I have a Bible question about Jude:\u00a0 Why were Michael and Satan arguing about the corpse of Moses?<\/p>\n\t
“Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”<\/em>” (Jude 8-9).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This passage has led to numerous speculations over the centuries because the event is not recorded in the Old Testament; yet, Jude refers to it as a piece of history. Some try to make it symbolic, but there is no reason to think that Jude is using figurative language in this text.<\/p>\n
Most likely the time being discussed is right after the death of Moses. “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day<\/em>” (Deuteronomy 34:5-6). The fact that God had Moses’ body buried does hint that there was a concern.<\/p>\n
The most logical guess that I’ve run across is that people have a tendency to idolize things. The Israelites turned the bronze serpent into an idol (II Kings 18:4). We see the Catholic church venerating anything that hints of being an ancient religious relic, including claiming to have bones of apostles or religious men. Therefore, it is not hard to imagine that Satan wanted access to the body of Moses to corrupt God’s people in some manner. God prevented this from happening by keeping the location of Moses’ body secret, but I’m sure Satan protested this.<\/p>\n
However, this remains a speculation. Instead of getting sidetracked, we need to focus on the point that Jude was illustrating: No one should sit in judgment over the fate of another person, even when we know the ultimate fate of someone like Satan. God is the Judge of all the world and we must respect His authority in these matters.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I have a Bible question about Jude:\u00a0 Why were Michael and Satan arguing about the corpse of Moses? Answer: “Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[892,986,235],"class_list":["post-54338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-jude","tag-michael","tag-satan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8325,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-jude-9-linked-to-zechariah-32\/","url_meta":{"origin":54338,"position":0},"title":"Why is Jude 9 linked to Zechariah 3:2?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 31, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about the book of Jude. In particular, verse 9. It talks about the archangel Michael and the devil in a dispute about the body of Moses. I had not read this before, or at least don't remember it. At the bottom of the page, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24302,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-jude-contain-quotes-not-found-in-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":54338,"position":1},"title":"Why does Jude contain quotes not found in the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When we study the book of Jude in our Bible study group, I found that in verse 9 and verse 14, Jude quoted \"The Lord rebuke thee\" and \"Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,\" but they were not in the Old Testament. A brother told\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86122,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-we-hate-satan\/","url_meta":{"origin":54338,"position":2},"title":"Should we hate Satan?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Should we hate Satan? To me, it sure seems like we should hate the devil because he is the embodiment of sin (I John 3:8).\u00a0 Satan is lost; he's never coming over to God's side. It just conflicts with our desire to love our enemies as we're told to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11830,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-michael-the-archangel-and-jesus-the-same-person\/","url_meta":{"origin":54338,"position":3},"title":"Are Michael the archangel and Jesus the same person?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My question is about the archangel Micheal. Was that Jesus' original name before he came to earth? I ask because in the book of Daniel and Revelation have some resemblance. (Daniel 10:13, 21; Daniel 12:1; Jude 9 and Revelation 12:7). Answer: The simple answer is that Michael is not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32120,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-to-say-rest-in-peace-in-regard-to-a-known-sinner\/","url_meta":{"origin":54338,"position":4},"title":"Is it right to say “Rest in Peace” in regard to a known sinner?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to ask a question regarding a statement left by many of my friends, as well as my Christian brothers and sisters in Christ. The statement is \"Rest in Peace\" to Whitney Houston. I know according to the Bible that no one is in Heaven yet. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27215,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-the-book-of-enoch-isnt-an-authoritative-book-then-why-is-jude-in-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":54338,"position":5},"title":"If the Book of Enoch isn’t an authoritative book, then why is Jude in the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This is really well put\u00a0together\u00a0as to why\u00a0Enoch was written by man, but I am a bit confused. When I go read a study on Jude, Enoch is mentioned as if it's an\u00a0authoritative\u00a0book. If it\u00a0contradicts\u00a0God's Word and came from man, then how can Jude be right? Forgive my questions. 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