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Moses Pleaded Five Hundred Fifteen Times to Live

Ten deaths were written over Moses before the last. He prayed five hundred fifteen times, blinded Samael, and still God took him with a kiss beyond the land.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Ten Deaths Written Before the Last Day
  2. Five Hundred Fifteen Pleas and a Sword of Prayer
  3. The Word Behold Cuts Both Ways
  4. Samael Blinded, God Descends
  5. The Border He Could Not Cross
Moses Pleaded Five Hundred Fifteen Times to Live Click for full size

Ten Deaths Written Before the Last Day

Rabbi Yochanan counts ten "deaths" written over Moses across the Torah and into Joshua: phrases like "your time to die is approaching" (Deuteronomy 31:14) and "Moses My servant died" (Joshua 1:2). Ten decrees that he would not bring Israel into the land. The man who had talked God out of destroying the people after the calf believed he could talk God out of this too. He had heard "Let Me be, and I will destroy them" and watched the Lord reconsider. His own plea, he thought, would surely bend the gate.

This time heaven treated delay as denial. The word lakhen in "you will not bring this assembly into the land" (Numbers 20:12) is read as an oath, the kind of binding speech that appears when God swears in (I Samuel 3:14). Prayer met a vow. The old method of intercession hit a locked door that even the greatest advocate could not pick.

Five Hundred Fifteen Pleas and a Sword of Prayer

Moses put on sackcloth and ash. He fasted. He drew a small circle and vowed not to leave it until the decree moved. Creation shook under the force of his prayer. A Divine Voice said this was not the end of the world, only the trial of the man in whose hand is the life of every living thing. Gates of the firmament were ordered shut. The angel Akazriel stood alert. Still the prayer cut like a sword, powered by the ineffable Name Moses had learned from Zagzael, master scribe of the upper world.

From vaetchanan, "I pleaded" (Deuteronomy 3:23), the midrash counts five hundred fifteen petitions. Moses argued wages: decades of service, the Torah's own rule to pay a worker on time. Was God to make His teaching a forgery? Samael, head of the accusers, waited to laugh when Michael wept. Michael answered with the verse of the fallen who rise. Moses even begged to live as an animal, only to remain in the world. "Enough for you," came the reply. "Do not continue to speak to Me of this matter" (Deuteronomy 3:26).

The Word Behold Cuts Both Ways

Why tell Moses of death with the word hen, "behold"? He protested with a parable's force. He had once praised God with that word: "Behold, to the Lord your God belong the heavens" (Deuteronomy 10:14). Now the same word announced his end, as if a gift sword were used to behead the giver. God answered with a hard proverb. A bad neighbor sees incomes and not expenditures. Moses remembered the glory and forgot the debit: "Behold, they will not believe me" (Exodus 4:1), the first flinch when he was sent to Egypt.

The ledger of a life includes the day courage lagged. Even the faithful servant is not paid only in the coin of his best hours. The midrash refuses a sentimental Moses who never doubted. It shows a man whose own "behold" of fear returns when heaven says "behold" of death, and who must hear both as justice rather than as random cruelty.

Samael Blinded, God Descends

When acceptance finally came, Moses blessed the justice of the Rock. He wrote the Name and the song. Angels sent for his soul refused, all but Samael, who still trembled at Moses' radiance. Moses struck him with the staff and blinded him. Then God Himself came down with Michael, Gabriel, and Zagzagel. The soul would not leave a body so clean. God promised it honor above and took Moses with a kiss on the mouth.

Heaven and earth and Israel mourned. The memory of the righteous is for a blessing. The man who could not enter the land entered death under the mouth of God, not under the mockery of the accuser who had hoped for a cheaper ending.

The Border He Could Not Cross

So the end of Moses is not a quiet expiration. It is war in prayer, oath against petition, a word that once praised and now decrees, an angel of death humiliated, and a kiss that succeeds where five hundred fifteen pleas failed. The land stays closed. The Name stays praised. Leadership passes because even the greatest life has a line it may not redraw.

