Scholarly Views on Who Wrote the Last Chapter of The Torah
Nowhere in the Hebrew Bible is there an explicit reference to the author of the final chapter of Torah which ended with the death of Mosheh. It seems unlikely that the Torah has remained silent concerning the identity of the one who has recorded the death of Mosheh. Although the Scripture never refers to the author of Deuteronomy 34 by name, the conclusion of the Torah with the death of Mosheh implies it in the Book of Joshua, 1 & Kings, and Daniel, and in some of the latest post-exilic books, such as Malachi, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles, and historical Hebrew literature, all of which refer to “the Torah of Mosheh”. But in the Hebrew Scripture (the Tanach), the phrase “the Torah of Mosheh” (תּוֹרַת מֹשֶׁה), Torat Mosheh, commonly translated as “the law of Moses”, appears 15 times. Interestingly, the phrase never appears in the Torah itself (Genesis through Deuteronomy). It is first introduced in the Biblical books after Mosheh’s death.
At first glance, the last chapter of the Torah, Deuteronomy 34, looks like a plain and easy to comprehend reading, but a closer examination shows that much of the text carries a hidden meaning. It is the object of this work to seek the answer to the question that is almost forced upon the studious reader: Who wrote the last chapter of the Torah? But as it will turn out in the course of this work, there are more than just one answer expressed in different views in the Classic Rabbinic literature. Thus, in the following, we would like to posit another way to look at the last Torah portion Ve’Zot HaBerachah, “And this is the blessing” (Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12). It all began with the five verses in the last chapter of the Torah, to which we now turn.
And Mosheh went up from the plains of Moav to mount Nevo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Yericho. And the Eternal showed him all the land, even Gilead as far as Dan …” (Deuteronomy 34:1) … So Mosheh the servant of the Eternal died there in the land of Moav, according to the word of the Eternal. (Deuteronomy 34:5)
There are clarifying questions to be asked here. The Rabbis have discussed them which all ask: Is it possible that Mosheh could write a verse saying: “the Eternal showed him all the land”? And the second one is like it: Is it possible that Mosheh died and wrote in third person “Mosheh, the servant of the Eternal, died there, and He buried him in the valley” describing his own death? All of this places the thinker in perplexity and demands explanation.
Up to this point (Deuteronomy 34:1) Mosheh wrote all that is said in Deuteronomy. As we studied the whole Torah, the Book of Genesis is a narrative from the creation to descending of the patriarch Ya’akov and his family to Egypt. The books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers are and the Word via a direct revelation by the Lord to His servant Mosheh. But the Book of Deuteronomy is all the work of Mosheh up to Deuteronomy 34:1.
So, who wrote these verses of Chapter 34? Mosheh or an unknown author? This will be further explained in the interpretation of the verses. But suffices for now is to say that regardless of which view of the classic commentators the reader will adopt, the principal reason the Lord showed Mosheh the Promised Land was to give him a glimpse of its goodness and what his people had to look forward to when they would start conquering it. He was aware of the tremendous love His servant had both for his people and for the Land. This sight of every part of the Land on the east and west was not an ecstatic vision, but a natural power of vision miraculously increased by the Creator, to give Mosheh a glimpse at least of the glorious land which he was not allowed to enter. This understanding of the verse is supported by specific details, too specific to be interpreted metaphorically: the boundaries of the land.
It is worth noting also that until Deuteronomy 34:5 Mosheh has not been described in the Torah as a “servant of the Eternal”; not until he died. During his lifetime he was described as, “the man of Elohim,” (Deuteronomy 33:1). But only now after he died is he referred to as “a servant of the Eternal”. For comparison, the patriarchs Avraham, Yitschak, and Ya’akov were not called “the holy ones” until after their deaths. The reason for all this is that as long as people live there is no guarantee that they will not give in to the temptation and sin in their life.
Mosheh is described as a “servant (Hebrew, eved) of the Eternal”. The Hebrew word eved is one who serves another. It is derived from the verbal root avad meaning “to serve as a servant”. Mosheh was, in the truest sense of the word, a servant of the Eternal. From his first encounter with Him at the burning bush until his death, he never walked away from Him. Never! Mosheh’s successor Yehoshua is also called “a servant of the Eternal”, but again not until after his death (Joshua 24:29). Only one other individual is called “a servant of the Eternal” in the Hebrew Scripture: David, as it is written “…A Psalm of David, the servant of YHVH…” in Psalm 18:1.
With that being said, one may ponder how it was possible that someone of the stature of Mosheh died after all, while Chanoch and Eliyahu (righteous men themselves) and in a different way Pinechas (who enjoyed tremendously long life for a human), three extraordinary men yet of lesser stature, did not? (Compare Genesis 5:24 and 2Kings 2:11) The possible answer is that even such a man as Mosheh, the faithful servant, whom the Eternal had known face to face (see Deuteronomy 34:10), and with whom He had spoken mouth to mouth (see Numbers 12:7-8), sinned (at the waters of strife), while Chanoch and Eliyahu had not been found guilty of committing sin at all. Therefore, if they did not sin, there was no reason for them to die, and there was a good reason to be preserved in heaven.
