Moses’ Burial

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

Of Hillel’s 80 students 2000 years ago, Yonasan ben Uzziel was the greatest mind. As the following verse in Deuteronomy is so brief, we must analyze the lengthy context Yonasan ben Uzziel feels is so essential which he included in his explanation:

So Moses the servant of God died there, in the land of Moab, at the command of God. And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, near Beth-peor; and no one knows his burial place to this day (Deut. 34:5,6).

That’s a relatively short verse. Here is Yonasan ben Uzziel’s explanation with surprising additions: 

Blessed be the Name of the Lord of the world, who has taught us His righteous ways: 

• He taught us to clothe the naked, as He clothed Adam and Eve

• He taught us to make marriages, as He united Eve to Adam 

• He taught us to visit the sick, as He revealed Himself to Abraham when he was ill from being circumcised

• He  taught us to console the mourners, as He revealed Himself again to Jacob when returning from Padan, in the place where his mother had died

• He  taught us to feed the poor, as He sent down manna from heaven to Israel

• He  taught us to bury the dead by (what He did for) Moshe; for He revealed Himself in His Word, and with Him the companies of ministering angels Michael and Gabriel spread forth the golden bed, fastened with chrysolites, gems, and beryls, adorned with hangings of purple silk, and satin, and white linens. Metatron, Jophiel, and Uriel, and Jephephya, the wise sages, laid him upon it, and by His Word He conducted him four miles, and buried him in the valley opposite Beth Peor; that Israel, as oft as they look up to Peor, may have the memory of their sin; and at sight of the burying place of Moshe may be humbled. But no man knows his grave unto this day.

As Rabbi Israel Chait taught, even in death, Moses functioned to eradicate idolatry. Thus, God buried him facing the idol Baal Peor so one cannot think of Peor without comparing it to Moses and his monotheistic Torah. Thereby, Moses, even in death, combats man’s trends towards idolatry. 

The rabbis teach in Pirkei Avos 5:6 that Moses' grave was one of the few miracles God created just before the close of Creation on the first Friday. The miracle is that if one stood atop the mountain looking downward, he would see Moses' grave at the mountain’s base. And one standing at the base of the mountain looking upward would see his grave at the top of the mountain. What this means is that God obscured the location of his grave. This is because people tend to deify great leaders, violating monotheism, where God maintains the entire focus of the sole deity. Moses’ death was therefore “at the command of God” — a planned event of a miraculous and essential nature, intending to deter man from deifying a human, and focussing on God alone as the source of all our fate.

We understand that in this manner, the circumstances of Moses' death was a kindness to the Jewish people. But death itself is a great kindness, as God continues our existence to its greatest state and greatest learning experience, unhindered by physical limitation. Yonasan ben Uzziel’s message is that one must have a complete picture of God's kindness and therefore he cites what truths and perfections God taught mankind through His kindnesses to other deserving people, from Adam to Moses. Following God’s values of clothing the naked, arranging marriages, visiting the mourner and all else, death can then realize the perfection gained by adhering to God’s lessons. Thereby, death cannot be viewed in isolation. It is the culmination of a proper life and the soul’s continued greater life, and explains why Yonasan be Uzziel provides this lengthy context. God was kind to Moses upon his death as a final expression of His kindness to a man perfected by all the other cited values God taught us. 

The embellishment of the angels and the adorned bed teach that death of a righteous and wise man is the commencement of an adorned metaphysical existence.