The Sages asked how, although Moses wrote the whole Torah, he could have written the final 8 verses after his death (Bava Batra 15a), and R’ Avraham David of Buczacz (18th century) resolved this problem by saying that the final verses of Deuteronomy we can read now were constructed mystically from the same letters that Moses used to finish his version of the book. This is my imagined version of the story Moses might have told, had he lived beyond verse 4.
I suggest reading and absorbing this whole passage before studying the footnotes; this passage offers layered meanings, so might be worth ‘chewing on’ as R. Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (z”l) used to say. It is an intimate exchange between God and Moses, with many emotions—both felt and guessed at—on and under the surface: shock, numbness, sorrow, suffering, anger, compassion, yearning, joy, love (including even an erotic dimension), acceptance. Physical transition of borders, death as a transition, and spiritual transformation are all present; standing (by implication, at the beginning), sitting, lying, and arising; movement between speech, different kinds of silence, song (literal and metaphorical); ordinary consciousness, sleep, dream state, heightened spiritual awareness; literal meaning, metaphor, allusion and the mystical interact. There are ambiguities of language. When Moses lies down, is it to rest, or to die? When God says ‘time of hazamir has come’, does He mean pruning (i.e. for Moses to die) or singing? And all four kabbalistic worlds—physical, emotional, mental and spiritual—make their presence felt in this story.
The story
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֵלָיו זֹאת הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי לְאַבְרָהָם לְיִצְחָק וּֽלְיַעֲקֹב לֵאמֹר לְזַרְעֲךָ אֶתְּנֶנָּה הֶרְאִיתִיךָ בְעֵינֶיךָ וְשָׁמָּה לֹא תַעֲבֹר׃ וַיִּדֹּם מֹשֶׁה׃ וַיֵּשֶׁב אִתּוֹ לָאָרֶץ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים וְשִׁבְעַת לֵילוֹת ויְהֹוָה־דֹּבֵר אֵלָיו דָּבָר כִּי יַּרְא כִּי־גָדַל הַכְּאֵב מְאֹד׃ וַיְחַל מֹשֶׁה אֶת־פְּנֵי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהָיו וַיֹּאמֶר לָמָה יְהֹוָה יֶחֱרֶה אַפְּךָ בְּל֔וֹ׃ כִּי יָדַעְתִּי כִּי אַתָּה אֵל־חַנּ֣וּן וְרַחוּם אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב־חֶסֶד וְנִחָם עַל־הָרָעָה׃ וַיִּדֹּם יְהֹוָה׃ וַיִּשְׁכַּב מֹשֶׁה בַּמָּקוֹם הַהוּא׃ וַיֹּאמֶר נִכְסְפָה וְגַם־כָּֽלְתָה נַפְשִׁי לְחַצְר֢וֹת יְהֹוָה לִבִּי וּבְשָׂרִי יְרַנְּנוּ אֶל אֵל־חָי׃ אֲבַקְשָׁה אֵת שֶֽׁאָהֲבָה נַפְשִׁי׃ יִשָּׁקֵנִי מִנְּשִׁיקוֹת פִּיהוּ׃ וְתַרְדֵּמָה נָפְלָה עַל־מֹשֶׁה עַל־פִּ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃ וַיַּחֲלֹם וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים אֶל־מֹשֶׁה קוּמִי לָךְ רַעְיָתִי יָפָתִי וּלְכִי־לָךְ כִּי־הִנֵּה עֵת הַזָּמִיר הִגִּיעַ׃ אָז יָשִׁיר־מֹשֶׁה אֶת־הַשִּׁירָה הַזֹּאת לַֽיהֹוָה הִנֵּנִי׃
(Deut. 34:4) And Yhvh said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ‘I will assign it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you shall not cross there.”[1] And Moses was silent.[2]
(5) And God sat with him for seven days and seven nights. God spoke not a word to him, for He saw how great was his suffering. [3]
(6) And Moses pleaded before the face of Yhvh his God, saying, “Let not Your anger, O Yhvh, blaze forth against me.[4]
(7) For I know You are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in kindness, renouncing punishment.”[5] And God was silent.[6]
(8) And Moses lay down in that place[7]; and he said, “My soul longs, yearns for the courts of Yhvh; my body and heart sing to the living Yah.[8] I must seek the one whom my soul loves;[9]
(9) O give me the kisses of Your mouth!”[10] And with a kiss from Yhvh,[11] a deep sleep fell upon him.[12]
(10) And he had a dream:[13] God[14] said to Moses: “Arise my love, my fair one, and come away! For lo![15] the time of singing has come.”[16]
(11) Then Moses sang this song to Yhvh: ‘Here I am!’[17]
Footnotes
[1] Deut. 34:4. These are the original words for this verse, and give a one sentence summary of the covenant; the covenant will continue many, many centuries beyond the life of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses.
