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Mount Nebo - location profile

Location and Setting

• Mount Nebo is a prominent peak of the Abarim Range that parallels the eastern shore of the Dead Sea (Deut 32:49; 34:1). This line of mountains is also referred to as Pisgah (Deut 3:17, 27; 4:49; Josh 12:3; 13:20).
• Mount Nebo rises 2700 feet above sea level. The drop down to the Dead Sea at 1300 feet below sea level measures some 4,000 feet.
• Pisgah also refers to a particular peak associated with Mount Nebo (Deut 34:1).
• This ridge protrudes farther west than other peaks in the range, thus offering a magnificent view of the land beyond the Jordan Valley to the west. From this point one can see as far north as Mount Hermon and Galilee, across the Jordan River to the regions of Judea and Samaria, and as far west as the Mediterranean Sea.

Historical and Biblical Significance

• Mount Pisgah was one of the peaks to which Balak, king of Moab, brought Balaam to curse the people of Israel camped on the Plains of Moab below.
• Towards the end of their forty year odyssey in the wilderness, while they were still in the Wilderness of Zin, the people were faced with a severe water shortage. They complained bitterly that these conditions were not like the land they had been promised. Then God appeared to Moses, commanding him to speak to a rock, from which He would give them water. This scene paralleled an earlier crisis at Meribah. There, God had commanded Moses to speak to a rock. As he obeyed, the water flowed. (Exod 17:1-7). On this later occasion, however, a frustrated, angry Moses struck the rock rather than speaking to it, implying that it was through his own power that water would come. The water came, but for this act of disobedience God disqualified Moses from leading the people into the Land (Num 20:1-13; 27:12-14). Although He denied him access, God would graciously allow Moses a panoramic view of the Land from Mount Pisgah.
• Soon after the people had arrived at the Plains of Moab across from Jericho, God directed Moses to appoint Joshua as his successor. As a prelude to this historic transition, God prepared Moses for the final event of his life, viewing the Land from the Abarim ridge and dying there. "Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go up to this mountain of Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the sons of Israel. And when you have seen it, you too shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was" (Num 27:12,13).
• It is evident from God’s instruction to Moses, concerning viewing the land and the place designated for his death, that Mount Nebo and Mount Pisgah are closely related locations on the Abarim Range. Two passages reveal this connection: "Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession. Then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be gathered to your people" (Deut 32:49,50). "Now Moses went up from the Plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. . . So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord" (Deut 34:1,5).
• To climb the 4,000 feet to the top of Mount Nebo would have posed a significant physical challenge for a person of any age. The Scripture records, however, that "Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated" (Deut 34:7). God provided Moses with continued keen eyesight, so he could see the Promised Land from north to west to south, and with the physical stamina to climb the mountain to view it. On the Plains of Moab there was a month of mourning but no funeral or burial. Moses never had to climb down from the mountain. He never had to report to the people what he had seen. Perhaps he never had to explain why he would not be leading them across the river into the Land. They watched him leave the camp and begin his climb, following his figure until it was out of sight. They waited for him to come down, but they never saw him again. Had Moses told them why he was climbing the mountain, a somewhat unusual act for their aged leader? How many times would they have looked up to those heights, as they mourned below, wondering exactly what had transpired on the 4,000 foot heights of Mount Nebo?

Bibliography

1. Aharoni, Y. and M. Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1993.
2. Alden, R.L. "Mount Nebo" The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.
3. Bimson, John J., ed. Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Places. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1995.
4. Garner, G.G. "Nebo" The New Bible Dictionary. 2^nd ed. Ed. J.D. Douglas. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1982.
5. Monson, James M. Regions on the Run. Rockford: Biblical Backgrounds, Inc., 1998.
6. Tenney, Merrill C. ed. The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1967.