Old Testament reading: Deuteronomy 33-34
The conclusion of Deuteronomy also draws to a conclusion the leadership of Moses. As I read the opening stanzas of chapter 34, I am moved as I try to put myself in Moses’ shoes as he sees the land of promise. Surely this man of God was also moved as he thought of his people receiving the blessing without him, a people whom he had led from Egypt and through the wilderness, a people for whom he had repeatedly interceded with God. I imagine there was some melancholy as he thought of how he had sacrificed his blessing in an uncharacteristic and momentary loss of self control. But he could take consolation in the fact that he was about the depart this life and enter the next. Perhaps no man like him ever lived who was more akin to the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses was without a doubt “God’s man.” So great was this man that God took personal interest in his death, taking it upon himself to bury him in the plains of Moab. The text notes that no one knew where God had buried him. I think this God’s action also served to help Joshua, for the people may have been reluctant to leave their beloved leader behind, or they may have embalmed him after the manner of the Egyptians and been tempted to worship his dead corpse. One final thought is that Moses died without any loss of his natural force (34:7). In other words, God took him, probably not unlike the untold thousands who fell in the wilderness well ahead of a normal lifespan.
New Testament reading: 1 Timothy 4-6
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith.” So begins Paul’s warning of a great apostasy that will come upon the church. I once believed this statement was directly related to and was a prophecy of Roman Catholicism, but no more. When I read about the earliest departures of the church, I am inclined to believe this text concerns the heresy of asceticism. Asceticism is a philosophy that teaches that one can attain a higher state of spirituality and holiness by severe self denial and austerity (cf Col 2:20-23). Asceticism itself gave rise to the apostasy now identified as Roman Catholicism. What I find particularly intriguing are the fruits of asceticism listed in the text: forbidding to marry (celibacy) and forbidding certain foods, both of which are a part of Catholicism.
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