(This is part of a series of articles, and will make little sense without the introductory articles: (1) , (2), (3), and (4). There are more than four articles in the series, but the first four are very important to understanding the conceptual framework. Here also is a link to the complete calendar for reference. (“complete” lunar calendar)
Death of Moses, Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld (1852-1860)
And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manas-seh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. And the Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows the place of his burial to this day. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. And the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. (Dt 34:1-8)
The traditional date of the death (and birth)1 of Moses is 7 Adar, corresponding to the Tuesday after the first Sunday of Lent. This date has long been part of Jewish tradition, so it seems that it can be taken at face value. In fact, it can easily be calculated by simply counting backwards, this time not from Easter, but from the 7th day of Nisan. This date allows the timeline for what happens later to synchronize correctly. We are told that all Israel mourned for 30 days (Dt 34:8) and then Joshua was told to announce the crossing of the Jordan river in three days’ time. (Jos 1:1-11) This day would have been 7 Nisan. The crossing of the Jordan was to take place on 10 Nisan, a very important day for various reasons that will become clear later on.
The introit for the Mass of this day, corresponding to 7 Adar (the Tuesday after the first Sunday of Lent) is very interesting, as it is the only introit in the missal that makes use of Psalm 89 (Vulgate numbering): “Domine refugium factus es nobis.” In addition, it begins with the incipit of the Psalm, something which is not rare, but certainly not extremely common. Psalm 89 is a beautiful prayer that reminds us of our mortality and the shortness of our lives, so it would be appropriate as a last prayer before one’s death. This becomes more striking when we look at the title of the psalm: “A prayer of Moses the man of God.” Moses may have prayed this very prayer before he died.
We can see a possible connection between this day and the first Sunday of Lent as well, if we note that the gospel reading on that Sunday has the devil showing our Lord all the kingdoms of the world. St. Luke adds “in a moment of time.” (Lk 4:5) Moses humbly accepted that he was not going to enter the promised land, even though it was shown to him from atop a high mountain,2 just as Christ had to humbly reject the temptation of the devil urging Him to take the easy path, the one without suffering. But Christ “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.” (Phil 2:6-8)
Of course, the question, “Who buried Moses?” is now raised, and we might suppose that Moses did not go up the mountain alone, that perhaps Joshua went up the mountain with him. It is well known that “Joshua” is the same exact name as “Jesus” in the original language, and it is even rendered identically in the Septuagint and the New Testament. So we have “Jesus” (in the person of Joshua son of Nun) on the mountain with Moses, just as Jesus will be transfigured on the high mountain next week, with Moses and Elijah in attendance. All that having been said, the great commentator Cornelius a Lapide reports that some of the rabbis believe that Moses buried himself.3 St. Ephrem believes another possibility, that Joshua buried him. But Cornelius believes that God Himself buried him. This would set up a parallel with God sealing up Noah in the ark from the outside. (Gen 7:16) This is something we will probably never know, but it is possible he dismissed Joshua and died alone, having put all his faith in Almighty God.
The first three weeks of Lent seem to be a time of detaching from things of this world and purging ourselves of distracting influences. The final three weeks seem to deal more with embracing suffering for the sake of our salvation, uniting our own sufferings to the sufferings of Christ.
So in the first three weeks of Lent, those in which the theme is purgation from things of this world, we have the first Sunday making a parallel with the last days of Moses, since Christ is the perfect fulfillment of Moses in every way. By going out into the wilderness to fast for forty days, Christ was connecting his life to that of Moses, who also fasted for the people of God on account of their transgressions. On the second Sunday of course we have the Transfiguration, where Christ appears along with Moses and Elijah, and the third Sunday we have our Lord casting out demons by the “finger of God,” a well-known symbol of the Holy Spirit, the same spirit that told Moses,
“Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your rod and strike the dust of the earth, that it may become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.’ ”And they did so; Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and struck the dust of the earth, and there came gnats on man and beast; all the dust of the earth became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt. The magicians tried by their secret arts to bring forth gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast. And the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them; as the Lord had said. (Ex. 8:16-19)
In a way then, Moses is also “commemorated” on the first three Sundays of Lent, as well as the day of his death. Then at matins on the fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday, we begin reading the book of Exodus with the story of the birth of Moses. The importance of the figure of Moses to a devout Jew cannot be overstated. It is entirely possible that this liturgical coincidence is due to the fact that even in Rome, the very first Christians were probably Jews. Is it reasonable to suppose that their influence would be so strong as to overpower the massive influx of gentiles into the church even by the end of the first century? Perhaps we may never know; but we cannot ignore what is right in front of our eyes, like the fact that the stational church for the Mass on the day of the death of Moses is that of St. Anastasia.
1This is from an ancient tradition that claims great men died on the same day on which they were born.
2As an interesting aside, some later, less reliable traditions have Moses’ last “official” day as leader on 5 Adar, which would put it right on the Sunday.
