Deuteronomy 31:10

And Moses commanded them,.... The priests and the elders, to whom the law was delivered: saying; as follows: at the end of [every] seven years; every seventh year was a year of rest to the land, and

And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, At the end of every seven years ... thou shalt read this law.

The year of release; when they were freed from debts and troubles, and cares of worldly matters, and thereby fitter to attend upon God and his service.

Deuteronomy 31:9-13. MOSES RESIGNS HIS CHARGE AS TO THE PRIESTS.(9-11) And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests . . . And . . . commanded them, saying . . . thou shalt read.—This must be distinguished from the deliverance of the “book” to the Levites in Deuteronomy 31:25-26. The deliverance here must be understood as a charge and a trust conveyed to the priests, making them responsible for the “reading of the law,” and for the instruction of the people. This is the special duty of the priests. They are said to “bear” the ark of the covenant here; not because they always carried it (they did sometimes, as in Joshua 3), but because they were responsible for it, just as they were also responsible for the exposition of the law (Deuteronomy 17:9). This is another example of the distinction between priests and Levites in the book of Deuteronomy. (10, 11) At the end of every seven years, in the . . . year of release, in the feast of tabernacles . . . thou shalt read this law.—The fulfilment of this command, as far as the reading of the law is concerned, is described in Joshua 8:34-35; and again “at the feast of tabernacles” in Nehemiah 8. That the law read on these occasions was especially the book of Deuteronomy appears from the Talmudical treatise Sotah (p. 41), where the reading of it by the king is described as beginning with Deuteronomy 1:1 : “These are the words.” It is in this connection that the story is told of Agrippa that he wept when he came to Deuteronomy 17:15, “Thou mayest not set a stranger over thee.” But they said, “Fear not, Agrippa, thou art our brother,” and he then finished the reading. It was read from a platform erected in the forecourt of the temple. From this passage it is clear that the “reading” was understood to refer specially to the book of Deuteronomy. (13) That their children . . . may hear.—It is obvious from this that the existence of many copies of the law was not contemplated by the writer. Comp. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 : “These words shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them.”

Verse 10. - 11. At the end of every seven years-thou shalt read this law] Every seventh year was a year of release, Deuteronomy 15:1, at which time the people's minds, being under a peculiar degree of solemnity, were better disposed to hear and profit by the words of God. I suppose on this ground also that the whole book of Deuteronomy is meant, as it alone contains an epitome of the whole Pentateuch. And in this way some of the chief Jewish rabbins understand this place. It is strange that this commandment, relative to a public reading of the law every seven years, should have been rarely attended to. It does not appear that from the time mentioned Joshua 8:30, at which time this public reading first took place, till the reign of Jehoshaphat 2 Chronicles 17:7, there was any public seventh year reading - a period of 530 years. The next seventh year reading was not till the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah, 2 Chronicles 34:30, a space of two hundred and eighty-two years. Nor do we flnd any other publicly mentioned from this time till the return from the Babylonish captivity, Ne 8:2. Nor is there any other on record from that time to the destruction of Jerusalem. See Dodd.

10. At the end of every seven years … the year of release] See Deuteronomy 15:1 ff. set time] Heb. mo‘ed, in Deuteronomy 16:6 of a fixed hour of day; here as in Exodus 23:15 (see Dri.’s note) of a season fixed for a sacred festival; for another application see Deuteronomy 31:14. the feast of Booths] See Deuteronomy 16:13-15.

10. The end of every seven years — At the return of the sabbatic year and during the feast of tabernacles, which was kept to commemorate the wilderness journey, this law was to be repeated.