death are in the hands of God.
Application – Your life and death are in His hands. Do you acknowledge and accept that?
5. Transition to Joshua – Moses had a clear succession plan in place. He had trained Joshua as his replacement. It is very important for leaders to train more leaders and disciples to make more disciples. If Moses had neglected this task, Israel would have been far less prepared for the mission ahead. If you look at the life of Joshua, he did not train another leader after him. Therefore after his death, Israel descended into the dark time of the Judges when every man did what was right in his own eyes.
Application – We are called to reproduce spiritually. That means we should not only be a disciple but train up more disciples. This applies to every believer, but especially to those in leadership. What will happen to your church, ministry, or fellowship if you have to move on and no one has been equipped to take your place?
2 Timothy 2:2 – And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
6. Moses was unique – There has not ever been another prophet like him before.
Deuteronomy 34:10-12 – And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
Moses did not accomplish these things on his own (John 15:5). Forty years before God called him, he actually tried to deliver his people (Exodus 2:11-12). But it ended in failure. All of the great deeds accomplished were done through God’s mighty power.
Yet God did choose to use Moses. Why?
It is clear that God appointed Moses. He chose Moses when Moses was not ready (Exodus 3) and then molded him into a great leader. At the same time, Moses was very humble (Numbers 12:3). His humility was very important as that helped him be teachable, listen to God’s voice, and submit to Him.
Moses also had a close, personal relationship with the Lord. He talked with God intimately as a person talked with a friend. It was this relationship that strengthened him for the work he had to do.
The amazing story of Moses teaches us many lessons. Here are two.
• God chooses people and then prepares and strengthens them to fulfill His calling. God answered the people’s prayer for help in the birth of Moses long before Moses had any idea what was going on. If God gives you a task to do, He will give you every support and resource you need to do it.
• If we want to accomplish anything for God, we must have a personal relationship with Him (John 15:5). Moses did and that is why he was successful.
The lesson is not that Moses was great. Moses was a flawed human being like you and me. By his own admission, he was not a good speaker. He murdered someone. Then he became a shepherd for forty years.
The lesson is that God is great. He uses weak and flawed people like you and me.
The Lord often answers prayer and works in this world through people as he did with Moses. He will always raise someone up at the right time to accomplish His perfect purposes.
Reflect – What lesson do you learn from the amazing story of Moses?
Book Reflection Questions
• What was the main theme of the book of Deuteronomy?
• What are the highlights of the book of Deuteronomy for you? What key verses, lessons, and principles do you want to remember moving forward?
• How has this book deepened your understanding of God?
• How is God calling you to obey Him based on what you have learned in this book?
Deuteronomy E-book study: If this is helpful, you can download our full Deuteronomy study in PDF or other formats.
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