Jewish legend has it that when Moses’ time was at an end and Samael, the Angel of Death begged God to let him have the pleasure of removing Moses’ soul. After much deliberation God consented, and Samael set off. However, he found Moses studying the Torah, and such a resplendent light flashed out of his eyes that Samael was afraid to go near him. Therefore, God took upon himself the duty of taking the great man’s soul. Three angels descended with the Holy One, blessed be he: Michael, Gabriel, and Genael. Gabriel laid out Moses’ couch; Michael spread a purple sheet over it; Genael prepared a woolen cushion for a pillow. The Holy One, blessed be he, stood at his head, Genael at his feet, Gabriel at one side and Michael on the other. The Holy One, blessed be he, said, “Cross your legs,” and he did so. “Put your hands upon your chest,” and he did so. “Close your eyelids,” and he did so. Then the Holy One, blessed be he, called to Moses’ soul, “I have allotted you one hundred and twenty years in Moses’ body. Now come out, do not delay, for your time has arrived to emerge.” The soul replied at once, “I know that you are the God of spirits and souls, and that in your hand are the souls of the living and the dead, and that you have created me and formed me and placed me in the body of Moses for one hundred and twenty years. Who else has a body as pure as Moses? I do not wish to leave it…” The soul persistently refused to forsake Moses’ body of her own accord. In the end, God had to take his soul himself with a kiss, as it is said “Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the mouth of the Lord” Moses died at the age of 120 by the command of the Lord and was buried by Him in an unmarked grave (Deut. 34:5).
(Goldstein, Jewish Folklore and Legend)