Deuteronomy 34:5 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Ver. 5. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there— This is the highest character which can be given to any man, the servant of Jehovah; and it is given by God himself to Moses after his death, Joshua 2:7. It is a remark which naturally offers from these words, that since the most approved servants of God have died, death cannot be an absolute evil, or the God whom they served never would have permitted it to have befallen them. The sacred historian expresses particularly, that Moses died in the land of Moab, to shew the completion of the divine denunciation, that he should not enter into the promised land; and he is said to have died according to the word, or command of the Lord, referring to chap. Deuteronomy 32:50. Get thee up into this mount, and die there. The Jews have a far-fetched conceit from these words, that the Lord drew Moses's soul out of his body with a kiss; i.e. as the more judicious rabbis explain it, He died in an extacy of divine love, overcome with the pleasures he had in the thoughts of God, and future happiness. See Maimon in More Nev. par. iii. c. 51. Houbigant remarks, that by this command, and die in the mount, is signified, that it belonged not to the old law, of which Moses was the promulger, to fulfil the promises made to the fathers; but that this should be the office of Joshua, or of that Saviour whom Joshua prefigured.