Yet, Mosheh had to die. After this favor had been granted him to see the Promised Land, the aged Mosheh (120) was to taste death. There on Mount Nevo, he died, according to the commandment of the Lord. But there is another interpretation of the phrase “according to the word of the Eternal” in Deuteronomy 34:5.
The words על פי al pi mean literally “upon the mouth”, “at the mouth” or “according to the mouth”. The tradition (Midrash) interprets them, however, as ”Mosheh the servant of the Eternal died by kiss [of the Eternal]”. The interpretation goes on to say that Mosheh’s soul ascended directly to the world of souls, not having to undergo any cleansing, as this will be required for any other soul.
And where it is said, “Mosheh went up from the plains of Moav to Mount Nevo”, the valley where the Lord buried Mosheh was probably “the valley in the field of Moav” mentioned in Numbers 21:20, near Mount Nevo. On his ascending the mountain, the eyes of the people followed him as far as they possibly could from each part of the camp. The eyes of the people could not only accompany him but could see that when the Lord had shown him the promised land, He went down with him into the valley, where Mosheh was taken for ever out of their sight. That was the last time the people saw Mosheh alive. Yet it is also true that there is no word in the text about the Lord having brought the body of Mosheh down from the mountain and buried it in the valley to indicate that he died in their sight. By the fact that the Lord buried Mosheh so that no man would know of his grave, he was to be distinguished in death as he was distinguished in life.
The burial of Moses by the mouth (kiss) of the Merciful One was not intended to conceal his grave, for the purpose of not allowing his grave to be turned into an idol, as the brass serpent which Mosheh made was turned into, nor a high place for worship and pilgrimage, but to place him in a category of its own, for this man Mosheh was unique.
And he was buried in the valley in the land of Moav over against Beth-peor. And no man knows of his grave to this day. (Deuteronomy 34:6)
The Torah begins with the Eternal clothing the naked Adam and Chavah and ends with Him burying His servant, Mosheh. We need to understand what is meant by “he was buried”. The plain reading of the text indicates that since no one else saw the actual burial, it is reasonable to interpret this phrase to mean that [Mosheh entered a cave in the valley which was assigned as a burial place] and the Eternal Himself buried him. Again, there is nothing unusual that it is said, “he was buried in the valley” [by the Eternal]. When the Torah speaks here about the Eternal burying Mosheh, this refers not only to the righteous man Mosheh, who exceeds in righteousness Avraham, Yitschak, and Ya’akov, but to all righteous, for we know this from Isaiah 58:8: “your righteousness walks before you and the glory of the Eternal will gather you in”. Mosheh lived 120 years and died on the 1st of the 12th month (the 1st of Adar, that is the 12th month), according to The Antiquities of the Jews, Book 4:8:49.
The careful reader should have noticed the unusual wording: “to this day”. What sense is there saying, “to this day” or “until today”? And seeing that this is spelled out in the Torah, what did it contribute to our questions? Why did the Torah provide this detailed piece of information? Let us concentrate on the words “to this day”. Since a verse never leaves its plain meaning, the reason the Torah added these words, although the passage would have been understood without it, was to teach us that the chapter and this verse in particular had been written later, after the event had occurred. This is stated simply to be understood simply. The Torah’s use of words is never incidental. Note this!
We read further,
And Mosheh was a hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. (Deuteronomy 34:7)
The phrase “His eye was not dim” is understood by Rabbeinu Bahya as a reference to the rays of light which the skin of Mosheh forehead emitted, a gift which he had brought with him from Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:29). And where it is said, “nor his natural force abated”, the Torah testifies that his body had not displayed any signs of aging until the day he died.
