MOSES SPEAKS TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL FOR THE LAST TIME, REMINDING THEM OF WHAT GOD HAD DONE FOR THEM. HE TELLS THEM OF THE GOOD LAND TO WHICH THEY ARE GOING, AND WARNS THEM NOT TO FORGET GOD WHEN THEY SHALL COME THERE. SOME OF THE CITIES OF CANAAN ARE TO BE CITIES OF REFUGE. THE PEOPLE ARE TO BRING THEIR FIRST FRUITS TO THE TABERNACLE. MOSES DIES ON MOUNT NEBO.
WHILE the children of Israel had their camp near the river Jordan, Moses spoke to them for the last time. He knew that he could not go with them into Canaan, but must die before they went, and he feared that after he should be taken from them, they would forget the things that God had spoken to them and done for them. Therefore he told them again about many of those things. He reminded them of the time when they came near to Canaan before, but would not go into it, because the spies who had been through the land told them that the people were greater and stronger than they. And the Lord was angry with the children of Israel and sent them back into the wilderness, where they had stayed forty years. Then, Moses said, after the forty years were ended, the Lord had spoken to them and commanded them to come toward Canaan again.
And, as they came, they passed by the land of Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan, came out and fought with them. But the Lord gave them the victory over him. They took from him sixty cities, which had high walls around them, with gates, and bars to keep the gates shut, when their enemies should come against them. The Lord gave the children of Israel also, the land on which those cities stood, and all the cattle that belonged to the people. This Og, king of Bashan, was a giant; for the Bible tells us there were giants in those days, and Og was the last one left of them in that country. His bedstead was made of iron, and was twice as large as the bedsteads of other men.
And Moses told the people that he begged the Lord, at that time, to let him go over and see the good land to which they were going across Jordan. But the Lord would not let him go, and commanded him to speak of it no more. For he remembered how Moses and Aaron had sinned at the rock, where they were sent to bring out water for the people. Yet the Lord said that Moses should go up on a high mountain from which he could see that land afar off, but he should not cross over Jordan and go into it.
Then Moses asked the Lord to choose a man who should go over with the people and lead them as he had done, because if they should have no one to guide and take care of them, they might be scattered and lost, like sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said that Joshua should go with them, and that they should obey him as they had before obeyed Moses.
And Moses told all the people that God said they should teach his commandments to their children, and talk with their children about them, while they were sitting at home in the house; when they went out, as they walked by the way; before they went to sleep at night, and when they awoke in the morning. They were to tell them often about God, how great and good and kind he was, and about his laws, so that they might learn to obey them.
And when the Lord should bring the children of Israel into Canaan, and give them great and beautiful cities which they had not built, and houses full of good things which they had not brought there, and wells which they had not digged, and vineyards and olive trees which they had not planted; when they should have all these things given them, with as much to eat as they wanted, they must be careful lest they should forget the Lord who gave them these things.
They must remember, then, how he had led them forty years through the wilderness and fed them with manna. In all that time their clothes had not grown old, nor worn out, and though they had come so far, their feet had never swollen nor been sore with their journey. For God had led them through that lonely wilderness, where there was no bread to eat or water to drink, that he might bring them into a better land, where streams ran through the fields, and springs of water came out of the ground, in the valleys and on the hills. In that good land the wheat grew and bore grain, and the vine bore grapes; the fig-tree, the pomegranate, and the olive, bore their fruit. There the children of Israel should have bread enough, and never want anything. And under the ground, among the rocks, and in the hills, they should find iron and brass, of which they could make many things that they needed to use.
And after they should come to that good land, and their herds of cattle and flocks of sheep should grow larger, and they should be rich, and have very much of silver and gold; then they must not be proud, and say they had gotten these things for themselves, for it was the Lord who would give them to the children of Israel. And if they forgot him, and served other gods, they also would be destroyed like those nations which he was now going to destroy in the land of Canaan.
And Moses told the people that very soon they were to pass over Jordan, and the Lord would go before them. They would have to fight against the nations that lived there, but it was the Lord who would give them the victory. And when he should have given them the victory, and driven out those nations, the children of Israel must not say that it was because they were righteous he had done it. For it was not because they were righteous, but because those nations were wicked that God would drive them out; and because he had promised Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give the land to the children of Israel. For the children of Israel had not been righteous, they had not obeyed the Lord. They should remember, and never forget, how often in the wilderness they had sinned against him, from the time they left Egypt until they came to that place where their camp was then.
And Moses said that the land of Canaan to which they were going, was not like the land of Egypt from which they came. In Egypt it scarcely ever rained. A river, called the Nile, ran through the land. Once every year this river rose up higher than it was at other times, and flowed over the fields and gardens that were near it. But where the water from the river did not come, the people had to carry it, or nothing would grow. This caused them great labor and trouble. But in Canaan rain fell from the sky and watered all the land. And now, Moses said, that if the children of Israel would love God and serve him with all their hearts, he would send them this rain, as it should be needed, to make the corn, the vines, and the olive-trees grow, and grass also in the fields, for the cattle to eat.
But the people of Canaan served idols, and made places in which to worship them, on mountains and hills, and in groves, or woods. They built altars also on which they offered sacrifices to them: even their sons and their daughters they burned in the fire to their false gods. Moses told the children of Israel again, that they must destroy all the places where idols had been worshipped, they must burn the groves, and throw down the altars and the images. But the children of Israel must offer their sacrifices in only one place, which the Lord would choose for them, after they should come into the land of Canaan. There his tabernacle would be, and the people must bring all their burnt offerings there to be burned by the priests on the altar.
