Scot McKnight wrote “I have always been intrigued by obituaries. One man, who passed away in 2016, says this, ‘he died to avoid having to make a decision in the pending presidential election (click to open).’” Obituaries are like eulogies at funerals. Steven Cole in a sermon “If God Wrote Your Obituary (click to open)” referred to a funeral in which three daughters “got up and read a eulogy about ‘we remember dad.’ They recalled, ‘We remember dad going to the bar and buying a round of drinks for all his buddies. He loved going to the bar! We remember dad going to the market and flirting with all the cute young checkers.’ Basically, they fondly remembered dad as a dirty-minded old drunk!”
But the important question is “What would God write in your obituary?”
Many have questioned who wrote Moses’ obituary in Deuteronomy 34 since he was dead at the time of the writing. The simple answer to the question “Who wrote the obituary of Moses?” in Deuteronomy 34 is God. All Scripture is inspired by God the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 3:16). The more difficult question to answer is whom did God the Holy Spirit use to write this Scripture. The doctrine of dual authorship teaches in verses like 2 Peter 1:21 that God used human instruments to write His Word. There was the Divine author and a human author superintended by the Holy Spirit in the writing of Scripture.
Conservative Bible students believe Moses wrote the Pentateuch. I defend Mosaic authorship in this blog post (click to open). Liberal Bible students deny Mosaic authorship. Many still hold to the JEDP theory (the Documentary Hypothesis Theory) which claims that different authors wrote the Pentateuch many years after Moses. One example is the late Dr. Gerald Larue (1916 – 2014) who was professor Emeritus of Archaeology and Biblical Studies at the University of Southern California. He was the chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion. Dr. Larue defended the JEDP theory because of the contradictions he alleged were in the Pentateuch:
You have contradictory statements in a document written by one person .... How many animals were taken into the ark? “Two clean; two unclean.” Oh, no! “Seven pairs of clean …” [Gen 7:2]. Make up your mind, Moses! When you have Moses writing his own funeral. Come on!”1
Walter Kaiser, Old Testament scholar, in this interview, answered Dr. Gerald Larue’s belief that there is a contradiction concerning the number of animals on the ark:
I’m surprised that you raised that as an objection. Certainly, they need food; certainly they need animals for sacrifice. Genesis 8:20 deliberately says, “He took seven clean animals.” But watch it! Because they needed them for sacrifices and for food. What rule is there that can be set by the scholars that says, “You’re only allowed two, Noah! Don’t put any more on board.” That’s setting the ground rules according to our presuppositions, not according to the writer. It’s the modern mind reshaping the material. It’s a Western mind, it’s not an Oriental mind, and it’s not the Divine mind here.
Dr. Kaiser responded to the objection that Moses could not have written the Pentateuch because Moses’ funeral is recorded in Deuteronomy 34. Moses could not have recorded his own funeral. Kaiser responded:
Well, of course, though, the question is the claim. Does the end of the book of Deuteronomy claim that it was written by Moses? And the answer is, “No.” I think the Evangelical only wants to say that the report of the first five books comes from a contemporary and that Moses does the bulk of that, probably the greater lion’s share. But obviously, no one is claiming, and I’ve never seen an Evangelical, … can you name someone who really said Moses wrote his own death and also prophesied that no one knows to this day where his grave is? That’s an unusual prophecy. But on the other hand, you do have, in the next book, Joshua 24, Joshua claiming that he was instructed to add many words to the Book of the Law. The “Book of the Law” generally is taken by scholars to be a reference to Torah. So here you have a contemporary of Moses, who is in control of the data, who is writing it. My supposition, and all of those Evangelicals I’ve ever read is, no, Moses did not write Deuteronomy 34. Joshua probably did, because we do have a claim that he wrote in the Book of the Law (See Joshua 24:26).
Does it matter who was the human author of Moses’ obituary?
Richard McDonald wrote Who Wrote Moses’s Obituary in Deuteronomy 34? (click to open) and gave the possible candidates for authors of Deuteronomy 34 and Moses’ obituary: Moses, Eleazar, Ezra, Samuel, and lastly Joshua, whom McDonald prefers. McDonald then asks, “Does it matter?” who wrote the obituary? He quoted John Calvin: “Many follow Calvin’s wise advice and leave ‘the matter of no very great importance undecided.’” Whoever wrote the obituary of Moses wrote inspired Scripture. Someone besides Joshua wrote his obituary in Joshua 24. Paul is clear in 2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable.” David did not write all of the Psalms (Moses wrote Psalm 90). Solomon did not write all of the Proverbs (See Proverbs 25:1).
God wrote Moses’ obituary!
Ultimately, God wrote Moses’ obituary. Again, what would He write in your obituary? In Habit # 2 in Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he challenges you and me to imagine we are meeting with all our family members and friends for the funeral of a person we all know … that person is you! It’s the day of your funeral and all these people have come to honor your memory.
During the ceremony four people are going to speak about you:
A close family member;
A dear friend;
A work colleague;
Someone from a club or association you were involved in while alive.
They share with others all the things they want to remember about you. Think deeply … What would you like each of these speakers to say about you and your life? Which values, contributions, and achievements do you want to be remembered for? What difference would you like to have made in their lives? If you carefully consider what you wanted to be said of you in the funeral experience, you will find your definition of success. Kent R. Hughes agreed: When we go to funerals, we should think about our reputations (Kent R. Hughes, The Pastor's Book (p. 184). Crossway. Kindle Edition).
What would God write in our obituary?
As important as what all these people would say about us at our funeral, what God will say is eternally more important. Hopefully, He will say, “Well done, you good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord” (Matthew 25:23).
1. These comments were expressed in an interview with John Ankerberg and Walter Kaiser “How Was the Old Testament Written? – Program 1” on The John Ankerberg Show, October 1, 2013).