Stand on that last mountain in the mind. Behind him, a people he carried. Before him, a country he may see and not tread. Above him, gates once shut against his voice and then a descent of glory. The drama is the limit of advocacy. The same mouth that saved a nation cannot save its own crossing. That limit is taught as justice, not as spite, and the kiss is taught as love inside the refusal.

Israel will enter without him. The Torah will still carry his voice. Samael will not own the last scene. God will. That is the hard mercy of the midrash: a death refused for so long, then taken by a kiss, so that the people learn both how to plead and how to stop when the Rock has spoken enough.

MosesDeathSamaelPrayerDevarimLand
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The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Devarim Rabbah 9:6Devarim Rabbah

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022 · CC-BY

Well, Jewish tradition offers a powerful, and frankly heartbreaking, story about just such a predicament involving Moses himself.

Devarim Rabbah, a collection of homiletic teachings on the Book of Deuteronomy (Devarim in Hebrew). It grapples with a tough question: Why was Moses told of his impending death using the word hen, meaning "behold"? The verse in question reads, "Behold, your days are approaching" (Deuteronomy 31:14). Why that word?

The Rabbis, in their insightful way, offer a parable. Instead of gratitude, the king orders the subject's execution by that very sword! "My lord," the subject cries, "you're beheading me with the very thing I used to honor you?"

This, the Rabbis suggest, is similar to Moses' plea. the verse says in Devarim Rabbah, Moses argues with God. He says, "Master of the universe, I lauded you with hen! As it is written: 'Behold, to the Lord your God are the heavens, and the heavens of heavens…' (Deuteronomy 10:14). And now, with that very word, you decree my death?"

It's a powerful image. Moses is pointing to a time when he used hen to acknowledge God's greatness, and now that same word is being used to signal his end. So, how does God respond?

The Holy One, blessed be He, replies with a saying: "A bad neighbor sees the incomes but does not see the expenditures." Ouch. It’s a sharp rebuke, implying that Moses is only focusing on the good he's done, not the times he’s fallen short.

God continues, saying: "Do you not remember when I sent you to redeem them from Egypt, and you said to me: 'But, behold, they will not believe me'?" (Exodus 4:1). God is reminding Moses of his initial hesitation, his lack of faith when first called to lead the Israelites out of slavery. That initial "behold," that moment of doubt, is now being brought back into the equation.

Ginzberg, in his monumental work Legends of the Jews, expands on Moses’ initial reluctance, painting a portrait of a leader burdened by self-doubt and aware of his own limitations. This makes God's response all the more poignant.

The implication is clear: Moses' life, like all lives, wasn't a perfect, unblemished offering. There were moments of greatness, yes, but also moments of doubt and hesitation.

What are we to make of this? This passage isn't just about linguistic gymnastics or divine retribution. It's about the complexities of our relationship with the Divine, the understanding that even our best intentions can be intertwined with imperfections. It's a reminder that even the greatest among us, like Moses, are still human, with flaws and doubts that shape their journey. And perhaps, it's a comfort to know that even in those moments of doubt, we are still called to serve.

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Devarim Rabbah 11:10Devarim Rabbah

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022 · CC-BY

Yet, according to Devarim Rabbah, this is precisely the monumental struggle Moses faced at the end of his life.

Rabbi Yoḥanan tells us that there are ten “deaths” written concerning Moses, scattered throughout the Torah. You can find them in Deuteronomy and Joshua: hints and foreshadowings like "Behold, your time to die is approaching" (Deuteronomy 31:14), or "Moses My servant died" (Joshua 1:2). What do these ten "deaths" signify? They represent the ten times it was decreed that Moses would not enter the Land of Israel.

Moses wasn’t one to back down easily. He’d interceded with God on behalf of the Israelites before, successfully pleading for their forgiveness after the Golden Calf incident and other transgressions. Remember God saying, "Let Me be, and I will destroy them" (Deuteronomy 9:14)? Moses argued, and God relented: "The Lord reconsidered the evil" (Exodus 32:14). So, Moses thought, surely his own prayer, coming from a place of such deep devotion and service, would be accepted.

