Hebrew Word Study – The Mouth of God – Al Pi Adonai

Deuteronomy 34:5: “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.”

When Moses died Scripture does not say he just died, but that he died by the word of the Lord. So, what does it mean to die by the word of the Lord? The Lord says, “Die,” and you die? In the Hebrew, “the word of the Lord” is al pi Adonai, which literally means “by the mouth of the Lord.” Well, God does not have a mouth; that is an anthropomorphism, attributing human characteristics, traits, emotions, or intentions to God. God is a spirit; he does not have eyes, ears, nose, or mouth. However, we give Him these physical traits to help us better understand his character.

For Moses to die by the mouth of the Lord would suggest to most translators that this is a reference to God speaking certain words that resulted in His death. The Jewish sages, however, interpret this as an anthropomorphism that is that God leaned down from the heavens and ended Moses’ life with a soft, gentle kiss.

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The word in Hebrew for mouth is Pei.  Pei means the mouth as well as an opening or entryway. Literally, the mouth is an opening into the interior of the body.  I suppose you could say that God ended Moses’s life by swallowing him up. Perhaps dying by the mouth of the Lord is a picture of entering into the very being of God. It could picture becoming a part of God or more like having an intimate, personal, and permanent connection with God.

The Jewish sages, however, teach that the mouth of God is a kiss.  A kiss is the most intimate physical expression without really entering into a sexual relationship with another person. A kiss between two lovers is usually a prelude to a sexual relationship.  It is called foreplay, which is a sexual activity that precedes intercourse. The act of sexual intercourse is what joins the bride and bridegroom together as one.  Genesis 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” We cannot become one with God while in this corrupt physical body.  God cannot be joined with corruption.  But with the blood of Jesus our souls are made incorruptible, and once our souls leave our bodies, we are free to be joined with God as one with him in an ultimate expression of intimacy.

Note Deuteronomy 34:5 tells us that Moses died “according to the mouth of God.”  The word according is the Hebrew word ‘al which is a preposition with numerous English possibilities, generally it is used to express the English prepositions upon, above, over, and according to.  The point is that Moses did not die as a result of the mouth of God but according to the mouth of God.  One is not wrong to translate this as Moses died according to the word of the Lord or what the Lord said, but if that is the case, why do we assume the word of the Lord is: “Die.”  Why can that word not be “love?” Moses died according to the racham love of God.  As a husband and his wife on their wedding night embrace in devekut, a loving hug, they will shut out the very existence of the world so it is as if only the two exist and nothing else. Then the husband gives his bride a soft, gentle kiss as he whispers to her the words; “I love you.”  By his word she then submits herself entirely to her husband in that intimacy that only a husband and wife in a love relationship can share.

So, too at the words of the Lord; “I love you,” given while He holds us in a loving embrace. He then gives us a Divine Kiss and by his words “I love you,” our soul cannot resist it any longer and just leaves our bodies to become one with God.

At what point do we die? Would we really call that dying? Is God killing us, is He commanding us to die, or is He just “loving us to death” in a literal sense? It is not unusual for a new bride to be a bit nervous before her wedding day.  But when that ceremony ends, and the bride and groom have exchanged their vows, and they give each other a kiss, that fear is gone and is replaced with ecstatic joy, joy in the feeling of being loved, of belonging, of resting in the arms of someone she completely and totally trusts with the realization that she will never be alone. But the marriage has not been consummated yet. That traditionally takes place in the yichud room, a room that, in ancient times and even today the bride and bridegroom are removed from the entire wedding party. They are locked together in a room where no one is allowed to enter. In fact, only the couple has the key to the lock. In ancient times this is where the couple might consummate their marriage. They even placed guards outside of the yichud room so the couple can be as alone as possible, and while there is a great celebration and dancing outside the yichud, the couple could care less about the party, of being with family and friends; they only desire to be with each other.

In more modern times, the couple rarely consummates their marriage in the yichud room; they spend that time alone, separated from their family and friends, to face the reality that they are to become one together, their dreams, their hopes, and their plans are all now a joint dream, hope, and plan.  Then they go on a honeymoon where they are really separated from everyone and everything related to their lives at some distant destination where they are alone on this honeymoon together.

This is the picture of the death of a believer.  When you are joined with the love, racham of God there is nothing in this world that matters to you anymore. It is just you and God. But let’s back up a little. The fear and nervousness felt by the bride before the wedding disappear with that kiss at the end of the ceremony.  However, that is not the consummation of the marriage. It is the word “I love you” that causes our souls to leave our bodies.

I am continually haunted by a story I heard when I was a child about a woman who spent her life in the occult, where she had a spirit guide.  She really thought she was serving and a devoted Christian. The day she died, she lay in her bed surrounded by her loved ones, and she looked up and said; “Oh, I see my spiritual coming for me.”  Then she let out a terrifying scream and died. I doubt she received a Divine Kiss. That spirit guide or whoever she was serving during her lifetime was not the God of Heaven.

Then I think of the passing of my father, who spent three days laying in a hospital bed unresponsive but still alive. The family was all gathered together around his bed.  I wondered what was going on with him during this time. On the third day, a hospice care worker told us he had died. He died peacefully, having left this world without agony or pain. I was amazed at my feelings, I felt no grief, no sense of loss, I just felt a Divine peace rest upon myself and the rest of our family.

I believe my father received a Divine Hug during all this time and eventually a Divine Kiss, and then God said to him: “I love you,” and his soul just left his body.  Like Moses, he died ai pi Adonai, by the mouth of the Lord or the Divine Kiss. 

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