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The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:1-8
Putting off the harness. Faith in God anticipates every event without distress. If God's plan cut across the grain of our own inclination, faith inspires us to say," His plan is best." By virtue of a living faith, we ca…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:2
I am an hundred and twenty years old this day. When Moses stood before Pharaoh he was eighty years old (Exodus 7:7); since then forty years had elapsed during the wanderings in the wilderness. I can no more go out and c…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:3-6
But though Moses was no longer to be their leader, he assures them that the Lord would fulfill his engagement to conduct them to the possession of Canaan, even as he had already given them the territory of the kings of…
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 31:9-13
Though we read the word in private, we must not think it needless to hear it read in public. This solemn reading of the law must be done in the year of release. The year of release was typical of gospel grace, which is…
The Reading of the Law. (b. c. 1451.)
THE READING OF THE LAW. (B. C. 1451.) The law was given by Moses; so it is said, John 1:17. He was not only entrusted to deliver it to that generation, but to transmit it to the generations to come; and here it appears…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:9-13
Importance of knowing the Word of God. In resigning his commission into other hands, Moses had a double duty to discharge. There had been, in fact, a twofold responsibility resting on him more or less till the close of…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:9-13
The literary executors of Moses. It must have been a solemn act on the part of Moses, after having nominated Joshua as his successor in the leadership of Israel, to summon the priests and the elders, that they might be…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:9-13
Moses turns next to the priests and the elders, and to them he commits the Law which he had written, with the injunction to read it to the people at the end of every seven years during the festival of the year of releas…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:10-13
Reading the Law. (For an example of fulfillment of this command, see Nehemiah 8:1-18.) Observe— I. IT WAS TO BE READ AT A RELIGIOUS FEAST. On an occasion of solemnity—at the Feast of Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 31:10). Our…
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 31:14-22
Moses and Joshua attended the Divine Majesty at the door of the tabernacle. Moses is told again that he must shortly die; even those who are most ready and willing to die, need to be often reminded of its coming. The Lo…
Apostasy Foretold. (b. c. 1451.)
APOSTASY FORETOLD. (B. C. 1451.) Here, I. Moses and Joshua are summoned to attend the divine majesty at the door of the tabernacle, Deuteronomy 31:14. Moses is told again that he must shortly die; even those that are mo…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:14
The tabernacle of the congregation; properly, the tent of meeting (cf. Exodus 33:7; Exodus 39:32). May give him a charge; may constitute him ( צִוָּה; cf. Numbers 27:19; "and constitute him in their sight," Gesenius), a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:14-23
The Lord's charge to Moses and Joshua. Moses, in making over the leadership to Joshua, was only anticipating a more formal assignment of it by God himself. He directs the old leader and his successor to repair to the ta…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:14-23
After nominating Joshua as his successor, and assigning the keeping of the Law to the priesthood and body of elders, Moses was summoned by the Lord to appear with Joshua in the tabernacle, that Joshua might receive a ch…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:15
The Lord appeared … in a pillar of a cloud (cf. ExDeuteronomy 33:9; 40:38; Le Deuteronomy 16:2; Numbers 12:5).
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:16
Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers (cf. 2 Samuel 7:12; Psalms 13:3; Psalms 76:5; Daniel 12:2; Matthew 27:52; John 11:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:14). "The death of men, both good and bad, is often called a sleep, becau…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:16-21
Faithful words silent accusers of those who heed them not. In the several paragraphs of this chapter we find that Moses was borne along by the Holy Ghost to take a glance into the future. He had been instructed by God t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:17
I will hide my face from them; will not look on them with complacency, will withdraw from them my favor and help (cf. Deuteronomy 32:20; Isaiah 8:17; Isaiah 64:7; Ezekiel 39:23).
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:19
Write ye this song. This refers to the song which follows in next chapter. Moses and Joshua were both to write this song, Moses probably as the author, Joshua as his amanuensis, because both of them were to do their end…
The Song of Moses. (b. c. 1451.)
THE SONG OF MOSES. (B. C. 1451.) Here, I. The charge is given to Joshua, which God has said (Deuteronomy 31:14) he would give him. The same in effect that Moses had given him. The same in effect that Moses had given him…
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 31:23-30
The solemn delivery of the book of the law to the Levites, to be deposited in, or rather by the side, of the ark, is again related. The song which follows in the next chapter is delivered to Moses, and by him to the peo…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:23
And he gave, etc. The subject here is God, not Moses, as is evident partly from Deuteronomy 31:14, and partly from the expression, the land which I aware unto them; and I will be with thee (cf. Exodus 3:12).
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:24-29
After the installation of Joshua, only one thing remained for Moses to do that all things might be set in order before his departure. This was the finishing of the writing of the Book of the Law, and the committing it f…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 31:24-30
The Divine testimony deposited in the ark. Moses, being thus commissioned of God to utter the inspired warning, loses no time in summoning the congregation. But while doing so, he gives precise directions to the Kohathi…