“... What we know of the character of the work makes it quite plausible that its account of the contest over the body of Moses could derive from the Testament of Moses. [...] Several features of this text should be noticed: (1) Features which have already been discussed in section I above are the unproblematic nature of Moses' death in this account, the role of Joshua and the burial by the archangel rather than by God himself. These distinguish the account from rabbinic traditions, with which there are nevertheless some contacts (2 and 3 below). (2) The name Σαμουήλ is not really Samuel but Samma'el, a name by which the devil is known in the Ascension of Isaiah (where in 1:8 he is identified with Malkira, i.e. the Melkireša' of 4QAmram, and in 11:41 with Satan) and from rabbinic sources ('the chief of all the satans': Deut. R. 11:10). In rabbinic traditions of Moses' death he appears as the angel of death, commanded by God to take Moses' soul but unable to do so. A remnant of his dispute with Michael survives in these traditions, but transposed from the context of Moses' burial to that of his death (Midrash Petirat Moshe 11; Deut. R. 11:10). (3) The removal of Moses' body (συστέλλειν must here mean 'remove,' despite the rarity of this meaning) – to be buried elsewhere – corresponds to the tradition to be found in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan to Deuteronomy 34:6 and Sifre Deuteronomy 335, in which God and his angels carry the body four miles from the place of Moses' death to bury it. This feature is intended to explain Deuteronomy 34:6. ...”