Assumption of Moses?

[gomer_tree]

OK, I sent this to the “Ask an apologist” black hole a couple weeks ago, and they either didn’t have time to get to it, or they thought I was insane.

In the book of Jude, Satan and Michael battle over the body of Moses. At the transfiguration, Moses and Elijah appear together.

1. What interest does Satan have with the body of Moses?
2. To kind of answer my own question, it seems to me like the only reason Satan would have an interest is if God had other plans for the body of Moses. Could this imply that the body of Moses was assumed?
3. Since we know Elijah was assumed, and Moses appeared with Elijah, and we are given no indication that they appeared different from one another, does that also imply that Moses was assumed?
4. Has this ever been discussed anywhere in Catholic Literature? I am not aware of any. I thought this up all by my lonesome.
5. Do you know what happens when you assume?

 

[Buckeyejoe]

My advice would be to read the Assumption of Mosses possibly it contains some answers. I don’t think Christ was conversing with 2 assumed individuals, (That wasn’t the objective) He was conversing with the 2 greatest Old Testament figures, whether Mosses was assumed or not is a good question!

Also: This verse in Jude refering to a non-inspired writing, “The Assumption of Mosses”, I think is real good proof of the fallacy of Sola Scriptura. Becasue Jude uses an apocrypha work written long before his time, and elevates a portion of it to the level of Holy Scriptures. The Assumption of Mosses doesn’t quote Jude, Jude quotes the Assumption of Mosses…

Thanks…

 

[Fidelis]

I thought this was an intriguing question. All of the Catholic commentaries I looked at mostly point out that it is a reference to an episode found in apocryhpal literature, notably the Assumption of Moses and 1 Enoch, and that the reason James includes it was to make the point that people shouldn’t dare to bad mouth or “rebuke” angelic beings (either the good ones or the bad ones) because even Michael the Archangel didn’t do so. Apparently there was some controversy about this among those whom Jude was writing to.

In the Jerome Bible Commentary, it cites an authority on apocryphal literature who says that the Devil had felt he had a claim on Moses’ body because (a) it was of a material nature, and (b) because of Moses’ sins, specifically the murder of the Egyption taskmaster. The commentary cites the author and work, but not what he bases this analysis on. My guess it is probably based on extra-biblical rabbinic literature.

Incidently, reason (a) above strikes to me as characteristic of Gnosticism, an early heresy which equated the material world with evil and the spiritual with good. If these apocryphal books were infected with the Gnosticsm heresy, it is probably one of the reasons they are not in the canon. By citing them, of course, James is not putting them on par with inspired Scripture, he is just using an example his readers are familiar with, just like a writer today might use an illustration from, say, Lord of The Rings.

 

[gomer_tree]

Thanks for your replies. I had never heard of the “Assumption of Moses” apocryphal book.

I’ll try to find it and check it out (realizing of course that it is not inspired Scripture).

 

[J_Chrysostomos]

As I understand, the only fragments of the Assumption that we have do not contain the text quoted by St. Jude.

As to why he quoted it (as well as I Enoch), note that Paul occasionally quoted pagan authors (see Acts 17 for a couple of examples) when they spoke a truth, for all truth ultimately comes from God. Paul nor Jude was quoting these folks as canon, just quoting a true statement from such works.