Deuteronomy 31

Moses is near the end of his life and prepares Israel for a future without him. He encourages the people and Joshua, hands the written law to the priests and elders, and gives orders for it to be read every seven years. God also warns that Israel will turn away, and gives a song to stand as a witness. The chapter shows God’s steady presence alongside the people’s weakness.

Deuteronomy 31:1-2

Moses has finished his long addresses. He now speaks personally, as a man of 120 who can no longer lead the people day to day. He gives God’s verdict plainly: he will not cross the Jordan. He accepts it without bitterness.

BSA: come and go (“to go out and come in, to be active”): This was a common way of describing a leader’s daily activity, so Moses is saying his days of active leadership are over.

Hebrew: לָצֵאת וְלָבוֹא (latzet velavo, H3318) — “to go out and to come in.” The Hebrew phrase covers a person’s whole round of activity. Moses is saying he is no longer fit to lead the people out and bring them in.

See also: Numbers 20:12; Deuteronomy 34:7.

Deuteronomy 31:3-4

The change of leader does not change who really leads. The LORD himself crosses first and clears the way, and Joshua follows as his appointed servant. Israel need only remember what God did to Sihon and Og, whose defeat shows what God can do again.

BSA: dispossess (“take control, occupy”): God gives the land by driving out its peoples, and Israel then takes possession of what he has given.

See also: Numbers 21:21-35.

Deuteronomy 31:5-6

God’s promise and Israel’s obedience go together. He will give the enemies over to them, and they must act as he has commanded. Courage rests on one fact: the LORD goes with them and will not leave them.

BSA: goes (“walks or moves”): God is pictured as actually walking along with his people on the road, not watching from a distance. forsake (“abandon or loosen”): The picture is of God never loosening his grip on his people.

Hebrew: יַרְפְּךָ (yarpekha, H7503) — “let you drop, loosen his hold on you.” The word means to slacken or let go. God promises never to let his grip on his people go slack.

See also: Hebrews 13:5; Joshua 1:5-9.

Deuteronomy 31:7-8

Moses now speaks to Joshua before the whole nation, so that the people see his authority. Joshua’s job is to lead them in and distribute the inheritance. The same promise is repeated: God goes ahead, God is with him, and fear has no ground.

BSA: discouraged (“broken or shattered, dismayed”): Discouragement here means being broken inwardly. God’s presence guards against that. inheritance (“possession, heritage”): The land is a gift received from God and handed on, not something earned.

Hebrew: תֵחָת (tēḥat, H2865) — “be shattered, be dismayed.” This is the picture of a person broken by fear. The command is to refuse to be crushed, because God goes before you.

See also: Numbers 27:18-23.

Deuteronomy 31:9

Moses writes the law down and gives it to those who will guard it: the priests who carried the ark, and the elders. God’s word is no longer only spoken. It is now a written, lasting thing, held in trust for the whole nation.

BSA: carried (“lifted, bore the responsibility of”): Carrying the ark was a serious duty, and those who carried it were also trusted to carry the law.

Deuteronomy 31:10-11

Every seventh year, at the Feast of Tabernacles, the whole law was to be read aloud. That was the year when debts were released. The nation stood before God at his chosen place, and his word was heard together.

BSA: remission (“release from debt, a temporary suspension of labor”): The year of release was already a year of mercy, so hearing the law in that year linked God’s word with his kindness. Tabernacles (“temporary shelters, booths”): The booths reminded Israel of their wandering years, when they depended wholly on God.

Hebrew: שְׁמִטָּה (shemitta, H8059) — “release, letting go.” The word means a letting go. Every seventh year, debts were released and the land rested.

See also: Deuteronomy 15:1-2; Nehemiah 8:1-8.

Deuteronomy 31:12-13

Everyone is to gather: men, women, children and foreigners. Hearing leads to learning, learning to reverent fear, and fear to obedience. The children, who have not yet known the law, are especially in view, so that faith is handed on to the next generation.

BSA: fear (“reverence, stand in awe of”): This fear is awe before a holy and loving God, the kind that makes a person want to obey.

Hebrew: יִלְמְדוּ (yilmedu, H3925) — “they will learn.” The word is related to the Hebrew word for teaching. It means more than hearing. It means being trained, so that what is heard changes how people live.

See also: Deuteronomy 6:6-7.

Deuteronomy 31:14

God tells Moses his death is near and calls him and Joshua to the Tent of Meeting. The handover of leadership happens in God’s presence, and it is God himself who commissions Joshua.

BSA: commission (“give charge, appoint”): Joshua’s authority comes from God’s own charge, not only from Moses’ choice.

Hebrew: אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד (ohel moed, H168) — “tent of meeting.” The name means the tent of appointed meeting. It was the place where God had set a time and place to meet his people.

Deuteronomy 31:15

God shows himself in the pillar of cloud, the same sign that had led Israel since leaving Egypt. It stands at the tent door. The one who commissions Joshua is the same God who has been present all along.

BSA: cloud (“cloudy, divine presence”): The cloud is a visible sign that God himself is there.

See also: Exodus 13:21; Exodus 33:9-10.

Deuteronomy 31:16

God tells Moses plainly what will happen after his death. Israel will go after the gods of the land, breaking the covenant. God speaks of this as unfaithfulness in a marriage, because Israel belongs to him.

