Texts in Conversation
In Deuteronomy, Moses is buried in a valley in Moab, and no one knows where his grave is. The Samaritan Pentateuch interprets the word for the valley as a place name, Giyya, which puts Moses in a specific place rather than an unnamed valley.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 34:6
Hebrew Bible
5 So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab as the Lord had said. 6 He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab near Beth Peor, but no one knows his exact burial place to this very day. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died, but his eye was not dull nor had his vitality departed.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Samaritan Deuteronomy 34:6
Samaritan Penteteuch
Samaritan
5 So Moses the servant of Shema died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of Shema. 6 And he buried him in Giyya in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor, but no man knows the place of his burial to this day. 7 And Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim, nor had his vitality faded.
Date: 130–120 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... It is also possible that the completely unique motif in the Hebrew Bible of Moses’ burial by God himself (Deuteronomy 34:6), which was already corrected in the Samaritan Pentateuch (“they buried him” instead of “he buried him”), was directed by the perspective of this declaration. Here as well Moses maintains an intimate closeness to God that is without analogy. This process of the “theologization” of Moses is, if anything, to be understood as the attempt to provide the Torah (“Moses”) with an authoritative status. “Moses” is brought into close connection with God, so that the Torah will take on corresponding authority ..."
Konrad Schmid, Is There Theology in the Hebrew Bible?, CSHB 4 (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015), 95.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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