Two years ago we experimented with having a Wednesday night Bible study here at the church, and this passage from Deuteronomy was one of the first passages we studied. That’s because we were using a book by Rob Bell called, What Is The Bible, and this passage from Deuteronomy is one of the first passages he discusses.
And we learned that there is something very strange about this passage - particularly in verse seven.
Verse seven says that “Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated.”
The few of you who were at that Bible study know where this is headed, and I’m sure you’re already squirming in your seats!
Before I get there: remember that Moses was the one called by God to set the Hebrews free. At the burning bush, God told Moses that God had heard the cries of the people suffering under oppression, and that now God was going to act, to bring about freedom, and to bring about justice.
And, through Moses, God did just that. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, so God sent plagues, with the last, most terrible plague being the death of all the first-born sons in Egypt, a plague that mirrors Pharaoh’s attempts to kill all the firstborn Hebrew sons.
After that terrible plague, Pharaoh told the Hebrews to go; but then as they went, Pharaoh sent his army after them. When the Hebrew people found themselves trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea, God allowed Moses to part the waters of the sea so that the Hebrews could pass through.
Then they were on their way to the Promised Land. But first, they spent forty years of wandering in the wilderness, learning what it meant to be a newly-formed people. Finally, as they came near the Promised Land, God took Moses up on a high mountain and showed the Promised Land to Moses, so that Moses could see it with his own eyes before he died.
And then, Moses died. He was one hundred twenty years old when he died, his sight was unimpaired, and his vigor had not abated.
In our Bible study, we focused on the last part of that verse. His vigor had not abated. That is a strange thing to say about someone who has just died. Because a natural death is what happens when your vigor has abated.
We heard it from the New Revised Standard Version. Other translations say that his strength had not gone, or that his natural force had not abated, or even (and this is my favorite) that he had not become wrinkled…
Dead at 120 years old, and no wrinkles?
As Rob Bell points out, what the Bible actually says here in Hebrew - what the translators have so much difficulty translating - is that, when Moses died, he still had his moisture. His freshness. That’s the literal translation.
If you were at that Bible study two years ago, and you remember what this means, go ahead and tell someone next to you. If someone is there with you, tell them what this means. I dare you!
For the rest of you who weren’t there, I’ll tell you that this is a euphemism. When the Bible says that Moses died but his moisture and his freshness were still there, or that his vigor had not abated, what it means is that Moses, when he died, still had all his sexual potency… he was still able to procreate.
Not usually something you say about someone as you stand over their casket paying your respects!
So why does the scripture say it?
Well, remember that Moses was the one through whom God acted. Through Moses, God intervened in human history to establish justice, to enact freedom and liberation. So, to the Hebrew people, Moses was like a father, leading them to new life.
But now that Moses had died, what would become of them? What would become of their children, their grandchildren, and generations yet to be born?
What this scripture is saying is that, even in death, Moses can still be - and is - the father of the people… The new life that God brought to them through Moses would continue coming to them. The work of liberation that God did through Moses, God would continue to do.
The justice God grants to people endures to each generation, including generations yet to come. Those yet to be born… they will be children of Moses, because the movement toward freedom and wholeness continues. And the resistance to the powers of corruption, the resistance against the powers of injustice, continues…
The scripture writers wanted it to be clear that the goal of freedom and new life that God used Moses to achieve would not die just because Moses’ time on earth had come to an end. The scripture writers wanted it to be clear that God would continue to work through people to achieve freedom and justice, just as God had worked through Moses. Moses was dead, but the dream and the struggle live on!
And in this way, the new nation that was given birth through Moses would continue to be born, continue to be renewed, in the years and centuries to come, as each generation works to ensure freedom and justice for all people.
Think, for a moment, what it must have been like, to have been one of those Hebrews who followed Moses, who trusted in him and his vision for a new nation in a Promised Land. Moses led you out of slavery. Moses led you through the Red Sea. Moses led you through the wilderness.
Because of Moses, you didn’t go hungry, you didn’t go thirsty, and you didn’t get lost. When you did get hungry, you saw God work through Moses to provide manna each morning. When you did get thirsty, you saw God work through Moses to draw water out from solid rock. And when you got impatient and rebelled, Moses interceded on your behalf before God, and you were forgiven.
Now, Moses had died, and it would be very easy to lose hope, to assume that the dream had died with him. But the scripture writers want you to know: The dream of a Promised Land, where justice and freedom and peace and equality and abundance are available for all - that dream will never die. It would continue to be born and reborn.
To future generations struggling for justice, struggling for freedom, the scripture says that the acts of God in Moses’ time haven’t ended. What God did through Moses, God is still doing today. God still stands with the enslaved. God still hears the cries of the oppressed. God still demands that God’s people be free, and God will intervene to make it happen.
What good news that is for us today! And what good news that is, especially, for the poor, the vulnerable, the powerless.
It is the news that, despite the government’s efforts to funnel wealth to those who are already wealthy, God will not allow this system to endure forever.
It is the news that, even though rights are being taken away from the queer community - and especially from those who are transgender - God will not allow this injustice to endure forever.
It is the news that the racism of a president who is endorsed by the KKK and other white nationalist groups will not last, but will be overcome.
It is the news that God will open our eyes so that we no longer allow children at the border to be separated from their families.
It is the news that one day, people won’t die needlessly due to a failing health care system and lack of coverage.
It is the news that even the church, which too often has stood on the side of the oppressors, will shift to the side of the oppressed, and will proclaim, as Jesus did: good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed.
Because there is still a kingdom of shalom waiting for us. The march toward the beloved community continues. We are still on a journey - a wandering journey, perhaps - but a journey that will lead us to God’s Promised Land.
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