Contemplative Bible Reading

Deuteronomy 34:5-8 (New International Version)

⁵ And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. ⁶ He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. ⁷ Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. ⁸ The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.

Moses died when he was 120. He had led the people through 40 years of desert wandering. He was 80 when he went to Egypt and fought a battle of wills with Pharaoh. This was at a time when God promised man 70 years of life on earth.

Many Americans today live to be 80. Most of these 80-year-old Americans don’t battle it out with a world leader and then lead a few million people through a desert until they are 120.

Nope, not bad for an old guy.