Deuteronomy 3:25

25 Please let me cross over and see the beautiful land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.

Deuteronomy 3:25 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 3:25

I pray thee, let me go over and see the good land that is
beyond Jordan
The land of Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey; a land which he describes as a most excellent one, ( Deuteronomy 8:7 Deuteronomy 8:8 ) . To see this land, he was very desirous of going over the river Jordan, beyond which it lay with respect to the place where he now was:

that goodly mountain, and Lebanon;
or, "that goodly mountain, even Lebanon"; which lay to the north of the land of Canaan, and was famous for cedar and odoriferous trees. But if two distinct mountains are meant, the goodly mountain may design Mount Moriah, on which the temple was afterwards built, and of which Moses might have a foresight; and some by Lebanon think that is meant, which was built of the cedars of Lebanon, and therefore goes by that name, ( Zechariah 11:1 ) and a foreview of this made the mountain so precious to Moses, and desirable to be seen by him. So the Targum of Jonathan;

``that goodly mountain in which is built the city of Jerusalem, and Mount Lebanon, in which the Shechinah shall dwell''

to which agrees the note of Aben Ezra, who interprets the goodly mountain of Jerusalem, and Lebanon of the house of the sanctuary. In the Septuagint it is called Antilibanus. Mount Libanus had its name not from frankincense growing upon it, as some have thought; for it does not appear that any did grow upon it, for that came from Seba in Arabia Felix; but from the whiteness of it, through the continual snows that were on it, just as the Alps have their name for the same reason; and so Jerom says F2 of Lebanon, that the snow never leaves from the tops of it, or is ever so overcome by the heat of the sun as wholly to melt; to the same purpose also Tacitus F3 says, and Mr. Maundrell F4, who was there in May, speaks of deep snow on it, and represents the cedars as standing in snow.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 In Hieremiam, c. 18. 14.
F3 Hist. l. 5. c. 6.
F4 Journey from Aleppo, p. 139, 140.

Deuteronomy 3:25 In-Context

23 "At that time I begged the Lord:
24 Lord God , You have begun to show Your greatness and power to Your servant, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can perform deeds and mighty acts like Yours?
25 Please let me cross over and see the beautiful land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.
26 "But the Lord was angry with me on account of you and would not listen to me. The Lord said to me, 'That's enough! Do not speak to Me again about this matter.
27 Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west, north, south, and east, and see [it] with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.
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