MICHAEL’S ENCOUNTER WITH SATAN:
Moses Was Resurrected!
MICHAEL’S ENCOUNTER WITH SATAN:
MOSES WAS RESURRECTED!
JAN LILLEBY
In this article I have clipped in two articles
from the web to give opinions
on Michael’s encounter with Satan in regard
to Moses having died.
CLIPPED IN FROM: Biblicalhermeneutics.stackexchange.com website.
(On the incident in Jude verse 9, Satan and Michael in dispute over the dead body of Moses).
Origen claims that the Letter of Jude picked up the story of Michael and the devil arguing over the body of Moses from a Jewish text called the Ascension of Moses.
Origen, De Principiis 3.2.1
We have now to notice, agreeably to the statements of Scripture, how the opposing powers, or the devil himself, contends with the human race, inciting and instigating men to sin. And in the first place, in the book of Genesis, the serpent is described as having seduced Eve; regarding whom, in the work entitled The Ascension of Moses (a little treatise, of which the Apostle Jude makes mention in his Epistle), the archangel Michael, when disputing with the devil regarding the body of Moses, says that the serpent, being inspired by the devil, was the cause of Adam and Eve’s transgression.
References to this apocryphal story are found in early Christian literature.
The text we have which is titled the Ascension of Moses, however, does not contain this particular event. It may be that our text is missing the section containing the story of the dispute over Moses' body, or we may have misidentified which text we have.
Richard Bauckham, arguing that the various references to the story are independent of the Letter of Jude, attempts to reconstruct the story's key points (Word Biblical Commentary: Jude, 2 Peter, 65-76, bold is mine):
“Joshua accompanied Moses up Mount Nebo, where God showed Moses the land of promise. Moses then sent Joshua back to the people to inform them of Moses' death, and Moses died. God sent the archangel Michael to remove the body of Moses to another place and bury it there, but Samma'el, the devil, opposed him, disputing Moses' right to honorable burial. The text may also have said that he wished to take the body to the people for them to make it an object of worship. Michael and the devil therefore engaged in a dispute over the body. The devil brought against Moses a charge of murder, because he smote the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. But this accusation was no better than slander (βλασφημία) against Moses, and Michael not tolerating this slander, said to the devil, "May the Lord rebuke you, devil!" At that the devil took flight, and Michael removed the body to the place commanded by God, where he buried it with his own hands. Thus no one saw the burial of Moses.
The base form of the story seems influenced by Zechariah 3. Ruth Reese (2 Peter and Jude, 50) summarizes the analogies:
The scene in Zech 3:1-5 is a dispute in which Joshua the high priest is accused by Satan, and the angel of the Lord acts as God's emissary, while the Lord himself rebukes Satan using the words that will later appear in Jude, "the Lord rebuke you." Here we see both the angel as God's messenger or representative (the role that Michael has in the dispute in Jude), and we see Satan as the accuser, one who forms one side of the dispute. This is part of the role that the devil has in Jude 9.”
Another website, has the following to say in the matter, gotquestions.com,
“Jude verse 9 refers to an event which is found nowhere else in Scripture. Michael had to struggle or dispute with Satan about the body of Moses, but what that entailed is not described. Another angelic struggle is related by Daniel, who describes an angel coming to him in a vision. This angel, named Gabriel in Daniel 8:16 and 9:21, tells Daniel that he was “resisted” by a demon called “the prince of Persia” until the archangel Michael came to his assistance (Daniel 10:13). So we learn from Daniel that angels and demons fight spiritual battles over the souls of men and nations, and that the demons resist angels and try to prevent them from doing God’s bidding. Jude tells us that Michael was sent by God to deal in some way with the body of Moses, which God Himself had buried after Moses’ death (Deuteronomy 34:5-6).
Various theories have been put forth as to what this struggle over Moses’ body was about. One is that Satan, ever the accuser of God’s people (Revelation 12:10), may have resisted the raising of Moses to eternal life on the grounds of Moses’ sin at Meribah (Deuteronomy 32:51) and his murder of the Egyptian (Exodus 2:12).
Some have supposed that the reference in Jude is the same as the passage in Zechariah 3:1-2, “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the LORD said to Satan, ‘The LORD rebuke you, O Satan!’” But the objections to this being the same incident are obvious: (1) The only similarity between the two passages is the expression, “the Lord rebuke you.” (2) The name “Michael” does not occur at all in the passage in Zechariah. (3) There is no mention made of the “body of Moses” in Zechariah, and no allusion to it whatever.
It has also been supposed that Jude is quoting an apocryphal book that contained this account, and that Jude means to confirm that the account is true. Origen (c. 185–254), an early Christian scholar and theologian, mentions the book “The Assumption of Moses” as extant in his time, containing this very account of the contest between Michael and the devil about the body of Moses. That book, now lost, was a Jewish Greek book, and Origen supposed that this was the source of the account in Jude.
