Was [it] because [he was] burdened by too great old age, and unfit for arms? He was indeed then 80 or 81 years old — yet [this] could agree with what Caleb related about himself before (question 6). For [in] Deuteronomy, last [chapter], v. 7, it is written: Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was not dimmed, neither were his teeth moved. Was [it] perhaps [because he was] unskilled in military matters? Far otherwise [does] Josephus [report] of him (book 2), when he teaches [that], as a young man, [Moses] most expertly finished most difficult wars, and most carefully prescribed military discipline. But Lucian, in the Wishes, laughs at I-know-not-whom, who wished to see [men] fighting from some lofty place — but, as [it is] in the proverb, “beyond a spear’s throw” [out of range]. Was there in Moses curiosity and timidity of this kind?
But if we believe Josephus, [Moses] had often seen camps, often battle-lines, and raging Mars [war]. Certainly upon so great a man — who had stoutly slain an Egyptian, [and] had withstood the wrathful countenance of Pharaoh, [his] bloody and threatening eyes, and almost the very sword-points and swords themselves — a suspicion so cowardly and childish does not fall. Calvin suspects [it to be] a sign of divine indignation, that Moses withdraws his presence at this time. But this sign would be given not very aptly, since Moses says he ascends the mountain rather for this [reason]: that he may bring aid — and that [aid] much greater and more divine. And therefore I cannot doubt [that] Moses [was] impelled by a divine spirit: first, as I have just now said, [so] that he might bring more aid to the fighters. “Assuredly,” says Philo (book 1 On Moses), “under the Commander JESUS, Moses pros-…
(col. 68)
…[prospered] in seeking greater aid.” And from whom [is aid] to be sought, except from God? Secondly, that, while he himself was absent, the prudence and valor of the younger Leader Joshua might shine forth the more. Thirdly, that he might show what was always to be done in wars — namely, [that] some should join hands [in combat] with the enemy, [and] others lift them [their hands] to heaven. Fourthly, that he might set forth the figures [types] of those things which will be noted afterward.