The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-09-15
9 MOSES THE MAN OF GOO. !"

GLE VIEWS THE LANDSCAPE DER"
Moses was not permitted to enter the
Promised Land, to the borders of which he
had now successfully led the children of Is
rael. According to the record, this was di-
vinely decreed as a penalty for the offence
described in the last lesson (Numbsrs Xxx.
12). He may have felt, because of that Of
fence, he ought not to enter with his people
into their inheritance. Through his self-ac-
cusing conscience, the voice of COB came to
him, and he determined to tarry in the fer
tile Plains OF Moab and die there. Bat the
accounts of his death as the penalty of unbe-
lief, may have been added to the original
documents by the compiler of the Pentateuch
to explain why he died before the Promised
Land was reached. A transporting view of
the goodly land, 80 soon to be the inheritance
of his people, was permitted him from the
summit of neighboring mountain. From
Pisgah, the summit, probably, of Mt. Nebo,
an extensive view of the land of Canaan was
obtained. The description of the view con-
tanned in the lesson was evidently made after
the country was in possession of the Israel
ties, and the tribes had become permanent
ly located as divisions of the country were
designated by their location. Gilead was
the mountainous district east of the Jordan
and north of Nebo. Dan was north of this,
near Mt. Hermon. Opposite Dan, on the
west of the Jordan, was Naphtali, the north
ern district of Palestine. Ephraim, Manas-
sch and Judah occupied the central portion
looking toward the Mediterranean Sea. Jeri-
cho was a city near the Jordan, northwest of
Nebo, and opposite the camp of Israel. Zoar
is supposed to have been situated near the
south end of the Dead Sea, the place to
which Lot fled from the destruction of Sodom
Genesis xix. 22.) The description includes
the whole of the Holy Land, which may have
been seen from the stop of Pisgah."
1t has been said that the sight afforded to
Moses "of all the land" was supernatural,
obtained, perhaps, through an extraordinary
enchantment OF the dying lawgiver's power
of vision" Speakers Commentary. But
there is no need of this superstition. From
the highest peak of Nebo, which seems to
have borne the name of Pisgah, the natural
eye, unhelped, would have ranged over the
sylvan scenes of Gilead and Bashan, over
the Ghor. or Jordan Valley, from end TO end;
over the Dead Sea, and the hill country of the
south beyond; over the Jordan upland, and
over the mountains of Ephraim and Manas-
sch, would have had glimpses of the fertile
valleys, which nestle among the Paleetinian
hills, and have caught sight of ancient cities
GROWING many rocky eminence. Napthali,
if not seen, would have been suggested by
the snowy peak of Hermon, towering aloft
in the far northern sky; and even 1.-THE ut
most sea" though beyond bodily ken, being
shut out by the Judean hills, would have been
felt as present beyond them at no great dis
tance toward the west. the whole Land of
Promise was before Moses, and in the clear
atmosphere of that southern sky he would
see its features with distinctness OF which
we northern islanders, who dwell in fogs,
can scarcely form conception; he would see
aud comprehend how fair and "goodly" was
the tract; how fitted to TEEN with corn, and
wine and honey, and oil olive, and fg-trees,
and pomegranates; where his people might
be sure ''to eat bread without scarceness''
aud have mo lack of anything (Dsut. viii.
8. 9.)-George Rdl0lihSon, N. A., "Mosee
His Life and Times"
HIS DEATH AND BURIAL.-Mosss died
on Mt. Nebo, where he had obtained view
of the Promised Land at the age of 120 years,
IN the foil vigor of his natural power. What
was the immediate cause of his death we
may not know. He may have been suddenly
attacked by fatal sickness, or swept away
in a whirlwind, or stricken down by light
ming. He was honored with elaborate fun
eral rites, but his sepulchre was unknown
when the record Of his death was made in