The only material question, then, is whether the story is “true.” Whatever the origin of the account, Jude does in fact seem to refer to the contest between Michael and the devil as true. He speaks of it in the same way in which he would have done if he had spoken of the death of Moses or of his smiting the rock. And who can prove that it is not true? What evidence is there that it is not? There are many allusions in the Bible to angels. We know that the archangel Michael is real; there is frequent mention of the devil; and there are numerous affirmations that both bad and good angels are employed in important transactions on the earth. As the nature of this particular dispute over Moses’ body is wholly unknown, conjecture is useless. We do not know whether there was an argument over possession of the body, burial of the body, or anything else.
These two things we do know, however: first, Scripture is inerrant. The inerrancy of Scripture is one of the pillars of the Christian faith. As Christians, our goal is to approach Scripture reverently and prayerfully, and when we find something we do not understand, we pray harder, study more, and—if the answer still eludes us—humbly acknowledge our own limitations in the face of the perfect Word of God.
Second, Jude 9 is the supreme illustration of how Christians are to deal with Satan and demons. The example of Michael refusing to pronounce a curse upon Satan should be a lesson to Christians in how to relate to demonic forces. Believers are not to address them, but rather to seek the Lord’s intervening power against them. If as powerful a being as Michael deferred to the Lord in dealing with Satan, who are we to attempt to reproach, cast out, or command demons in our own strength?”
THE EDITOR’S OPINION IN THIS MATTER
Finally I shall offer my opinion in this matter, as the editor…yours truly, hoping at least that it will show that the fact is that Moses is alive today! And he shall come down back from heaven together with Elijah. There is precedence of the two ministering together, as they met with Jesus on Mt. Tabor, Mat. 17:1-4, NASB,
“1 Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.
2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.
3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.
4 Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
It is evident that the three disciples Peter, James and John understood this encounter as one very real physical visit of the two known prophets in OT. This was so real to them that Peter offered to build three tabernacles, one for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah. Thus we can safely conclude that the two prophets are alive. It is also much possible that it was Jesus Himself Who told the disciples who these two men were. We find nothing in the texts that implies the two presented themselves. I am sure that the disciples could in no way recognize the two, since accurate photography did not exist in their time. Jesus must have been the one who named the two…thus we know that His telling is entirely correct. There are some Bible expositors that hold that both Moses as well as Elijah is R.I.P. – dead. But they couldn’t be more wrong. Peter understood that the two prophets were real, and actually alive, thus his suggestion to build a tabernacle for Jesus, Elijah and Moses. IMAGE: Mt. Tabor, Israel.
I am convinced that these are the future ‘Two Witnesses’ described in Rev. 11.
Luke also gives us a testimony of the two, as real physical men – Luke 9:28-31, NASB,
“28 Some eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
29 And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.
30 And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah,
31 who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.”
In the two different articles I clipped from the internet, one from biblicalhermeneuticts.stackexchange.com and one from gotquestions.com, we find that the first proposed that the arch angle Michael – after having argued with the devil over Moses’ body – took his body and buried him at an unknown place in the desert. And the other site tells of God Himself as the one who buried Moses after first Michael made Satan depart from the place, as quoted from Deut. 34:5, 6.
This leaves room for the correct understanding of the incident: Michael was present the same moment that God resurrected Moses from the dead, and in that instance it was that he got into argument with Satan who did not want to have Moses taken up into heaven by God!
Remember: Moses met Jesus at Mt. Tabor not long before Jesus went to Jerusalem for the crucifixion…Luke wrote that Moses told Jesus how it would be when He should suffer death on the cross. Luke 9:31.
THE PROPHETIC SIDE OF THE INCIDENT WITH MOSES RAISED
There can be not much doubt that the death, burial and resurrection of Moses, really works as a prophetic image of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
They both had angels present, right before their deaths, as well as when they were raised from the dead. In Moses’ case, it was the great powerful arch angel Michael, and in Jesus’ narrative shown in all four gospels, we find angels supporting Him before and after his death at the cross. One was comforting Jesus when He was taken with anxiety in Gethsemane garden, two angels met with the women as they came to the empty tomb Sunday morning, and two angels appeared to the disciples at the ascension of Jesus.
Moses prophesied that Jesus – the Messiah – He would be a man ‘like myself’ whom God would raise up from among Israel’s people when He arrived. Deut.18:17-19, NASB,
“17 "The LORD said to me, 'They have spoken well.
18 'I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
19 'It shall come about that whoever * will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.”
Peter referred to this same passage in his second speech, Acts 3:22, 23, NASB,
“22 "Moses said, 'THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you.
23 'And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.'”
That is why Moses went through both death as well as a resurrection…he was literally one who would precede Jesus as a prophetic ‘model’ to die and then get resurrected by God.
I hope this little study may have given some light over that special incident. Thus the fact is indisputable: Both Moses and Elijah are alive, and they probably reside up in the heavens.
Gracepano.com
