Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 241 · August 29
The Unmarked Grave
“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.”
The last thing Moses saw was the whole country. From the top of Pisgah the LORD showed it to him piece by piece, and then He said: "I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither." Moses died there in the land of Moab, and today's verse tells what happened next: "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." Down on the plains, a nation wept thirty days for a man whose grave none of them could visit.
He was not worn out at the end, because "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." He was stopped, and the reason is given plainly, from years before at the water in the wilderness: "Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel."
Lord, we would like our graves marked. We want to know where the people we love are lying, so that we can go and stand there. This chapter gives us a hidden grave, and it says You buried him Yourself, the man You knew face to face. We are not asking You to explain it, only for the honesty to tell You that we find it hard.
Two later passages come near this grave. Jude mentions that the archangel Michael "disputed about the body of Moses," and he does not tell us what the dispute was about. Then, a long time afterward, on another mountain with Jesus, "there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him." Lord, the man who never crossed the river was standing in the promised land after all, talking with Your Son. We do not understand all of it, but we can see that You did not lose him.
Maybe there is a grave you cannot visit, or a work you were stopped short of. You are welcome to tell God so honestly, the way Israel wept on those plains. After thirty days they went into the land without Moses, and God went with them. The God who buried Moses knows exactly where your loss is lying, and He has not forgotten anyone He has laid to rest.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 241 is Names Written in Heaven (Luke 10:20).