Numbers 27:15-17 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And Moses spake unto the Lord— The information of his approaching departure did not at all surprize Moses, who, for a long time, had been accustomed to consider death as that circumstance alone which could procure him true repose, after a life full of trouble and agitation. We find, however, Deuteronomy 3:25 that he entreated the Lord to permit him to go over Jordan, and see the promised land; but God having refused him this favour, full of submission to his will, and desirous only of the felicity of the people whom he had thus far conducted, he addresses God, in the most fervent manner, for the appointment of an able person to succeed him in his office, in which he demonstrates the generosity and goodness of his heart, in the religious and public spirit by which he was actuated. The expression, the God of the spirits of all flesh, sufficiently proves that Moses both knew and inculcated the immortality of the soul. He appeals to him, not only as the creator of souls, but as perfectly knowing their dispositions, and consequently best understanding who were fit for so weighty an employment as that of the Shepherd of His people; under which metaphor we find, among the ancients, kings and chief rulers generally designed. There are frequent instances of this allusion in the Scriptures, and in the works of Homer.