What happened after the death of Moses?
And yes — there was an unseen battle.
Moses dies… but the story doesn’t end there
Moses dies in Deuteronomy 34.
God Himself buries him.
“He buried him in the valley… but no one knows his grave to this day.”
— Deuteronomy 34:6
That line already feels strange, right?
No grave. No monument. No location.
That’s where the unseen battle begins.
The hidden war: Michael vs Satan
The Bible gives us a shocking detail in a tiny verse most people skip.
“But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare condemn him with a slanderous accusation…”
— Jude 1:9
This verse opens a curtain into the spiritual realm.
Two forces:
And the fight was over Moses’ body.
Not his soul.
His body.
Why would Satan want Moses’ body?
There are a few strong reasons, and they fit Satan’s pattern perfectly.
1. To turn Moses into an idol
Israel already struggled with idol worship.
If Moses’ grave was known, people may:
Satan loves religion without obedience.
2. To accuse Moses
Satan is called “the accuser” (Revelation 12:10).
Moses had sinned — he struck the rock.
Satan may have claimed:
“This body belongs to me because he disobeyed.”
But mercy overruled accusation.
3. Because Moses still had a future role
This part is wild.
Centuries later, Moses appears again — alive in glory — at the Transfiguration of Jesus.
Moses and Elijah stood with Jesus on the mountain
— Matthew 17:3
That means Moses’ body mattered in God’s plan.
Satan knew it.
How did the battle end?
Michael did not argue with Satan.
He didn’t insult him.
He didn’t flex power.
He said only this:
“The Lord rebuke you.”
That’s it.
Authority doesn’t shout.
It stands.
And Satan lost.
What happened next on earth?
After Moses:
The visible story continued…
but the invisible war had already been settled.
The deeper lesson (this is important)
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God protects what He plans to use
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Not every spiritual battle is noisy
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Even Satan cannot touch what God hides
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Your past failure doesn’t cancel God’s future purpose
Moses failed once — but God still honored him forever.
The unseen war didn’t end with Moses’ burial
When Moses died, heaven settled one battle…
but earth was about to face another.
Joshua takes over — and something strange happens
In Joshua 5:13–15, right before the battle of Jericho, Joshua sees a man with a drawn sword.
Joshua asks:
“Are you for us or for our enemies?”
The answer is shocking:
“Neither. But as Commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come.”
Joshua falls down and worships.
This was not an ordinary angel.
Why this matters after Moses’ death
Moses led Israel by law and signs.
Joshua would lead them by warfare and obedience.
But Joshua wasn’t just fighting Canaanites.
He was stepping into:
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Territories ruled by spiritual powers
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Cities dedicated to false gods
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Lands already claimed by darkness
So before Jericho’s walls fell,
spiritual authority was already present.
Same pattern as Moses:
Moses vs Joshua: two phases of God’s plan
| Moses | Joshua |
|---|
| Law | Conquest |
| Wilderness | Promise |
| Signs | Obedience |
| Staff | Sword |
Moses finished his assignment.
Joshua continued it.
God never stops a plan — He just changes the servant.
Why Satan feared Moses so much
Here’s the part that gives chills.
Satan knew:
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Moses spoke face to face with God
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Moses represented God’s authority
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Moses would appear again with Christ (Transfiguration)
That’s why Satan fought over the body, not the soul.
But Satan lost twice:
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At Moses’ burial
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At the mountain with Jesus
What this means for us today
Some battles you’ll never see:
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God blocking things you never knew were coming
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Heaven arguing your case while you sleep
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Your future protected even after a failure
Moses died outside the Promise Land —
but he still stood inside God’s glory.
Failure doesn’t define the ending.
Obedience does.
Another unseen battle most people never hear about
The war over Joshua himself
After Moses died, Joshua was terrified.
He followed a giant. A prophet. A man who spoke with God.
God tells him something very specific — and repeated.
“Be strong and very courageous.”
— Joshua 1 (said three times)
Why repeat it?
Because fear wasn’t just emotional.
It was spiritual pressure.
When leadership changes, dark forces test the transition.
The pattern of Satan after great servants die
When a great servant of God finishes their work, Satan tries one of three things:
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Destroy the legacy
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Paralyze the successor
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Delay the promise
He failed with Moses’ body.
So he shifted focus to Joshua’s mind.
Fear is a battlefield.
Why Jericho came first
Jericho was not the biggest city.
Not the richest.
Not the strongest.
But it was:
God didn’t give Joshua a sword strategy.
He gave him a worship strategy.
Why?
Because the real wall was spiritual, not physical.
Before the shout,
before the march,
before the collapse—
Heaven had already judged Jericho.
Something chilling about Jericho’s fall
When the walls fell:
The walls collapsed inward.
Archaeology even supports this.
That means:
Jericho fell from inside, not outside.
Spiritual defeat always happens before physical defeat.
Moses still influencing the unseen realm
Even after death, Moses’ authority echoes.
Joshua obeys God the same way Moses did:
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Exact instructions
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No shortcuts
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No explanations demanded
And Scripture says:
“The Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread through the land.”
— Joshua 6:27
Same presence.
Different leader.
The silent truth most people miss
God didn’t allow Moses to enter the land…
…but He allowed Moses’ spirit of obedience to enter through Joshua.
God buries people.
But He transfers purpose.
The unseen lesson
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Some of your greatest victories come after loss
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God may remove a pillar, but never the foundation
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What ends on earth may still be active in heaven
Moses’ body was hidden.
Joshua’s courage was tested.
Jericho fell.
The promise moved forward.
All while most people only saw marching feet and falling stones.
There are many more moments like this in Scripture — quiet, hidden wars that shaped history.
And almost nobody talks about them.
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