The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-09-20
SUNDAY-SCHOOL
LESSON FOR SEPT. II
THE DEATH OF MoSES.-DEUT.
XXxIV:1-21.
BY REV. j. Z. GILBERT, d. d.,
Secretary of American Society of Re-
ligiou& Education

INTRODuCTION-Th book of Deuter-
onomy from which our last two lessons
| were taken, is really the dying message
| of Moses. 1t was customary in the pa
trlarchal times for men before passing
away to make some final utterance,
longer or shorter. So it was with Jacob
Gen. Xix. u. Such deliverances were
highly esteemed by those to whom they
were made, as they came from the ac-
cumulated wisdom of the years that
were gone and the hopes of the time to
come. Moses in his address recapitulated
the law of God and made comments
thereon, after which he gave wholesome
advices. The address ended with Il glow
ing tribute to Jehovah and to Israel found
in the last verses of the thirty third chap
ter. passage of rare beauty and
strength. The chapter now to he studied,
an account of his death and burial and
some matters connected Herewith, must
have been written by some other hand,
probably by some scribe at a later time.
CLOSING NISION.-(Verses l. ., 81.
one great privilege was granted to Moses
before his death-he was permitted to see
from distance the land of promise, the
land of his hopes and cndeavors. For
this purpose he ascended Mount Nebo, a
peak OF the range Abarim. which extend
n.
The origin of the name has been as
signed to the meaning of the word high"
or elevated, but some think that it was
derived from the fact that Nebo,
heathen city, was once worshipped there.
Nebo was one of several peaks belonging
to Mount Psgah. There God showed
him Canaan, on both sides of the river
First the eye swept northward over
Gilead to Dan, thence west to Naphtali,
nnI :, ,,fn,,
nasseh, thence to Judah and the great
sea, the Mediterranean, and the inter-
Vening country, as 1t would be inhabited
by Israel. Stanley said, after visiting the
heights, THE whole range is one vast
Pisgah, from which views may be had
of the hills and the valleys of the entire
land of promise"
DIVINE RESTRAINT.-V A. 1t
may be readily believed that Moses had
a strong desire to enter Canaan. That
mad been the one controlling motive from
the day he left Jethros fiocks in INDIAN
tEN, i'll, ID. 1t had filled his mind with
nope and courage and patience as he
stood before the obdurate Pharaoh plead
ing for the release of his people. 1t had
sustained him during the wandering of
nearly forty years in the wilderness, a
time OF sore trial and great suspense. 1t
mad been the burden of his long address
IN which he sought to prepare Israel for
the new home tDeut. xviii, %. Standing
upon Pisgah and viewing the land In the
distance, he must have felt a strange de-
sire to tread its valleys and visit its
cities But God had ordered otherwise
lie was not permitted so much as to en-
ter lie had led Israel to the border, but
he might not cross it. They should go I'm
before him. Moses knew the reason for
this restraint and he told 1t to the peo- |
pie, lie pleaded, but God had refused |
tDeut, III, 25-2O, A sin committed twenty |
years before Numb, Xxx. ~, kept him |
out
SECRET BURIAL--(Verses d and o. |
The patriarchs esteemed their burial |
places Abraham purchased a cave for |
hemself and Sarah in the land of promise |
Gen. xNiii, l9l There Jacob was laid
TO rest by his sons Gen, I. 81. The bones /
Of Joseph, the last of his mortal part
1t his discretion We're carried from Egypt |
20 Canaan (Ex. xiii, 19). From time i'm
memorial the orientallst felt II TO be a
nigh honor TO sleep his last sleep In the
company of his fathers G Kings II. iO.
But even this was denied TO Moses. He
must die in Moab and there his body
must remain, and that because OF his