Saturday, February 4, 2023

John Paul Heil on the Translation/Assumption of Moses in Pseudo-Philo's Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum

  

Pseudo-Philo’s Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum greatly expands upon the biblical account of the extraordinary character of the death of Moses:

 

Deuteronomy 34:5-6

 

5 Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab at the Lord’s command. 6 He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day.

 

a. Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum 19:12, 16

 

12 I will take you from here and lay you down to sleep with your fathers, and I will give you rest in your resting place and bury you in peace. All the angels will mourn over you, and the heavenly hosts will grieve. But no angel nor man will know your sepulcher in which you will be buried. You will rest in it until I visit the world. I will raise up you and your fathers from the earth in which you sleep and you will come together and dwell in the immortal dwelling place that is not subject to time . . .

16 When Moses heard this, he was filled with understanding and his appearance was changed to a state of glory; and he died in glory in accord with the word of the Lord, and he buried him as he had promised him. The angels mourned his death and went before him all together with lightning bolts and torches and arrows. On that day the hymn of the heavenly hosts was not sung because of the passing of Moses, nor was there such a day from the time when the Lord made man upon the earth, nor shall there again be such forever, that the hymn of the angels should be humbled on account of men, because he loved him very much. He buried him with his own hands in a high-place as a light for the entire world.

 

Whereas the biblical account states succinctly that Moses “died” and God “buried him” (Deut 34:5-6), in L.A.B. 19:12 God promises not only that God himself “will take” Moses “from here” and euphemistically “lay you down to sleep,” but that God himself will give him “rest” (requiem) and bury him “in peace” (cum pace). God further promises Moses a future resurrection from death and entrance into heaven, that is, “the immortal dwelling place that is not subject to time” (19:12). This promise of a dwelling in heaven is promptly reinforced when God promises further that “I will hasten to raise up you who are sleeping in order that all who will be restored to life will dwell in the place of sanctification that I showed you” (19:13).

 

Pseudo-Philo greatly emphasizes the glorious circumstances and heavenly ramifications surrounding the death of Moses. Whereas the biblical account simply states that Moses “died” at the Lord’s command (Deut 34:5), in L.A.B 19:16, before Moses died, his appearance was changed “to a state of glory” (in gloria), and he died “in glory” (in gloria) in accord with the word of the Lord. As God promised (19:12), God himself buried Moses and the angels mourned his death and “went before him” in a kind of heavenly funeral procession (19:16). That no hymn was sung in heaven on the day Moses died, because God “loved him very much,” and that Od himself buried Moses “with his own hands” (19:16) further underscore the uniqueness of the death of Moses.

 

Although Pseudo-Philo asserted that Moses was buried (19:16) and would remain in his grave until the future resurrection (19:12), there may be, nevertheless, especially in view of Pseudo-Philo’s emphasis upon the glorious death of Moses, a suggestion that Moses already entered heaven when he died:

 

b. Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum 32:9

 

When he was dying, God arranged the firmament for him and pointed out to him then what we now have as witnesses, saying, “Let there be as a witness between me and you and my people the heaven that you have entered and the earth on which you have walked until now.”

 

Although that “God arranged the firmament for him” may refer simply to God’s revealing the heavens to Moses before he died (19:10), it could just as well refer to God’s arrangement of the heavens for the entrance of Moses into them at his death. And although “the heaven that you have entered” may allude to the past heavenly ascent of Moses on Mount Sinai, it also could refer to the entrance of Moses into heaven now, “when he was dying.” At any rate, for Pseudo-Philo Moses did not suffer the ignominious death of a rejected prophet; on the contrary, he died “in glory” and entered heaven at the time of his death and/or will enter it in the future resurrection. (John Paul Heil, The Transfiguration of Jesus: Narrative Meaning and Function of Mark 9:2-8, Matt 17:1-8 and Luke 9:28-36 [Analecta Biblica 144; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 2000], 106-9)