“Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
Yet
Jude dips back into the Old Testament once again to illustrate the principle of respect for authority. Although apostates disrespected all forms of authority (v. 8), yet Jude shows that Michael respected the authority even of Satan.
Michael the archangel,
God sent Michael the archangel (Da 10:13, 21; 12:1) to bury Moses’ body but the devil disputed with him over the body. The Bible never uses the plural “archangels,” but only the singular “archangel.” There was only one archangel, one chief angel. In the New Testament, we find the word archangel only here and in 1 Thessalonians 4:16. The Bible arranges angels in systematic orders.
in contending with the devil,
Lucifer was the highest-ranking creation God made, but he turned devil. There is no story in the Old Testament, where Michael fought with the devil over the body of Moses. There is a story in the pseudepigraphal book Assumption of Moses. The citation of this book caused some to question the inspiration of the book of Jude.
when he disputed about the body of Moses,
Israel buried Moses’ body in the valley of Moab, but we do not know specifically where it is.
dared not bring against him a reviling accusation,
Michael did not bring a “reviling accusation” against the devil. This stands in stark contrast to apostate pride. Michael respected the authority of Satan. Satan means slanderer, accuser. This is his role in the book of Revelation (Re 12:9,10).
but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
Michael appealed to God’s authority rather than his own authority in dealing with the devil. All authority ultimately resides in God. The phrase “The Lord rebuke you” is a quote from Zechariah 3:2, where the Lord speaks these words to Satan’s accusation against Joshua, the priest (Ze 3:1-10). Michael did not have the authority in himself to challenge Satan. He remembered the high estate of Lucifer’s original creation.
PRINCIPLE:
In contending with supernatural forces, we need to defer to God’s authority to deal with them.
APPLICATION:
Christians often try to fight spiritual battles in their own strength. There is a time when we need to put our spiritual struggle in the hands of the Lord. If the mighty Michael the archangel had to do this, so should we.
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Re 12:7-9
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Thank you for such infomartive discussion
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Hello, my name is Minister Wells. I am a student in Lift Bible College. I would like some information on the book of Jude sent to my email address. in advance to the offer, thanks again for this websites.
Minister Wells, you actually have control of that process yourself. All you have to do is login and go to “Subscriptions.” Under “Cookie Subscriptions” choose the book you want delivered (Jude) to your email and the next day you will start receiving emails. Note that if you clean your computer of cookies then the emails will stop coming.
Grant, you say that some question the inspiration of the book of Jude based on its citing a pseudepigraphal source. Do YOU question Jude’s inspiration? Is this reference in Jude akin to Paul’s citing Greek philosophers on Mars Hill–a way to connect with the hearers while not promoting the cited material?
Deb, I do not question the inspiration of the book of Jude. Those who do are liberal theologians and left-leaning evangelicals, or post-evangelicals. The Bible references many non-biblical resources, one of those is as you say. What makes the text inspired is the autographs, that is, the extant writing guided by the Holy Spirit. However, the autographs reliability may not justify the statement per se, on the accuracy of the statement. For example, the Bible accurately quotes Satan’s statements but they are lies. In the case of the quotation here in Jude 9 the statement is accurate.
Thank you SoVery Much!
Proverbs 3:5-6 New International Version (NIV)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.[a]
Nice commemts
Hi! Where in the Bible do we see Israel burying Moses body in the valley of Moab?
Anthony, Deut 34:6.
Thank you for the commentary of Jude 9. I appreciate it and want to learn more.
Ps. Jeffry A. Tumimomor
God bless you as I blessed by reading your Biblical explanation but in the verse Jude 1:9 you explained as “Israel buried Moses’ body in the valley of Moab.” But the Bible confirmed as his dead body was buried by the Lord in an unknown place (Deuteronomy 34:1–6).
Tamirat, thanks for your post. The specific place of Moses’ burial site is unknown but we know that it was somewhere in the valley of Moab, which is large geographically.