Moses Vs Epicurus

After spending last week studying one of the great songs from the philosopher-poet, Moses, I’m surprised to receive an email this morning which sums up many of the questions Psalm 90 grapples with:

“What happens when we die? Do we receive punishment or rewards for how we’ve lived? Do we get to see the ones we’ve lost? Or is it just a void, oblivion, nothingness?

Death is terrifying. It is a great unknown, and the end of life. For Epicureanism, it is one of the foundational fears that causes distress and disturbance in our life. And the fear of death permeates many parts of our lives. It is not just the dread we feel at a funeral, or the pit in our stomachs when we go to the doctor.

It is also the fact that we can’t enjoy getting older - knowing that it represents getting closer to the end of our lives. Or that we feel an anxious energy to move, get busy, do something - as if our accomplishments or legacy could overpower death and the end it promises.

We don’t just fear death, we crave immortality.” [1]

So far, so Mosaic. Yes, these are the great fears we all experience as mortal humans. This opening echoes much of the sermon I preached last night, which saw Psalm 90 as an ascent from dust through desire to dwelling in God (three points: check! Alliteration: tick!).

The analysis is sharp, the posture courageous. In a culture that professionalises, sanitises and avoids death and its associated horrors; this is bracing stuff. This well-written newsletter from The Stoa Letter, “a community dedicated to the Stoic path”, echoes Moses’ aching verse: 

The years of our life are seventy,
    or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away .[2]

But where the Bible and the Epicureans diverge is in the very next line of the newsletter:

“We don’t just fear death, we crave immortality. Which is a desire that cannot be satisfied.” [3]

Satisfaction is also on Moses’ mind. The Bible doesn’t avoid the reality of human desire. God “has put eternity into man's heart” [4], Solomon elegantly notes. Whereas the email claims the universal human desire for immortality cannot be satisfied, satisfaction for Moses can be found in only one place. “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love”, he prays. 

In stark contrast, Epicurus assumes annihilationism: “Death, the most frightening of bad things, is nothing to us; since when we exist, death is not yet present, and when death is present, then we do not exist.”- Letter to Menoeceus, 125

This is a huge assumption; that when we die, we cease to exist. We’re simply annihilated. It’s the converse of what the Christian tradition assumes, that “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement” – Letter to the Hebrews 9:27

The title of this edition of The Stoa Letter is “Do not fear death: How to have fun instead”, an eye-catching headline. It explains that “Epicurus’ point is that death is scary because we cease to exist. But if we do not exist, then we cannot be harmed.” [5] But that’s a big ‘if’. The biggest bet imaginable hangs on that single ‘if’ turning out to be true. 

The newsletter’s author is right in seeing direct, practical consequences of this basic metaphysical assumption. He confidently advises: “In Rome, there was a famous Epicurean epitaph, the phrase written on tombstones. It goes “I was not. I was. I am not. I do not care.” This is the key point for having fun: When you are not, you will not care. So enjoy what you have and don’t worry about what happens when you are gone.” [6]

The argument is persuasive, on its own terms. But that’s just the problem. Those terms. That monumental assumption, that although we have eternity written on our hearts and we crave immortality, we will not get it. Says who? Says an old Roman inscription?

Let’s take the pragmatic angle for a moment, leaving this huge metaphysical gamble hanging in the air, and look at the equation from the practical end.

Surely, we, as Christians, can’t argue against enjoying life? Or perhaps there is truth in the caricature that we are dour Calvinists and killjoy Puritans. Take Moses, with all his talk about God’s wrath and fear of the LORD. Is he not interested in fun, rejoicing and gladness? 

 “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” [7]

OK, so we can rule out the idea of Moses the stick in the mud. The history books show us a man who resolutely led his people toward a land “flowing with milk and honey” [8], who enjoyed composing happy songs and teaching his friends how to sing them. [9]

Rather than the dark prospect that, after a short seven or eight decades, we’ll all be obliterated into bleak, cold nothingness, soon to be forgotten, permanently erased, Moses has a much more optimistic view of the future than Epicurus. Moses desires to be satisfied and rejoice. He also has the wisdom to know where to turn for both; to his Maker, Judge and Saviour. 

The Biblical and the Stoic/Epicurean literature share much in their analysis of the big questions facing humans in every generation. Both advocate radical acceptance of death. Both see one’s answer to what happens after death as exerting huge influence on how we think and act in the here and now. Both encourage their readers “Memento Mori” – remember you will die. [10]

Whilst the Stoics have memento mori and their cousins, the Epicureans [11] advise we should eat and drink, for tomorrow we die, Moses and his fellow Biblical authors conclude from human mortality that we should eat and drink - pray, repent and worship - for tomorrow we live. 

I know which one sounds more fun to me.  

_________

[1] Michael, “Do Not Fear Death,” The Stoa Letter, June 20, 2026, https://www.stoaletter.com/p/do-not-fear-death.

[2] Ps. 90:10, ESV https://www.esv.org/Psalm+90/

[3] “Do Not Fear Death,” The Stoa Letter.

[4] Ecclesiastes 3:11, ESV https://www.esv.org/Ecclesiastes+3/

[5] “Do Not Fear Death,” The Stoa Letter.

[6] “Do Not Fear Death,” The Stoa Letter.

[7] Ps. 90:14

[8] Ex. 3:8 https://www.esv.org/Exodus+3/

[9] Ex. 15 https://www.esv.org/verses/Exodus+15/

[10] “Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over thee.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 4, trans. George Long, The Internet Classics Archive (MIT), https://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.4.four.html

[11] “…understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable…” Epicurus, “Letter to Menoeceus,” in Lives of Eminent Philosophers, bk. 10, trans. C. D. Yonge, Wikisource, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Letter_to_Menoeceus