And if any man should try to persuade one of them to go away from the tabernacle and sacrifice to other gods, and not to the Lord, the one whom he persuaded must not go with him, but he must tell all the people of what the man had said, and the people must take that man out and stone him with stones till he was dead.
And the Lord commanded the children of Israel, whenever there should be any poor man among them, to be kind to him, and lend him whatever he needed, even though they might think he could never pay them again. And they should lend to him willingly, not feeling sorry to do it, nor wishing in their hearts that he had not asked them; for on account of their being kind to the poor, the Lord would bless them in everything they did.
And God told the children of Israel that some of the cities in the land of Canaan must be cities of refuge; this meant, cities where a man who had killed another by accident, might go and be safe from punishment, God had said before, that any person who killed another on purpose, and because he hated him, should be put to death. He would be a murderer, and the murdered man's brother, or his son, or his nearest relation, was allowed to kill him wherever he found him. But sometimes a man might kill another without intending it. He might go to the woods to cut down a tree, and while doing it, the head of his axe might fly from the handle, and strike some one who was standing near, and hurt him so that he would die. Then the man who killed the other would not be a murderer. Yet for fear the dead man's brother, or his son, or some relation of his, might come in anger and kill him, he must make haste to the city of refuge.
And when he should come to the gate of the city, he must tell the elders who lived there of what he had done. And the elders would take him into the city and give him a place where he might live. And if the brother, or the son, of the man he had killed, should come and ask for him, they would not give him up, because, although he had killed the man, he had not meant to do him any harm. But if some wicked murderer should come there, the elders would not take him into the city to save him from punishment, they would give him up to be put to death for his sin.
The Lord said that when the people should come into Canaan and live there, and have the land for their own, each man must take the first of the grain, and the first of the fruits, that should grow ripe in his fields, and put them into a basket and bring them to the tabernacle. And the priest at the tabernacle should take the basket out of the man's hand, and set it down before the altar of burnt offering. Then the man should say, I have brought the first fruits of the land which thou, O Lord, hast given me. And there he should worship the Lord. And the man was to leave the basket, with the first fruits in it, at the tabernacle; and the Lord said these should belong to the priest. For the Lord gave them to the priest, because the priests would have no fields, or orchards, in which to raise grain and fruit for themselves. And the Lord commanded each man among the children of Israel to bring his first fruits, every year, in this way, as an offering to the tabernacle.
Moses told the people that on the day they should go over Jordan into Canaan, they must set up some great stones there and cover them with plaster. And while, the plaster was yet soft, they must write on it all the words of the law which God had given them. Then when the plaster grew hard, those words would remain; and every one who passed by could read God's law written upon it.
And Moses said to the children of Israel that if they would obey the Lord, the Lord would make them greater than any other nation. He would bless their children, their land, and their cattle. Their enemies who should come out against them, would be afraid and flee away before them. And all the other nations of the earth should know that the Lord had chosen them for his people. But if they would not obey him, they should have great trouble. They would sow much seed in their fields, but reap only a little grain, for the locusts would come and destroy it; they would plant their vines, but should not gather the grapes, for the worms would eat them. They should have sickness such as could not be cured. And the Lord would send against them a fierce nation that would not pity the old or the young, but would take their cattle and their food, and at last carry them and their children away, as captives, to other lands; where the children of Israel should be slaves to their enemies, and, like their enemies, would worship idols of wood and stone.
Moses said to the people that he had now set before them the good way and the evil way, and he begged them to choose the good way, so that they and their children might live and not die. And he told them he was a hundred and twenty years old that day, and could not go over Jordan with them, but Joshua, he said, would go. And he called Joshua before them all, and told him that he was to go with them, and lead them, and help them take the land. And the Lord commanded Moses to come with Joshua to the tabernacle; and when they came there, the Lord appeared to them in the pillar of cloud, and he appointed Joshua to be ruler over the people after Moses should die.
And Moses wrote down in a book the laws which God had given him. And he commanded the priests and the elders, once in every seven years, to gather all the people together the men, the women, and the children, and to read those laws out loud to them, that they might hear them and learn to obey them. And he gave the book to the Levites who carried the ark, and told them to take it and put it in the side of the ark, that it might always be kept there.
After these things, the Lord spoke to Moses and commanded him to go up on a mountain, called mount Nebo, and to look from there across Jordan into the land where the children of Israel were going. Then, when he should have seen that land, the Lord said, Moses should die on the mount, as Aaron had died on mount Hor. And Moses went from the place where the children of Israel had their camp, on to the mountain which the Lord told him of. And when he came to the top of it, the Lord made him see very far over the land of Canaan, and told him that this was the land which he had promised Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, to give their descendants.
So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there on the top of the mount, before the people came into that good land. And the Lord buried him in a valley, in the land of Moab, but no man has ever known the place where he was buried. He was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet he had not grown weak from age, but was well and strong until the day that the Lord took him.
After he was dead, Joshua ruled over the people, and they obeyed him as they had obeyed Moses. For the Lord gave Joshua wisdom, and made him able to teach them and guide them as Moses had done before. But there was never afterward any man among the children of Israel, whom the Lord talked with, face to face, as he did with Moses, or whom he sent to do such wonderful works as he sent him to do, in Egypt and in the wilderness.