The Law of Moses shows us how to live. (Deuteronomy 5:33).

The Law of Moses also shows us how to die—the ultimate Sabbath Rest. (Deuteronomy 3:27; Hebrews 4:1-16).

As death approached for Moses, he established the work of his hands by teaching Israel the eternal truths that light our world to this day.

These key teachings of Moses were summarized in his farewell addresses to Israel on the Plains of Moab as he was about to die (Numbers 35:1; Deuteronomy 1:1,5).

Moses said, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). In a world of many gods, Moses taught Israel that there is only one God—the LORD.

In a world that tempts us to love all the wrong things, Moses taught Israel: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5).

In a world that tempts us to worry about unimportant things, Moses taught Israel to impress every word of the LORD upon their hearts—and upon the hearts of their children—because people do not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7; 8:3).

Words cannot be impressed upon children’s hearts merely by memorizing them with their minds. These truths must be taught by the way parents live their lives.

Therefore, parents can only impress the words of the LORD upon the hearts of their children if they follow this command of Moses: “Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:7).

In this way, the greatest teachings of Moses were preserved from generation to generation. Not by building pyramids to preserve the dead. But by teaching children the living words of the LORD.

By teaching children: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5).

By teaching children: “[L]ove your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).

By teaching children to pray this Prayer of Moses:

Teach us to number our days aright,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom. . . . .

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,

that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. . . . .

May the favor of the LORD our God rest upon us;

establish the work of our hands for us—

yes, establish the work of our hands.

             (Psalm 90:12,14,17)

One of those children was Jesus.

For example, when asked what was the greatest commandment, Jesus quoted Moses: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37, quoting Deuteronomy 6:5).

Jesus also quoted Moses for the second greatest commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39, quoting Leviticus 19:18).

And, when faced with three great temptations after forty days of fasting in the desert, Jesus overcame the tempter each time by quoting from Moses’ farewell addresses to Israel.

Jesus defeated the temptation to turn stones into bread by answering: Humans do “not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4 quoting Deuteronomy 8:3).

Jesus defeated the temptation to throw himself down from the temple by answering: “Do not put the LORD your God to the test” (Matthew 4:7 quoting Deuteronomy 6:16).

And, Jesus defeated the temptation to worship Satan by answering: “Worship the LORD your God, and serve him only” (Matthew 4:10 quoting Deuteronomy 6:13).

By learning such teachings of Moses, Jesus gained a heart of wisdom. And by following such teachings of Moses, Jesus established the work of the hands of Moses.

And so, when Moses climbed to the top of a mountain to see the whole Promised Land and to die, it was the worst of endings and it was the best of endings.

Moses did not live to enter the Promised Land. But at least Moses did not die in the desert. Moses lived until he saw the whole Promised Land.

We know Moses was disappointed that he did not enter the Promised Land. Indeed, Moses “pleaded with the LORD: ‘. . . . Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon’” (Deuteronomy 3:23-25).

The LORD refused Moses’ pleas. “‘That is enough,’ the LORD said. ‘Do not speak to me any more about this matter.’” (Deuteronomy 3:26).

Nevertheless, the LORD was willing to let Moses see the Promised Land. He told Moses to go to the top of a mountain so he could see the whole Promised Land. (Deuteronomy 3:27; 34:1-4).

When Moses saw how large the Promised Land is, I hope his wisdom overcame his disappointment. The Promised Land—the countless stars of blessings from the works of our hands—is always far too large for any of us, including Moses, to conquer before we die.

The LORD was wise to let Joshua be the one who could take credit for entering the Promised Land. Because Joshua would need all the prestige he could muster to encourage the Israelites and to intimidate their foes.

If Moses had ever seen a baseball game, he would have known it was time for the starting pitcher (Moses) to go to the showers so that the relief pitcher (Joshua) could win the game.

We all need to learn such wisdom. Because the truth is that none of us finishes everything we’d like to finish. There is always a need for a “relief pitcher” to finish what we started—to establish the work of our hands.

That is one reason why we can never establish the work of our hands in all its vast array. Instead, we must rely on the LORD to establish the work of our hands in God’s good time and in God’s good way.

I hope that Moses also had the wisdom to know it was best that no one knew where his grave was. That way he would be remembered by a monument of living teachings—not by a monument of dead stone.

And so the LORD “buried him in Moab, . . . but to this day no one knows where his grave is” (Deuteronomy 34:6).

Moses may have found it especially hard to accept this.

The Egyptians believed in establishing the work of their hands by building massive pyramids of stone to preserve their dead bodies. But as Moses rested for his Sabbath Death, he had to depend on the LORD to establish the work of his hands by preserving the words of the LORD in the hearts of people generation after generation.

And so do we!

Before we rest for our Sabbath Death, we can only show love to one generation because our mortal lives “quickly pass, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10).

Fortunately, the LORD is from “everlasting to everlasting” (Psalm 90:2).

“[A] thousand years in his sight are like a day that has just gone by” (Psalm 90:4).

Therefore, the LORD can establish the work of our hands in all its vast array  by “showing love to a thousand generations of those who love [him] and keep [his] commandments” (Exodus 20:6).

The work of our hands—like the work of the hands of Moses in all its vast array—can only be established by such pyramids of thousands of generations who live the way Moses taught us to live:

”Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5) and “love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).

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To read more about my Visions of the Sabbath, please read my blogs “Sabbath Creation”, “Sabbath Week”, “Sabbath Seasons”, “Sabbath Experiences”, “Sabbath Years”, and “Sabbath Jubilees”.

To read more about the Sabbath Death of Moses, please read the chapter “The Plains of Moab” and the related endnotes in my book The Promised Land, at pages 115-120, 220-222.

In my undergraduate course in The Pentateuch taught by  Dr. Carl Schultz, he used this illustration of a “starting pitcher” and a “relief pitcher” to help explain why Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land.