Deuteronomy 3:27

3:21-29 Moses encouraged Joshua, who was to succeed him. Thus the aged and experienced in the service of God, should do all they can to strengthen the hands of those who are young, and setting out in religion. Consider what God has done, what God has promised. If God be for us, who can be against us, so as to prevail? We reproach our Leader if we follow him trembling. Moses prayed, that, if it were God's will, he might go before Israel, over Jordan into Canaan. We should never allow any desires in our hearts, which we cannot in faith offer up to God by prayer. God's answer to this prayer had a mixture of mercy and judgment. God sees it good to deny many things we desire. He may accept our prayers, yet not grant us the very things we pray for. It God does not by his providence give us what we desire, yet if by his grace he makes us content without, it comes to much the same. Let it suffice thee to have God for thy Father, and heaven for thy portion, though thou hast not every thing thou wouldst have in the world. God promised Moses a sight of Canaan from the top of Pisgah. Though he should not have the possession of it, he should have the prospect of it. Even great believers, in this present state, see heaven but at a distance. God provided him a successor. It is a comfort to the friends of the church of Christ, to see God's work likely to be carried on by others, when they are silent in the dust.

Get thee up into the top of Pisgah,.... Which was the highest eminence of Mount Nebo, and so a very proper place to take a prospect from; see Deuteronomy 32:49 . and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward; to all the four points of the heaven, and to all the four quarters and borders of the land of Canaan: and behold it with thine eyes; even the land of Canaan, and particularly Lebanon, though it lay to the north of it, that mountain he had such a desire to see. Moses, though old, his natural sight was very strong, and not in the least dim; and it is not improbable that it might be more than ordinarily increased and assisted at this time: for thou shall not go over this Jordan; into the land of Canaan; this affair, of not being suffered to enter there, Moses frequently takes notice of, no less than four or five times, it being what lay near his heart.

Verse 27. - Comp. Numbers 27:12 , of which this is a rhetorical amplification. There the mountains of Abarim are mentioned; here Pisgah, the northern portion of that range, is specified. The top of Pisgah ; i . e . Mount Nebo ( Deuteronomy 34:1 ). Westward ; literally, seaward , i . e . towards the Mediterranean; northward ( צָפון , hidden or dark place, where darkness gathers, as opposed to the bright and sunny south); southward , towards the right-hand quarter ( תֵּימָן from יָמִין , the right hand; cf. Exodus 26:18 , "to the south towards the right hand "); eastward , towards the dawn or sun rising; cf. Deuteronomy 4:47 ( מִזְרָח , from זָרַח to shine forth). Deuteronomy 3:27

Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and {l} lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan. (l) As before he saw by the spirits of prophecy the good mountain which was Zion: so here his eyes were lifted up above the order of nature to behold all the plentiful land of Canaan.

The Lord was wroth with me for your sakes - Here, as in Deuteronomy 1:37 ; Deuteronomy 4:21 ; the sin of the people is stated to be the ground on which Moses' prayer is denied. In Deuteronomy 32:51 ; and in Numbers 27:14 ; the transgression of Moses and Aaron themselves is assigned as the cause of their punishment. The reason why one side of the transaction is put forward in this place, and the other elsewhere, is evident. Here Moses is addressing the people, and mentions the punishment of their leaders as a most impressive warning to them, whose principal fault it was. In Deuteronomy 32 and Numbers 27 , God is addressing Moses, and visits on him, as is fitting, not the sin of the people hut his own.

[Bible] 3:17. And the plain of the wilderness, and the Jordan, and the borders of Cenereth unto the sea of the desert, which is the most salt sea, to the foot of mount Phasga eastward. 3:18. And I commanded you at that time, saying: The Lord your God giveth you this land for an inheritance, go ye well appointed before your brethren the children of Israel, all the strong men of you. 3:19. Leaving your wives and children and cattle. For I know you have much cattle, and they must remain in the cities, which I have delivered to you. 3:20. Until the Lord give rest to your brethren, as he hath given to you: and they also possess the land, which he will give them beyond the Jordan: then shall every man return to his possession, which I have given you. 3:21. I commanded Josue also at that time, saying: Thy eyes have seen what the Lord your God hath done to these two kings: so will he do to all the kingdoms to which thou shalt pass. 3:22. Fear them not: for the Lord your God will fight for you. 3:23. And I besought the Lord at that time, saying: 3:24. Lord God, thou hast begun to shew unto thy servant thy greatness, and most mighty hand, for there is no other God either in heaven or earth, that is able to do thy works, or to be compared to thy strength. 3:25. I will pass over therefore, and will see this excellent land beyond the Jordan, and this goodly mountain, and Libanus. 3:26. And the Lord was angry with me on your account and heard me not, but said to me: It is enough: speak no more to me of this matter. 3:27. Go up to the top of Phasga, and cast thy eyes round about to the west, and to the north, and to the south, and to the east, and behold it, for thou shalt not pass this Jordan. 3:28. Command Josue, and encourage and strengthen him: for he shall go before this people, and shall divide unto them the land which thou shalt see. 3:29. And we abode in the valley over against the temple of Phogor. Deuteronomy Chapter 4