BSA: prostitute (“play the harlot, be unfaithful”): Idolatry is shown as betrayal of a loving relationship, not just a mistake. rest (“sleep with your fathers, die”): Death is described gently as lying down to sleep with one’s ancestors.

Hebrew: וְזָנָה (vezanah, H2181) — “and will act as a prostitute.” The Hebrew word for sexual unfaithfulness is used for Israel’s idol worship. It marks the covenant as a bond of love that can be betrayed.

See also: Judges 2:10-13.

Deuteronomy 31:17

Breaking the covenant has consequences. God will withdraw his protection and let troubles come. Even then, the people will see the link between their suffering and God’s absence. That recognition could be the first step back to him.

BSA: face (“presence, countenance”): God’s face means his favour and nearness, so hiding it means withdrawing his blessing.

Hebrew: הִסְתַּרְתִּי (histarti, H5641) — “I will hide.” To hide the face is to withdraw favour. It is the opposite of the blessing in which God makes his face shine on his people.

Deuteronomy 31:18

God repeats the warning to make it clear. The hiding of his face is not random. It follows the evil of turning to other gods, so Israel’s trouble is the result of what they chose.

BSA: turning (“to face, to direct one’s attention”): Idolatry is turning one’s attention and loyalty away from God to something else.

Deuteronomy 31:19

God gives Moses a song to teach the people. A song is easy to remember and hard to forget. When disaster comes, it will stand as God’s witness, showing that he warned them. The song is given in chapter 32.

BSA: witness (“testimony, evidence”): The song works like evidence on record that Israel cannot later deny. song (“musical expression of praise, hymn”): Putting truth into music makes it easy to memorize and to pass on.

Hebrew: שִׁירָה (shirah, H7892) — “song.” It is a song in the plain sense. God chose music, not just a written warning, so the people would carry it in their mouths.

See also: Deuteronomy 32:1-4.

Deuteronomy 31:20

God knows that prosperity is a danger. In the good land the people will be full and comfortable, and then they will turn to other gods. Blessing was meant to lead them to gratitude, but it can lead to forgetting God instead.

BSA: eat their fill (“to satisfaction, until they are full”): Being fully satisfied is not wrong, but it can make people feel they no longer need God. reject (“despise, spurn”): Turning to idols is a personal insult to the God who gave them everything.

See also: Deuteronomy 8:10-14.

Deuteronomy 31:21

When trouble comes, the song will remain in their memory and speak against them. God says he already knows their heart. He knows their bent even before they enter the land. His warning shows his foreknowledge, and his patience in giving them the song.

BSA: inclination (“imagination, thoughts”): God sees the inner thoughts and bent of the heart, not only outward actions.

Hebrew: יִצְרוֹ (yitsro, H3336) — “his formed purpose, his inclination.” The word comes from the verb for shaping clay. It means the way a person’s inner thoughts have been shaped, or what the heart tends toward.

See also: Genesis 6:5.

Deuteronomy 31:22

Moses acts at once. He writes the song down the same day and teaches it to the people. He is aware that his time is short.

BSA: taught (“instructed, guided”): Moses does not just write the song. He guides the people in learning it.

Deuteronomy 31:23

Now the LORD himself speaks to Joshua. God’s charge is the same as Moses’ words: be strong and courageous. The reason is the same too. Joshua is to lead them in, because the LORD says, “I will be with you.”

BSA: commissioned (“gave a charge, appointed”): God himself places Joshua in his task and does not leave it to men.

See also: Joshua 1:5-9.

Deuteronomy 31:24-26

Moses finishes writing the whole law and tells the Levites to place the book beside the ark. Beside the ark, it stays near the sign of God’s presence as a lasting witness. If Israel strays, no one can say they were not told.

BSA: witness (“testimony, evidence”): The law is placed beside the ark as a standing record of what Israel promised.

See also: Deuteronomy 10:1-5.

Deuteronomy 31:27

Moses speaks honestly. He has seen Israel’s stubbornness for forty years. If they rebel while he is alive, they will do worse after he is gone. It is a sad but truthful picture of the human heart.

BSA: stiff-necked (“hard-hearted, unyielding”): A stiff neck will not bend to its master, just as a stubborn heart will not bend to God.

Hebrew: עָרְפְּךָ (orpekha, H6203) — “your neck.” The image is of an ox that stiffens its neck against the yoke and will not be led.

See also: Exodus 32:9.

Deuteronomy 31:28-29

Moses wants the leaders gathered so that he can call heaven and earth to witness. He says Israel will become corrupt after his death and leave God’s way. The disaster that follows will come because of their own deeds.

BSA: heaven (“the sky, the spiritual realm”): Heaven and earth are called as lasting witnesses that will outlast any human leader. corrupt (“completely immoral, ruined”): The word describes damage that spreads through the whole life of a people.

See also: Deuteronomy 4:26; Deuteronomy 32:1.

Deuteronomy 31:30

Moses now recites the song from beginning to end to the whole assembly. The chapter ends with the song about to begin, which carries on the warning of this chapter and the faithfulness of God in chapter 32.

BSA: assembly (“congregation, gathering”): The whole community hears the song together, so it becomes a shared memory.

See also: Deuteronomy 32:1-4.