The death of Moses is easy, but I have to admit that his subsequent history is not. Let me give you the things that are established in scripture with a few comments.
- Moses died in the land of Moab before the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River to go in to possess the land.
Deuteronomy 34:5 - So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.
-
Moses was buried by the Lord and the place of his burial was kept secret from all men. As you can see, the Bible is very clear that Moses was buried.
Deuteronomy 34:6 - And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.
- After his death of Moses, his body became the focus of a battle between Michael the archangel and the devil. Though we are not told when this occurred, it is probably at the time of his burial. I say this because of the verse above that points out that no man knew where he was buried. Something was going on for God to bury him (which is unusual in itself) and for God to keep the place of his burial secret. I have often heard his hidden burial explained as needed so that the Israelites would not worship his burial place. But then why were the burial places of Abraham and David not hidden? They have been revered as much as Moses. I think it had something to do with the fight over the body of Moses.
Jude 1:9 - Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
- At some point, Moses must have been resurrected and taken to heaven. I believe this because of his appearance with Elijah and Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. It would be strange to have Elijah who was taken up to heaven with Moses who was still dead appearing together with Christ. Since we know Moses died and was buried, his appearance here points to a resurrection, though no scripture directly speaks of his resurrection.
Matthew 17:2-3 - And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
- Though his name is not used, it is likely that Moses is one of the two witnesses in the tribulation as found in Zechariah 4 and Revelation 11. The miracles they perform match the miracles of Moses and Elijah. For instance, they will turn water into blood and smite the earth with plagues (Revelation 11:6), obvious specialties of Moses. And, since these two men have already appeared to Jesus (as shown above), they seem to have some sort of work they do together. Moses and Elijah are also mentioned together in reference to the end times in the last three verses of the Old Testament (Malachi 4:4-6). There are other reasons for believing these two men will be the two witnesses, but I will stop here.
Revelation 11:3-4 - And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Of course, this still leaves some of the details unexplained. But that is often the nature of God's word. He tells us what we need to know and we will have to wait for the rest.
