CHAPTER 31

(1451 B.C.)

MOSES

¹And Moses went and spoke these words unto all Israel.

²And he said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day (this day, whatever it might have been, was his birthday); I can no more go out and come in (not because of a lack of physical strength, but because his Ministry was now finished): also the LORD has said unto me, You shall not go over this Jordan (Moses was a type of the Law, and the Law can never possess the land, because of the feebleness of mans moral nature, all brought about by the Fall; only Grace can inherit the Promise [Gal. 3:18]).

³The LORD your God, He will go over before you, and He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall possess them: and Joshua, He shall go over before you, as the LORD has said. (Joshua was chosen by the Lord to lead Israel into the Promised Land. He is a Type of Christ. Actually, the Jewish name of Jesus was Joshua. It means Saviour. Jesus has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. In other words, He became our Substitute, and our identification with Him guarantees us His Victory [Jn. 14:20].)

⁴And the LORD shall do unto them as He did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and unto the land of them, whom He destroyed (while Israel was the instrument, it was the Lord Who actually destroyed these enemies, as He Alone can do such!).

⁵And the LORD shall give them up before your face, that you may do unto them according unto all the Commandments which I have commanded you (with the Lord, Israel could not be defeated).

⁶Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD your God, He it is Who does go with you; He will not fail you, nor forsake you (What a Promise! And to be sure, this Promise holds true even unto this moment, and even greater [Heb. 8:6]).

JOSHUA

⁷And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for you must go with this people unto the land which the LORD has sworn unto their fathers to give them; and you shall cause them to inherit it (our Heavenly Joshua Alone has already done for us everything that is needed; for us to possess the Heavenly Promise, we must but place our Faith exclusively in Christ and the Cross; the Holy Spirit will then see to it that every Promise is possessed [Rom. 8:1-2, 11]).

⁸And the LORD, He it is Who does go before you; He will be with you, He will not fail you, neither forsake you: fear not, neither be dismayed (let the Reader understand that this Promise given to Israel so long ago is just as valid now, and even more so, because of Christ and what He has done for us at the Cross [Rom. 6:3-14]).

THE PRIESTS

⁹And Moses wrote this Law, and delivered it unto the Priests the sons of Levi, which bore the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD, and unto all the Elders of Israel.

¹⁰And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles,

¹¹When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD your God in the place which He shall choose, you shall read this Law before all Israel in their hearing (the entirety of the Law was to be read every seven years, and all of Israel was required to hear it).

¹²Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and your stranger that is within your gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this Law (none were to be excluded, all were to be included):

¹³And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over Jordan to possess it (future generations were commanded by the Lord to know the Law, exactly as these here this day).

GODS MESSAGE TO MOSES

¹⁴And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, the days approach that you must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the Tabernacle of the congregation (Moses and Joshua were instructed by the Lord to go into the Sanctuary).

¹⁵And the LORD appeared in the Tabernacle in a Pillar of a cloud: and the Pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the Tabernacle (the Presence of the Lord).

¹⁶And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers (Gentiles) of the land, where they go to be among them, and will forsake Me, and break My Covenant which I have made with them (the Lord predicts that Israel will fail, which they did!).

¹⁷Then My Anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My Face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? (This was not very pleasant for Moses to hear, but it was the truth.)

¹⁸And I will surely hide My face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods (idolatry was the basic cause of the downfall of Israel, at least when the Lord allowed them to be taken over by the Babylonians, which would be approximately 800-plus years into the future).

¹⁹Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the Children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the Children of Israel (this refers to the song which follows in the next Chapter; this shows the value that the Holy Spirit places on songs which glorify the Lord).

²⁰For when I shall have brought them into the land which I swore unto their fathers, that flows with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxed fat: then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke Me, and break My Covenant (prosperity oftentimes causes people to forsake the Lord).

²¹And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I swore (were this a history of human imagination, the inventor would never dream of closing the service of one great Chieftain, and beginning the exploits of another, in such a cloud of gloom and depression).

THE CHARGE

²²Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the Children of Israel.

²³And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for you shall bring the Children of Israel into the land which I swore unto them: and I will be with you.

²⁴And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this Law in a Book, until they were finished,

THE LEVITES

²⁵That Moses commanded the Levites, which bore the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD, saying,

²⁶Take this Book of the Law, and put it in the side of the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against you (there was to be no excuse!).

²⁷For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, you have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?

²⁸Gather unto me all the Elders of your Tribes, and your Officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call Heaven and Earth to record against them.

²⁹For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days (has double meaning: the destruction of Israel in A.D. 70, and the acceptance of the Antichrist by Israel, which is yet future, which will bring about the Great Tribulation [Mat. 24:21]); because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.

³⁰And Moses spoke in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.