Ver. 4. And the Lord said—This is the land, &c.— As much as to say, "Let the view I have now given you, fill you with a comfortable sense and assurance how faithful I will be to my promise, in bestowing upon the descendants of Abraham, the people that you have so long had under your care and administration, this fair country which I have caused you to see with your eyes; have, with a supernatural power, strengthened your visual faculty to behold in its full extent. But you shall not go over thither; you shall not enter into this country, but shall die in peace and tranquillity, rejoiced in the full assurance that all the divine promises to the patriarchs shall be fulfilled." Dr. Macknight, in his Harmony, well observes, that it is evident, that this sight was not an imaginary prospect, from Moses's going up into a mountain to take the view: for, had it been either a delineation of these regions in a map; or a visible representation of them in the air; or a vision of them in an extacy; or a sight of them in a dream; or a view of them by being carried round about them, it might have been done any where as well as on a mountain, it is said in the first verse, the Lord shewed him all the land of Gilead unto Dan. Gilead was the country beyond Jordan, and Dan (as was before observed) the boundary of it northward. Naphtali was the most northern part on this side Jordan; Ephraim was the middle; and Judah the southernmost tribe. The south was the country between Palestine and Egypt; and the plain of the valley of Jericho to Zoar, was that which extended to Zoar, encompassing the Asphaltic lake, on the southern shore of which Zoar stood. From the top of Nebo, therefore, Moses saw not only the country beyond Jordan, but the whole region on this side the river, from north to south, and westward as far as the Mediterranean sea.
REFLECTIONS.—Moses, having received the divine command to go up to mount Nebo and die, cheerfully addresses himself to the pleasing talk; for, to a believer, death is not his loss, but gain; not his misery, but his privilege. 1. He goes up to the top of Pisgah, the highest summit of the mountain; and, it should seem, alone, without help, though so aged, and without company, that they may not see him die, and superstitiously venerate his bones, or his sepulchre. 2. God shews him from thence, according to his promise, all the inheritance of the tribes of Israel, both on this side Jordan and beyond it. God was then with him, when every other support failed him, and his presence made up for all the rest. It was a large extent of country; but his eye was keen, and assisted now by particular power from God. Note; To God's grace we stand indebted for every pleasing prospect which faith gives us of the glory beyond the grave; and he is often peculiarly kind to his dying saints, making their views of his glory most strong and striking, to support them in that awful hour. God's faithfulness now was evident; and it afforded a support to him, that he had this faithful God to rely upon, who, though he might not enter the earthly Canaan, had provided for him a better country, that is, a heavenly; and having by faith shewed it him afar off, would shortly, through the grave and gate of death, bring him thither, to an everlasting inheritance.