Teaching Team
eRosh Blog: The Birth and Death of Moses
The seventh of Adar is a special date in the history of Judaism. According to tradition it was on this date that Moses was both born and died. Note the following scriptures on these two events:
Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. (Exodus 2:1-2, ESV)
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 one knows the place of his burial to this day. (Deuteronomy 34:5-6, ESV)
According to tradition Moses was born the 7th of Adar 2368 (1393 BCE) and passed away at the age of 120 on the 7th of Adar 2488 (1273 BCE). The Talmud says in b.Sotah 12b,
“It is quite right according to him who said that it was the sixth of Sivan, for then it occurred three months [after his birth]; for a master has said: Moses died on the seventh of Adar and was born on the seventh of Adar, and from the seventh of Adar to the sixth of Sivan is three months.”
Note also the comments of Rashi, the medieval commentator of Scripture, to Exodus 16:35 in which he draws his comments from the Talmud in b.Kiddushin 38a:
“Rather, [it means that] in the plains of Moab, when Moses died on the seventh of Adar, the manna stopped coming down. They supplied themselves with the manna that they had gathered on that day until they sacrificed the omer on the sixteenth of Nissan, as it is said: “And they ate of the grain of the land on the morrow of the Passover” (Josh. 5:11). — [from Kid. 38a].” (Judaica Press ed.)
Get your free printable PDF calendar page via email before each Rosh Chodesh! Join Myffoz now. It’s free.
Our monthly eRosh includes a fresh Torah teaching, current events, and important dates in bible history. Plus there’s fun study activities for Torah Kids and Torah Teens. Join Myffoz.org for this and other free teaching resources. Myffoz membership is like a free key that opens the online door to an ever-growing treasure vault of email resources, keyword-searchable bible study helps and articles. Click here to join now. It’s free, quick and easy.
(Credit: Brian R. Volunteer/ Researcher)
Search in Blogs...
Browse through Blogs
Feeds
Use this RSS feed to track our blogs in your favorite reader.
The FFOZ Blogs RSS Feed
Blogs by Category
- Back Office
- Events and Administration
- Founder’s Blog
- Guest Authors
- Lessons from the Land
- Levertoff Documentary
- Mishlei Musings
- Publications
- Road Trip 09
- Shalom Tour
- Teaching Team
- The Siddur Project
- Torah Club
- Video Blogs
- Site Info Blog
Blogs by Author
- Aaron Eby
- Boaz Michael
- D. Thomas Lancaster
- FFOZ Staff
- Guest Authors
- Media Staff
- Hope Egan
- Seth Dralle
- Toby Janicki
More Recent Posts
- Remembrance and Repentance
- Passover and the Death of James the Just
- Hosting Your First Passover Seder
- Devil's Children
- Vacation Time
- Visit Israel with FFOZ
- A KISS from me to you
- Eating biblically? Let's chew the fat.
- Kosher Sunday School
- Messer and the Messianic Mess
Visitor Feedback:
An Adar 7 connected tradition in Judaism is the practice of Chevra Kadisha (burial societies) to hold an annual formal banquet and study session on the anniversary of the day that G-d Himself buried Moses. Our little community burial society held a less formal pot-luck and training tonight. For more information on why followers of Yeshua might wish to consider the chevra kadisha model, feel free to visit this article on the topic: http://www.bethimmanuel.org/article.cgi?t=a1&a=6001
Tami | February 13, 2008 9:23 PM
Can anyone give me a breakdown of the mountain range/mountain--Avarim, Pisgah, and Nebo. All three are used in Scripture and I am wondering since I'll be there in a few weeks...
The Tour information says Mt.Nebo is where Moses died and was buried by God.
Danuta Lesko | February 15, 2008 6:44 AM
The answer in short to Danuta Lesko's question is that Abarim refers to the broken heights above the northeastern side of the Dead Sea. Pisgah and Mount Nebo refer to two specific heights on one outstanding ridge which is defined by two drainage systems: the canyons of Wadi Uyun Musa on the north and Wadi el Afrit on the south.
The biblical references to the Abarim mountains place them in northwest Moab, north of the Arnon Canyon, specifically the broken heights along the Rift Vally and above the northeast side of the Dead Sea. The term seems to derive from the Hebrew word, 'ever, 'region across or beyond' the Jordan or the Rift. If that is true, the term is used by those who live in the Hill Country of Judah and look eastward across the Rift and see what appears to be the long, high range on the eastern side of the Dead Sea. They are calling this range "the mountains beyond." On a clear day, we can still look across the Rift from heights in the Hill Country of Judah and see this long, bold face of mountain. From the west it looks like an uplifted range of mountains, but in reality it is the western edge of the Transjordanian plateau, standing above the eastern fault of the Rift Valley. The plateau rises gently from the Arabian desert toward the west and then descends slightly to the scarp that drops into the Rift. The Abarim mountains are the eroded heights above this scarp.
Mount Nebo and Pisgah present a familiar problem to historical-geographers: how do you place an historical name on the living land? The biblical texts regarding Mount Nebo and Pisgah are specific enough to guide us to a general location. Both names belong in the Abarim mountains (Numbers 27:12; 33:47; Deuteronomy 32:49). Both names should be near the north end of the Dead Sea as they are "opposite Jericho" (Deuteronomy 32:49 [Nebo]; 34:1 [Pisgah]). Both names should appear on the same spur of land or on the same eroded ridge: Deuteronomy 34:1 identifies Mount Nebo as the top of Pisgah. The common use of "the slopes of Pisgah" to define the Arabah suggests that Pisgah stands closer to the lower slopes of the eastern scarp or protrudes above these lower slopes (Deuteronomy 3:17; 4:49; Joshua 12:3; 13:20).
Historical-geographers also look for remnants of the ancient names in the modern names used by the locals, and they depend on information from archaeological work to match settlement patterns or to provide corroborative evidence to their identifications. E. Robinson and E. Smith, who did much ground-breaking work in placing historical names on the land (c. 1840), discovered the name Nebo associated with a ridge just northeast of the Dead Sea defined by the canyons of Wadi Uyun Musa on the north and Wadi el Afrit on the south. The ridge has three distinct heights along it, and local Bedouin call the ridge both Jebel (Mount) Nebo and Jebel Musa, in memory of Moses. Although archaeology cannot confirm this ridge as the one bearing two heights called Pisgah and Nebo, excavations at the westernmost height have uncovered Byzantine remains which suggest that this was a holy site from the fourth-seventh centuries remembering Moses' death on Mount Nebo.
Steve Lancaster | February 17, 2008 3:34 PM
Thank you! For this thorough and very helpful information! I will study it and apply it as I visit.
What emotions Moses must have experienced as he viewed the Promised Land--knowing that he would not set foot there!
One more thought...is there a "messianic perspective" on the 2 witnesses in Revelation. I've heard many suggest that because of Moses' presence at Yeshua's "transfiguration" (alongside Elijah) He will one day walk the streets of Jerusalem as one of the 2 witnesses. Any thoughts?
**Toby's Response:** Thanks for the comments. I don't really have a perspective on this myself but in the future we plan to do some work at First Fruits of Zion on the book of Revelation. Stay tuned!
Danuta Lesko | February 20, 2008 2:56 PM