Jude 9: Dispute Over Moses’ Body (Part 1)

It’s about Cosmic Geography

Jude 9 reads, “(CSB): Yet when Michael the archangel was disputing with the devil in an argument about Moses’s body, he did not dare utter a slanderous condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

In this section (v9) Jude rebukes a group of people (v8, false teachers) who are guilty of “relying on dreams” and in doing so 

1. Defile the flesh

2. Reject authority

3. Slander Glorious ones 

One NT Scholar shows a progressive offense of their behavior through these three categories.

He says, “In essence, Jude describes the self-absorbed Zealots [false teachers] as religiously contaminated (Jude 8a), insubordinate (Jude 8b), and slanderous people (Jude 8c).”¹

Developing on the concepts of contamination of religion, insubordination of authority, and slander of the “glorious ones” Jude refers to a situation where Michael was in dispute over the body of Moses. In this situation, not even Michael hurled personal accusations or slander against the devil but referred to God’s rebuke of the enem…