[2] Lev. 10:3. Vayidom Aharon—When God took the lives of Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu, Aaron was silent. It is impossible to know what was going through Aaron’s heart and mind at that moment; the verb has the sense of time (and Aaron’s heart?) stopping, and the world standing still. Moses knows he is destined to die without entering the Promised Land; God has already told him a long time back, and Moses has even told everyone else. But it’s still hard to hear again. Perhaps Moses was hoping for a last minute change of mind from God? It’s not just death that’s coming, but also the shattering of a dream. Perhaps Moses saw settling in the Promised Land as the fulfilment of his life’s journey?
[3] Job 2:13. Job’s comforters sat shiva, the seven days of mourning, when they first heard of Job’s bereavements.
[4] Ex. 32:11. Moses spoke these words originally in a spontaneous cry for God to spare the Israelites for their terrible sin of creating and worshipping the Golden Calf.
[5] Jonah 4:2. When God withdrew the ‘death sentence’ from the people of Nineveh, Jonah echoed the words God taught Moses to use when invoking God’s forgiveness and compassion (Ex. 34:6-7).
[6] Lev. 10:3. Silence has many meanings.
[7] Gen. 28:11. Vayishkav bamakom hahu. When Jacob had his first encounter with God, he lay down and dreamed of a ladder with angels ascending and descending between earth and heaven, and God described the covenant with Jacob and his descendants. At this point in his life, Moses, on earth, is barely separated from heaven. Note that hamakom is also a mystical name for God, so we can also read this as Moses lay down ‘within God’.
[8] Ps. 84:3. Note that the phrase ‘for joy’ (y’ran’nu) after the word ‘sings’ has been omitted here.
[9] Songs 3:2.
[10] Songs 1:2.
[11] Deut. 34:5. Al pi Yhvh. Lit. ‘by the mouth of God’, usually translated as Moses dying ‘at the command of God’. The Sages taught that, as a unique act of kindness and intimacy, God took Moses’ life with a gentle kiss (Bava Batra 17a).
[12] Gen. 15:12. God induced Abraham’s deep sleep, prior describing the covenant with Abraham and his descendants.
[13] Gen. 28:12. Jacob dreamed after he lay down.
[14] Elohim is the God-name of judgement, and we say ‘Bless the True Judge’ when someone dies.
[15] The word hinei always signals a moment of heightened spiritual significance.
[16] Songs 2:10, 12. The time of singing-zamir, can also be translated as ‘time of pruning’, i.e. cutting back to make room for new growth.
[17] Many key figures in the Bible say hineni ‘here I am!’ when called to make a significant commitment to God, and to embark on a new stage of their spiritual journey. It is the very first word Moses says to God. Does Moses die in this version or not? The reader can decide. Whatever happens next, it will truly be a great adventure. Had Moses entered the Promised Land, might he have made the mistake of thinking he had ‘arrived’ and that his work was done? The soul’s journey never stops; there are infinite levels through which we can evolve spiritually.