Deuteronomy 32:49

Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(49) Get thee up into this mountain Abarim.—See Numbers 27:12. The same command was given there, and was answered by Moses with the prayer for a successor, which was granted. All that is narrated between that passage and this may be considered as preliminary to Moses’ departure.

Mount Nebo.—The particular peak of the “Abarim” (“mountains beyond Jordan,” or “passages of Jordan”), where Moses was to die, was not mentioned before. “The rugged summit of mount Nebo rises abruptly 4,000 feet above the plain (where the Israelites were encamped), and still retains its name, with unchanged meaning, in the Arabic Neba, or height” (Couder’s Bible Handbook, p. 254).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

32:48-52 Now Moses had done his work, why should he desire to live a day longer? God reminds him of the sin of which he had been guilty, for which he was kept from entering Canaan. It is good for the best of men to die repenting the infirmities of which they are conscious. But those may die with comfort and ease, whenever God calls for them, notwithstanding the sins they remember against themselves, who have a believing prospect, and a well-grounded hope of eternal life beyond death.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

These verses were, no doubt, added by the author of the supplement to Deuteronomy. For the statements contained in them, consult the marginal references.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

48-51. Get thee up … and die … Because ye trespassed … at Meribah—(See on [169]Nu 20:13).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Nebo was a ridge or top of the mountains of Abarim. See Poole "Numbers 27:12"; See Poole "Deu 3:27".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Get thee up into this mountain Abarim,.... Which was near in sight, and pointed at; it was a range of mountains, of which see Numbers 21:11,

unto Mount Nebo; which was one of the mountains of Abarim, and had its name either from its height, or a city of this name, to which it was near, see Numbers 32:38; Jerom says (b), in his lays it was shown six miles from Heshbon to the east; it should be read, to the west:

which is in the land of Moab; it formerly belonged to it, but was taken from he Moabites by Sihon, and now possessed by Israel:

that is over against Jericho; which lay on the other side of Jordan, in the land of Canaan:

and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession; which he might take a view of from the high mountain of Nebo, especially his sight being strengthened by the Lord, as no doubt it was; and this would give him a pleasure to behold, though he might not go into it, and confirm his faith that Israel would possess it, as well as be an emblem to him of the heavenly Canaan he was going to inherit.

(b) De loc. Heb. fol. 93. N.

Geneva Study Bible

Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

49. Abarim] Lit. the men or regions beyond or over there. Only in P, Jeremiah 22:20 R.V., and Ezekiel 39:11 (where read Abarîm). The name is proof that the people who used it were settled W. of Jordan and looked across the valley of that river and the Dead Sea, to the E. range beyond. See the present writer’s ‘Abarîm’ in E. B., HGHL 53, 548, 553, and Mod. Criticism, etc., 18 f.

unto mount Nebo … Jericho] Not in Numbers 27:12-14, unsuitable in the mouth of the Deity, and obviously a geographical note like those in chs. 2 f. Nebo is P’s name for E’s and D’s Pisgah. See on Deuteronomy 3:17, Deuteronomy 34:1.

I] The shorter form of the Heb. pronoun as always in P, while in Deut. the longer is used, for exceptions see on Deuteronomy 12:30.

children of Israel] So throughout the passage; not as in D all Israel.

for a possession] Not the deuter. yerushah or naḥalah (inheritance), Deuteronomy 4:21, etc., but ’ahuzzah as elsewhere in P, e.g. Leviticus 14:34. The term is exactly equal to the Fr. law-term ‘saisine,’ the Eng. ‘seisin’ or ‘seizin,’ the act of taking corporal possession or the legal equivalent of this.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 49. - Abarim (cf. Numbers 21:10, 20). Nebo (cf. Numbers 32:3, 38). An idol Nebo was worshipped by the Moabites (Isaiah 46:1). Deuteronomy 32:49

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"That self-same day," viz., the day upon which Moses had rehearsed the song to the children of Israel, the Lord renewed the announcement of his death, by repeating the command already given to him (Numbers 27:12-14) to ascend Mount Nebo, there to survey the land of Canaan, and then to be gathered unto his people. In form, this repetition differs from the previous announcement, partly in the fact that the situation of Mount Nebo is more fully described (in the land of Moab, etc., as in Deuteronomy 1:5; Deuteronomy 29:1), and partly in the continual use of the imperative, and a few other trifling points. These differences may all be explained from the fact that the account here was not written by Moses himself.