Еврейская мысль к Мелахим Б 2:1

Since man's greatest misfortune is the inescapable need to die, and since certain superior individuals such as the prophet Elijah or Enoch are reported to have ascended to Heaven without undergoing physical death first, it seems strange that Moses the most perfect human being, should have died and been buried just like any ordinary mortal. True, he was buried by the Lord Himself, nevertheless, why should he not at least have been the equal of Elijah? (see Kings II 2, or Gnenesis 5,25) Since the Torah exhorts us repeatedly to observe certain commandments so that we should not die, dying must be viewed as a negative experience, possibly the ultimate negative experience. Moses' superiority to angels, is described by Sifri in Parshat vayelech in the following story. G'd said to the angel of death, "go and bring Me the soul of Moses." The angel went, stood by the side of Moses and asked him for his soul. Moses replied: "in a place where I am permitted to remain seated, you are not even allowed to remain standing; how could you have the temerity to demand my soul?" The angel of death withdrew angrily and reported back to the Almighty. G'd simply repeated His instructions to the angel once more. The angel of death returned once more to the place he had found Moses the last time, only to find that Moses had moved on since then. Enquiries from the sea as to Moses' present whereabouts, elicited the reply that the sea had not seen him since he had split the sea of reeds at the time the Jewish people crossed it at the Exodus. When the mountains and valleys were asked if they had seen Moses, they replied that G'd must have hidden him in a place no one knew of, since it is written "He buried him in the valley etc. (Deut 34,6) At any rate, from the description in the Sifri it is evident that the thought that Moses was merely another mortal was difficult for anyone to accept. Nonetheless, the Midrash deserves further analysis.