Numbers 27:13

And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) Gathered unto thy people.—See Genesis 25:8, and Note. In the case of Moses, as in that of Abraham, the expression cannot be understood in reference to the place of his burial.

Benson Commentary

Numbers 27:13. Thou shalt be gathered unto thy people — Moses must die; but death does not cut him off; it only gathers him to his people, brings him to rest with the holy patriarchs that were gone before him. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were his people, the people of his choice, and to them death gathered him.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

27:12-14 Moses must die, but he shall have the satisfaction of seeing the land of promise. This sight of Canaan signified his believing prospect of the better country, that is, the heavenly. Moses must die, but death does not cut him off; it only brings him to rest with the holy patriarchs. It is but to die as they died, having lived as they lived; and as their end was peace, why should we fear any evil in the passage of that dark valley?

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Mount Abarim - See Numbers 21:20 note.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Nu 27:12-17. Moses Being Told of His Approaching Death, Asks for a Successor.

12. The Lord said unto Moses, Get thee up into this mount Abarim, and see the land—Although the Israelites were now on the confines of the promised land, Moses was not privileged to cross the Jordan, but died on one of the Moabitic range of mountains, to which the general name of Abarim was given (Nu 33:47). The privation of this great honor was owing to the unhappy conduct he had manifested in the striking of the rock at Meribah [Nu 20:12]; and while the pious leader submitted with meek acquiescence to the divine decree, he evinced the spirit of genuine patriotism in his fervent prayers for the appointment of a worthy and competent successor [Nu 27:15-17].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Gathered unto thy people; of which phrase see Genesis 15:15 25:8.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And when thou hast seen it,.... Which was all he was admitted to; for to go into it and see it was not allowed him, though he importuned it, Deuteronomy 3:25,

thou shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered; die as he did, in the same sudden, easy, quiet, and cheerful manner; see Numbers 20:26.

Geneva Study Bible

And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. as Aaron thy brother] See Numbers 20:23-29 (P ).

Numbers 27:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Death of Moses Foretold. - After these instructions concerning the division of the land, the Lord announced to Moses his approaching end. From the mountains of Abarim he was to see the land which the Israelites would receive, and then like Aaron to be gathered to his people, because like him he also had sinned at the water of strife at Kadesh. This announcement was made, "that he might go forward to his death with the fullest consciousness, and might set his house in order, that is to say, might finish as much as he could while still alive, and provide as much as possible what would make up after his death for the absence of his own person, upon which the whole house of Israel was now so dependent" (Baumgarten). The fulfilment of this announcement is described in Deuteronomy 32:48-52. The particular spot upon the mountains of Abarim from which Moses saw the land of Canaan, is also minutely described there. It was Mount Nebo, upon which he also died. The mountains of Abarim (cf. Numbers 33:47) are the mountain range forming the Moabitish table-land, which slope off into the steppes of Moab. It is upon this range, the northern portion of which opposite to Jericho bore the name of Pisgah, that we are to look for Mount Nebo, which is sometimes described as one of the mountains of Abarim (Deuteronomy 32:49), and at other times as the top of Pisgah (Deuteronomy 3:27; Deuteronomy 34:1; see at Numbers 21:20). Nebo is not to be identified with Jebel Attarus, but to be sought for much farther to the north, since, according to Eusebius (s. v. Ἀβαρείμ), it was opposite to Jericho, between Livias, which was in the valley of the Jordan nearly opposite to Jericho, and Heshbon; consequently very near to the point which is marked as the "Heights of Nebo" on Van de Velde's map. The prospect from the heights of Nebo must have been a very extensive one. According to Burckhardt (Syr. ii. pp. 106-7), "even the city of Heshbon (Hhuzban) itself stood upon so commanding an eminence, that the view extended at least thirty English miles in all directions, and towards the south probably as far as sixty miles." On the expression, "gathered unto thy people," see at Genesis 25:8, and on Aaron's death see Numbers 20:28. מריתם כּאשׁר: "as ye transgressed My commandment." By the double use of כּאשׁר (quomodo, "as"), the death of Aaron, and also that of Moses, are placed in a definite relation to the sin of these two heads of Israel. As they both sinned at Kadesh against the commandment of the Lord, so they were both of them to die without entering the land of Canaan. On the sin, see at Numbers 20:12-13, and on the desert of Zin, at Numbers 13:21.