NOTES for Deu 34:1-12
With a prophet's gaze, Moses surveys the whole land of Canaan—from Gilead to the southern wilderness—across hundreds of miles. The promise has been fulfilled. And what does it matter that Moses did not cross the Jordan? Was Palestine really the destination of his journey, just as it is not the destination of ours? His path, filled with heroic trust in God, joy in God and grief for his people, astonishing revelations and terrible trials, led far beyond the Sinai covenant, beyond Moab and the Jordan. All his life Moses journeyed toward knowing God face to face. And he is one of the few who traveled this road almost to the end. The Promised Land, to which he brought his people, is only a shadow of what is to come (Heb. 10:1), toward which his final journey now leads... Yet our path leads to the same place, through the same trials and grief. Do we understand where we are going and what we live for? Perhaps we are building a kingdom that we will never enter. The question of life's meaning has led many people to faith. Is there still room in our lives for this question?