In the very
same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their
own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. But
even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body
of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord
rebuke you!” Yet these people slander
whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by
instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them. Jude 8-10
There’s a
little side note mentioned in passing in the small book of Jude. One line.
You’ll almost miss it. It says
the archangel Michael argued with Satan about the body of Moses.
Did this
happen and where did Jude get this information because it’s nowhere mentioned in
the Bible?
Jude was
Jesus’ half brother so it’s possible this was information Jesus communicated at
some time about the burial of Moses, sitting around the table. Remember, Moses died in Deuteronomy 34, in a
secret burial service where God took Moses’ body and put it somewhere no one
could find (the possibility of worshipping the grave of Moses and turning it
into a shrine could distract people from the true God). So the spiritual argument could have happened
because the burial of Moses was unlike any other in the Bible.
But, we
must look at Jude’s intention to bring up this point. Jude was talking about divisive people in the
church who reject authority, pollute their bodies and attack spiritual
beings. These are all traits of
Satan. However, Jude says, even Michael
didn’t slander Satan (talk about him behind his back, tell others what a bad
person he was) but spoke directly to him and rebuked him.
Jude wants
to say handle rebels in the church the way Michael handled Satan. Rebuke them directly, don’t talk about them
behind their backs.
So the
incident may have happened (no reason it couldn’t have) or it was a useful
metaphor for Jude to make a deeper point about church politics today.