The Great Gospel of John
Volume 10
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Der Herr in der Stadt am Nebo
- Chapter 178 -
On the mountain Nebo.
Since he saw that I was awake, he asked Me directly with all love and respect what I would need for the morning and if I needed fragrant water for washing.
2
I said: "Do not trouble yourself, for if I wanted to wash Myself, I can have sufficiently fresh water everywhere. But nearby this city there is a mountain that is famous from the time of the prophet Moses, and I want to climb it before sunrise. In the old Hebrew language it is called 'Nebo', but you call it 'Mons Mosis '. So do not order to prepare the morning meal too soon, for I want to stay there for about 3 hours."
3
The innkeeper said: "O Lord and Master, everything will be done precisely according to Your will, but allow also me and my oldest son to visit with You this mountain, which is especially memorable to the Jews, for it is not far from here at all. We can easily reach the very top in a little half hour."
4
I allowed this to the innkeeper, and he went to give instructions to his wife and the other children as to how they should take care of the kitchen.
5
When he came back, the disciples were also awake, and also the supreme judicial city officer and the 2 Pharisees Dismas and Barnabas stood already at the door of the inn and wanted to come in. Also I was already at the door with My followers, the innkeeper and his son to climb the Mountain of Moses.
6
The supreme judicial city officer and the 2 mentioned Pharisees asked Me very kindly if they could accompany Me. We immediately went on our way and a little half hour later we reached already the top of the mountain where the supreme judicial city officer had placed benches to sit there for his enjoyment. Those were mostly made of basalt blocks but were very suitable for that purpose. On the very spacious tableland he moreover had planted rosebushes and other nice-smelling little trees, and so it was very pleasant before sunrise to be on that hill, which was easy to climb from our side of the city, and to wait there for the sun to rise.
7
Looking from this side of the city, the mountain was hardly more than 100 ell high, but towards the Jordan Valley it had a very steep descend of a little more than 2,000 ell , and so from the Jordan Valley it looked like a high mountain, but from the east it was only a hill, and there were more of such hills along the Hauran region.
8
We were now on the hill or Mountain of Moses and viewed the vast plains of the Euphrates and the desert that was completely clear as far as the eye could reach.
9
Towards the south it was also clear, and one could see the famous mountains from the Bible, like the Hor where Moses, sustained by Aaron and his son Eleazer, had to pray for the victory of the Israelites against the hostile Amalekites. When he let his hands down, the Amalekites were winning. When he raised his hands again, the Israelites were winning. Also the mountain Hur could be seen where Aaron died, and further in the deep background also the tops of the high Sinai could be seen and its closest neighbor the Horeb.
10
But to the west it was very hazy. Only at some places the high peaks of the Lebanon stuck out above the haze, and of the mountains in the north the top of the Hermon could be seen from where the Jordan begins.
11
Nothing was visible in the Jordan valley because of the haze. This was very regrettable to the supreme judicial city officer, after which I made the remark to him that he should be patient for a couple of hours. The sun would drive away the haze and would also clear up this region of the Jordan of the bad fumes. "But now we will not look to that region, but to the one of the east."
12
Now the Pharisee Dismas said to me: "O Lord and Master, the mountain on which we are standing now, is it the same as on which the great prophet Moses arose to Heaven as a flame of light and disappeared before the eyes of those who accompanied him, leaving his body behind, after which - as the Scripture says - on the one side the archangel Michael appeared and on the other side Satan as chief of the devils who fought for as long as 3 days with the archangel for the body of Moses, and on top of that, he also was victorious over the archangel and disappeared with the dead body of Moses?
13
Up to now the whole of our Jewish wisdom kept and still keeps quiet about this and they do not tell us why this happened. And even the many great prophets did not give us any explanation about this. Our cabalists have therefore declared the whole matter apocryphal and consider it as a fable, but many old Arabian tribes say that it is true. What do You, o Lord, have to say about this?"
14
Now the supreme judicial city officer said in My place: "But what difference does it make when the spirit of Moses is living among you and is saved anyway? Because the body is only a covering of the human spirit and it is not that important whether Satan or another spirit pulled it to him. If I had been in the place of the archangel I would have given Satan that pleasure sooner if he was that hungry for the dead body of Moses."
15
On this, I said to the Pharisees: "The supreme judicial city officer gave you a very good answer, for I, the Lord of all life, gave another body to Moses already a long time ago instead of his sinful flesh. And Satan would have had no power over his flesh if Moses had never sinned in his former time in his flesh. But since he also sinned for what concerns his flesh - although his soul and his spirit purely originated from the Heavens - Satan wanted to take possession of what was his from Moses. But with that, he did not gain anything but rather lost almost everything for what concerns his power, and from that moment on he was no more allowed to appear before any mortal human being on the whole Earth, which was very harmful for his influence because from that time on many gentiles turned to the teaching of Moses, and the great oracle in Dodona - a very important work of Satan to seduce the people on this Earth - was destroyed and it was not allowed to be rebuild. Also the oracle in Delphi, that existed much earlier, fell soon after the fall of a city called Troy, and later on it was never completely rebuild. But let us now not further occupy ourselves with these things, for they have no value for the inner man.
16
It is better to know the one and only true God, to love Him above all and his fellowman as oneself.
17
Now the sun will immediately come up, and then you will see many things that will surprise you."