The story of a dispute between the archangel Michael and the devil about the body of Moses is not found in the Old Testament. Instead it is a story that comes from a book called The Assumption of Moses. In Deuteronomy 34:6, the Bible tells us that it was the Lord who buried Moses and that no one knows where his body is buried. As a result of this, it is likely that some speculation arose as people wondered what happened to Moses’s body since no one observed the burial.1 The story from The Assumption of Moses was probably an attempt to fill in this gap
by explaining how the Lord conducted this burial. Since there are no complete copies of this book in existence today, we cannot know for sure what it said. However, by making use of quotations from the early church fathers, we can speculate that the story in the book went something as follows:
After the death of Moses, Michael came to bury his body. The devil came and argued that the body should be given to him, for Moses had been a murderer and therefore did not deserve an honourable burial. When Michael appealed to the judgment of God with: The Lord rebuke you,
the devil withdrew, knowing that God would decide in favour of Moses’ honour and against his slander.2
9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”