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Joshua Becomes Moses’ Successor31 When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 2he said to them: “I am now one hundred twenty years old. I am no longer able to get about, and the L ord has told me, ‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’ 3The L ord your God himself will cross over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua also will cross over before you, as the L ord promised. 4The L ord will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5The L ord will give them over to you and you shall deal with them in full accord with the command that I have given to you. 6Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the L ord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.” 7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel: “Be strong and bold, for you are the one who will go with this people into the land that the L ord has sworn to their ancestors to give them; and you will put them in possession of it. 8It is the L ord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” The Law to Be Read Every Seventh Year9 Then Moses wrote down this law, and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the L ord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10Moses commanded them: “Every seventh year, in the scheduled year of remission, during the festival of booths, 11when all Israel comes to appear before the L ord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12Assemble the people—men, women, and children, as well as the aliens residing in your towns—so that they may hear and learn to fear the L ord your God and to observe diligently all the words of this law, 13and so that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the L ord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.” Moses and Joshua Receive God’s Charge14 The L ord said to Moses, “Your time to die is near; call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, so that I may commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting, 15and the L ord appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud; the pillar of cloud stood at the entrance to the tent. 16 The L ord said to Moses, “Soon you will lie down with your ancestors. Then this people will begin to prostitute themselves to the foreign gods in their midst, the gods of the land into which they are going; they will forsake me, breaking my covenant that I have made with them. 17My anger will be kindled against them in that day. I will forsake them and hide my face from them; they will become easy prey, and many terrible troubles will come upon them. In that day they will say, ‘Have not these troubles come upon us because our God is not in our midst?’ 18On that day I will surely hide my face on account of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods. 19Now therefore write this song, and teach it to the Israelites; put it in their mouths, in order that this song may be a witness for me against the Israelites. 20For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I promised on oath to their ancestors, and they have eaten their fill and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, despising me and breaking my covenant. 21And when many terrible troubles come upon them, this song will confront them as a witness, because it will not be lost from the mouths of their descendants. For I know what they are inclined to do even now, before I have brought them into the land that I promised them on oath.” 22That very day Moses wrote this song and taught it to the Israelites. 23 Then the L ord commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said, “Be strong and bold, for you shall bring the Israelites into the land that I promised them; I will be with you.” 24 When Moses had finished writing down in a book the words of this law to the very end, 25Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the L ord, saying, 26“Take this book of the law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the L ord your God; let it remain there as a witness against you. 27For I know well how rebellious and stubborn you are. If you already have been so rebellious toward the L ord while I am still alive among you, how much more after my death! 28Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officials, so that I may recite these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly, turning aside from the way that I have commanded you. In time to come trouble will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the L ord, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.” The Song of Moses30 Then Moses recited the words of this song, to the very end, in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel: New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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20. But when I shall have brought them. In other words, God again enlarges upon the atrociousness of their iniquity, in that, when He had dealt liberally with the Israelites, they would turn His benefits into occasions of perversity, since nothing can be more base than such ingratitude, he says, then, that He will perform to them, unworthy as they are, that which he has sworn, so that He might thus be faithful to His promises. He commends the fertility of the land, since this striking pledge of His indulgence should have attracted them by its sweetness to love so beneficent a Father in return. Hence, therefore, the perverseness of their nature is demonstrated, inasmuch as, when full, they would kick against Him, like horses which become intractable from high feeding. But, after having complained of their future rebellion, He again says, that when they shall have been brought into sore straits, and overwhelmed with miseries, this song would be “as a witness,” as if they should proclaim in it their own condemnation. When He says that He knew their disposition, 244244 A. V., “Their imagination.” “The thing forged in their heart.” — Ainsworth. “Figmentum;” Taylor, from יצר, fingere, formare or what they forged within them, (for the word employed is יצר, yetzer, which is equivalent to figment, or imagination, and includes all the thoughts and feelings,) it is apparent that He was by no means unaware how in He was bestowing His benefits upon such unworthy persons, but that He thus contended with their unworthiness, in order that His goodness might be the more conspicuous; and also that He desired this instruction to be set before them, ungodly and hopeless as they were, which He knew they would despise, so as to render them all the more inexcusable by this test. But it may be objected, Why then did He not turn their hearts to better things? for thus do ungodly railers allow themselves to dispute with Him; but let us rather reflect on the words of Paul, “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Hath not the potter power over the clay, to make” of it vessels according to his own will? (Romans 9:20, 21.) And, “Who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed So will it come to pass, that we shall exclaim with trembling, Oh, how deep are the judgments of God; how incomprehensible are His ways! That God should judge from their former life what they would be hereafter, does not seem very logical; but these two clauses are to be taken connectedly, that God foresees that nothing else is to be expected from them, but that they would be carried away into sin by their unbridled lust; and secondly, that it had already been sufficiently manifested by their many iniquities how desperate was their obstinacy. |