This was different. This time, as the text in Devarim Rabbah explains, God saw that Moses wasn't taking the decree seriously enough. So, He swore an oath – a binding, unbreakable promise. The verse "Therefore [lakhen], you will not bring this assembly [into the land that I have given them]" (Numbers 20:12) uses the word lakhen, which, as we see from its usage in I (Samuel 3:14), signifies an oath.

Imagine Moses’s desperation. He donned sackcloth, covered himself in ashes, and fasted, drawing a small circle around himself, declaring he wouldn't move until the decree was revoked. The heavens, the earth, even the very order of creation shook with the intensity of his prayer! They thought, perhaps, the end of times had come.

But a Divine Voice proclaimed that this wasn't the end. Instead, it stated: “In whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the spirit of all flesh of man” (Job 12:10). And who is this "man" but Moses himself, the humblest of men, as (Numbers 12:3) tells us?

God then commanded that all the gates of the firmament be locked, so Moses’s prayer couldn’t reach Him. The angel in charge of proclamations, Akazriel, was put on high alert. The text describes Moses's prayer as a sword, cutting through everything, unstoppable. It was empowered by the ineffable Name, learned from Zagzael, the master scribe of the upper world. (Ezekiel 3:12) speaks of a great noise [raash] and quaking, which the midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) connects to Moses, who (Exodus 11:3) calls "very great in the land of Egypt."

How many times did Moses pray during this period? The Midrash calculates it from the verse "I pleaded [vaetḥanan] with the Lord at that time, saying" (Deuteronomy 3:23). The numerical value of vaetḥanan is 515!

Moses argued passionately with God. He reminded God of his decades of service, his sacrifices for the Israelites. Was this how he was to be rewarded? Was God going to render His own Torah a forgery, violating the principle of paying a worker on time (Deuteronomy 24:15)?

Meanwhile, the wicked angel Samael (the angel of death), head of all the accusing angels, was eagerly awaiting Moses’s death, as (Psalm 37:32) describes: “The wicked man looks upon the righteous man and seeks to kill him.” Samael thought, "When will Mikhael weep, so I can fill my mouth with laughter?" But Mikhael retorted, quoting (Micah 7:8): “Do not rejoice, my enemy, over me; though I fell, I will rise; though I sit in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.”

Moses even pleaded to be allowed to live like an animal, just to continue existing in the world. But God refused: "Enough for you, [do not continue to speak to Me of this matter]" (Deuteronomy 3:26).

Finally, Moses accepted the decree. He affirmed God’s justice, declaring, “The Rock, His actions are perfect, as all His ways are justice; a faithful God and there is no injustice, righteous and upright is He” (Deuteronomy 32:4). He wrote the ineffable Name and the book of the song – presumably the Song of Haazinu in Deuteronomy 32, knowing his time was near.

The story then shifts to the celestial realm. God sends angels to retrieve Moses's soul, but they all refuse, except for Samael. Yet, even Samael is initially terrified by Moses’s radiance and power. Moses recounts his extraordinary life, his miracles, his unparalleled connection to God. He even strikes Samael with his staff, blinding him!

God Himself descends to take Moses’s soul, accompanied by Mikhael, Gavriel, and Zagzagel. God prepares Moses for his final moment, guiding him through the process. The soul resists leaving Moses's body, so pure and untainted. But God promises the soul a place of honor in the highest heavens. Finally, God kisses Moses and takes his soul with a kiss on the mouth.

The heavens, the earth, the angels, and the Israelites all mourn the loss of Moses. They acknowledge his righteousness, his faithfulness, his unique role in history. "The memory of the righteous is for a blessing" (Proverbs 10:7), and his soul for life in the World to Come.

What does this all mean? This passage from Devarim Rabbah isn't just a story about death; it's evidence of the power of prayer, the limits of even the greatest among us, and the ultimate acceptance of God's will. And perhaps, it also reminds us that true greatness lies not in avoiding death, but in how we live our lives leading up to it.

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