And the children of Israel wept for Mosheh in the plains of Moav thirty days, so the days of weeping in the mourning for Mosheh were ended. (Deuteronomy 34:8)
The people showed last respect for their leader in the last forty years. Mosheh and his brother Aharon were the only ones who were mourned for 30 days. They wept for him 30 days and then entered the land on the 1st day of the 1st month of the following year. Per Exodus 7:7, Mosheh was 80 years old before the beginning of the plagues in Egypt and after 40 years in the wilderness. He died at the age of 120 years. After the mourning period of 30 days, Yehoshua sent spies to scout the land, and then the nation entered the land on the 10th day of the 1st month of the year (Joshua 4:19), 3 days after the conclusion of the mourning period for Mosheh. And the author of the last verses of the Torah recorded for us to know that,
And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like to Mosheh, whom the Eternal knew face to face, (Deuteronomy 34:10)
It is impossible for a human being to see the Creator’s Essence or comprehend it and live. In the case of Mosheh, he was granted a direct access to the Eternal, for the author saw fit to inform us that the Eternal knew him face to face. Knowing someone face to face presumes knowing someone very closely implying a degree of mutuality. The Talmud (Yevamot 49a) notes that all other prophets prophesied through a dim glass receiving vision via allegories and dreams. But Mosheh alone perceived through a clear glass speaking with the Eternal face to face while fully conscious, i.e., in real time. Mosheh did not speak to the people in metaphors, euphemisms, or in parables, as distinct from other prophets including the Messianic prophet Yeshayahu whose writing was almost entirely in a poetic form. Hence, we assume that there may be a prophet in Israel greater than Mosheh, it follows that the presumed greater prophet’s words should be greater than the Torah, which was given through Mosheh. This cannot be right!
… in all the signs and the wonders, which the Eternal sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and for all the great might and awesome power that Mosheh displayed before all Israel. (Deuteronomy 34:11-12)
Because Moses performed all these miracles publicly, in front of so many viewers, as many as three million people, he became known as the greatest prophet the world has ever known.
So, who wrote the last chapter of the Torah? We will now turn to continue what we commenced to explain in the beginning.
We find the following difference of opinion. According to one opinion expressed in the Classic Rabbinic literature, the last chapter of Deuteronomy and of the Torah was written by Mosheh’s disciple Yehoshua, seeing that after Mosheh ascended to the top of the mountain he did not come back to write down these last words of the Torah. Instead, according to this view, Yehoshua wrote these lines via prophecy, seeing that he was not an eye-witness to what took place on the mountain. Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra views the words “the Eternal showed him” as proof that Mosheh could not have written this, for otherwise we would have expected to read “the Eternal showed me”. Likewise, it seems impossible for Mosheh to have written, concerning himself, “he was buried there” having described his own death and burial while still alive. This is one view as to how to interpret the plain reading of the verse. We will explain that this is not the only way to interpret these verses.
However, there is a tradition that Mosheh wrote the entire Torah including the last eight verses of the chapter at the dictation of the Lord. According to it, there is nothing unusual that Mosheh could write a verse saying: “Mosheh, the servant of YHVH, died there, and He buried him in the valley” describing event that was destined to happen seeing that Mosheh knew that he would die and not enter the Land since it was decreed so. For indeed, Mosheh had previously written about events that would happen in the future described in the past tense. The Book of Deuteronomy is full of such events which indeed happened in history. This is the so-called “prophetic past” tense.
The prophetic past tense (sometimes called “prophetic perfect”) is a literary technique in Biblical Hebrew where future events are written in the past tense to emphasize that they are absolutely certain to happen. In the Hebrew mindset, if the Creator decrees an event in the future, its fulfillment is so guaranteed that it can be spoken of as if it has already occurred. Why does the Hebrew Scripture employ “prophetic perfect” tense? For it signals to the reader that the prophecy is unchangeable, the Creator exists outside of space and time, seeing that a future promise is already a completed reality. Prophetic perfect also brings the future into the present, making the vision feel immediate and undeniable. This was a style employed by many prophets: “To your descendants I have given this land…” (Genesis 15:18), “She has fallen, she has fallen, Babylon; and all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground” (Isaiah 21:9).
But according to other opinion, until Deuteronomy 34:5, the Lord spoke the words: “ And Mosheh went up from the plains of Moav … And the Eternal showed him all the land, even Gilead as far as Dan … So Mosheh the servant of the Eternal died there in the land of Moav, according to the word of the Eternal”, and Mosheh wrote it down word for word; he wrote these words with tears, for he knew he would die and not see the beautiful land. And according to the same opinion, from Deuteronomy 34:6 forward to the end of the chapter, Yehoshua recorded the events and finished writing the Torah.
It is impossible to decide with certainty between these opinions of the Sages, for they are much in harmony with the context, since what is spoken of there is the fact that this is a peculiar record of Mosheh’s death and burial. If the reader prefers one over the other, there is no objection. Our intent was to bring different views concerning the authorship of the last chapter of the Torah to the reader’s consideration. The reader should not expect us to take sides, since Scripture itself has not elaborated upon it.
Thus, we conclude the annual Torah study with the death of Mosheh, in order to begin the new Torah cycle with Genesis 1:1 starting from “In the beginning”. We find this in Bereshit Rabbah 1:5. The Torah of Mosheh commences with the word בראשית, bereishit, “In the beginning” and concludes with the word ישראל “Israel”. The Torah wants us to know this, and we need to appreciate the choice of words of Torah seeing that the concepts of both the Torah and of a people (Israel) that would be a vehicle for spreading the Word of the Creator preceded the creation of the universe. Amein!
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