Barrick, The Authorship of Deuteronomy 34
ETS Annual Meeting, November 14-16, 2001
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sister Miriam had been buried near where she had died (Num 20:1) and his brother Aaron
had been buried in much the same fashion (Deut 10:6). Moses witnessed both deaths and
burials for his two siblings. He was fully aware of the cultural norms and what would
happen with him at his own death. Beyond that, in Deut 32:50 Moses was given explicit
revelation concerning his death and burial along with its similarity to the death and burial
of his brother Aaron. However, Miriam and Aaron were not buried by God--unless we
understand that phraseology to indicate merely "at Yahweh's command."
The real crux is the phrase "to this day" in 34:6. If language has any value, there
planned it, he knew enough to be able to write, "No one knows his gravesite unto this
day" (v. 6).
Diagram 3: Deuteronomy 34:7-8
OÕtom:B hÙfnf$ {yÖir:&e(ºw hÓf)"m-}eB hèe$omU 34.7
OÙny"( hÛftAhfk-)×ol
;h×ox"l sÛfn-)olºw
hÖe$om-te) lÓ")fr:&éy yí"n:b ûUK:béYáw 34.8
bÙf)Om tÛob:r×a(:B
{OÕy {yØi$ol:$
;h×e$om lebÛ") yÙik:b yÛ"mºy Uêm:TéY×aw
[7]
Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye had not lost its sparkle nor had
its power fled.
[8]
So the Israelites wept for Moses on the plains for Moab for thirty days
and fulfilled the days of mourning for him.
OÕtom:B
OÙny"( hÛftAhfk-)×ol
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Dewey M. Beegle, Moses, The Servant of Yahweh (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Co., 1972), 347.
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The same kind of notation regarding age at death was provided for Aaron (
$Óolf$-}eB }êorAha)ºw
;r×fhfh rÛoh:B OÙtom:B hÕfnf$ tÙa):mU {yÖir:&e(ºw, Num 33:39). Of course, Moses was aware of his own age
(cf. 31:2,
{wêoYah üyikïnf) hÜfnf$ {yíir:&e(ºw ûhf)"m-}eB). Driver noted similarly constructed sentences in Gen
12:4; 16:16; 17:24; 21:5; 25:26; 41:46; 50:26; and Exod 7:7 (Deuteronomy, 417).
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A slightly different phrasing employing the same vocabulary was used in Gen 27:1 to describe Isaac in
old age (
tÕo):r"m wyÙfny"( æ}yÛeh:kiTáw qêfx:céy }Ø"qæz-y×iK üyihºyáw). George W. Coats classified the description of
Moses' unfailing eyesight as part of a heroic motif ("Legendary Motifs in the Moses Death Reports,"
Catholic Biblical Quarterly 39/1 [Jan 1977]: 36): "The characterization appears overdrawn, unreal. Moses
is almost superhuman, a figure whose attributes stretch the imagination beyond average human experience.
That characterization typifies heroic legend." Such a view might lend support to those who would deny
Mosaic authorship to Deut 34.