The End - Deuteronomy 33 & 34

This last bit is where Moses “blessed the children of Israel.” He’s going up the mountain to die in just a few minutes and now that he’s passed on the obligation of leadership to Joshua, he’s able to reflect on the good that he wants for Israel instead of the inevitable wrongdoing that he knows will happen. TB likened it to being a grandfather who can dote lovingly on his grandchildren because the obligation for the care of the children has passed. Moses has bourn the crushing responsibility for the welfare of Israel for so long and they had complained and rebelled against him almost the whole time, so it must have been nice to be able to focus on the positive for once. The IM says that this blessing is also similar to the one in Genesis 49 in which Jacob individually blesses each of his sons before he dies, but notes that Moses added some more things into each individual tribe’s blessings.

In his blessing he goes through each tribe and pronounces specific words for them. The order in which he blesses the tribes, TB finds noteworthy, but I didn’t as much. All the tribes are mentioned except for Simeon because of Simeon and Levi massacring all the men at Shechem when their king raped their sister. When that happened both brothers were cursed, but Levi was redeemed during the golden calf incident because they were the tribe who enforced Moses’ command that everyone who would not repent be killed, so they not only earned their way back with their conduct there, but also that’s when they became the tribe chosen to administer the priesthood ordinances. Levi’s blessing also again mentions the Urim and Thummim, which were not only the seer stones we know of in regard to the Book of Mormon but also pieces of the temple clothing.

The content of the blessing is heavily dependent on the translation version that you read because the Complete Jewish Bible that TB read from has Joseph’s blessing mostly given to Ephraim. We know that Ephraim is the tribe responsible for gathering the rest of Israel in the last days so his portion of the blessing is longer. I honestly don’t remember all that was said concerning him in the lecture. After all the tribe, except Simeon, are mentioned Moses reminds the people of Israel of the supremacy of their God who destroys their enemies, and protects and provides for them.

Then in chapter 34, Moses goes up the mountain at mount Nebo and God showed him the promised land. TB notes that there is no mountain tall enough that Moses could have visibly looked out and seen the whole promised land, so God would have had to show him spiritually. Verse 5 says that Moses died there and was buried by the hand of the Lord. TB says that God did this so that no specific burial shrine could be erected to worship Moses instead of God, but the IM says that Joseph F. Smith taught that Moses did not die, but was translated instead. He cites Moses and Elijah appearing to Peter, James, and John at the mount of transfiguration as an example of the reason for translation instead of death. This was done because Moses and Elijah had to pass on specific priesthood keys and needed their bodies to do that. The IM also notes that many Book of Mormon prophets were translated instead of dying. The Israelites mourned for Moses for the given 30 days and Joshua “was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him.” TB suggests that the “laying hands” on Joshua was merely a symbolic gesture meant to demonstrate to the people that Moses transferred his political authority to Joshua, however we do “laying on of hands” to transfer priesthood keys, ordain and set apart for specific callings, and there’ no way that Joshua didn’t get priesthood keys and divine authority from God by being set apart for his job of leading Israel. The Torah ends with “and there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.”

Just as a personal note, I was reflecting on the last 4 ½ years that I’ve spent in the Torah, and while I wasn’t as diligent as I should have been, when I started this section at the beginning of 2022, I couldn’t have imagined how different my life would be when I finished it. I was working 3 jobs at the time with teenage kids at home, and it was a rough time. Since then, in the last 4 ½ years, I got 2 more professional certifications that took several months each, I did a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree, changed main jobs, launched one kid into adulthood, and had a tragic family situation that I hope is the worst experience I’ll ever have in this life and that I hope I’m on the other side of mourning. All in all, I’ve learned a lot, I wish I could remember more of what I’ve learned, and I’m excited to be moving on.