Moses' Hidden Grave Contrasts Christ's Proclaimed Resurrection

Maclaren fixes upon a profound contrast: Moses died solitary among savage cliffs, his grave unknown and forgotten, while Christ rose in a sepulchre 'close by a city wall, guarded by foes, haunted by troops of weeping friends, visited by a great light of angel faces.' The one grave faded from memory because 'no impulses, nor hopes, nor gifts, could come from it.' The other forever draws hearts because 'in it was wrought out the victory in which all our hopes are rooted.'

Moses' solitude in death matched his solitude in life—a servant faithful in God's house, yet living 'alone with God.' His unknown tomb teaches 'the loneliness and mystery of death' itself. He bore the penalty of his transgression against the Lord at Kadesh, excluded from Canaan's rest. His hidden grave speaks silence.

But Christ's grave speaks resurrection. The 'endured cross, an empty grave, an occupied throne' form 'the threefold cord on which all our hopes hang.' Where Moses vanished into oblivion, Christ's sepulchre became the hinge of history—'all men know his sepulchre to this day.' His 'delights were with the sons of men'; He lived among them, suffered before them, rose for them.

The contrast illuminates why the New Covenant supersedes the old. Moses administered the law that condemns; Christ fulfills it and conquers death's sting. A servant's lonely death teaches us sin's wages. The Master's revealed grave and empty tomb teach us redemption's victory. One fades; one endures forever.