UNROLL
At evening on a low rise above the plains of Moab, an old white-haired man with a staff and a strong younger man stand side by side, seen from behind, looking west across the Jordan valley to the hills of Canaan.

The Book of

Deuteronomy 31

Moses is 120 and will not cross the Jordan. The LORD will go ahead of His people, and Joshua will lead them in.

30 verses≈ 7 min2 peopleBSB

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–4Remember the wayFrom Horeb to Moab
  2. 5–11Love the LORDThe heart of the covenant
  3. 12–26Laws for the landWorship, justice, neighbor
  4. 27–30Blessing and curseChoose life
  5. 31–34Moses' farewellA song, a blessing, a deathChapter 31

Joshua to Succeed Moses

When Moses had finished speaking these words to all Israel, he said to them, “I am now a hundred and twenty years old; I am no longer able to come and go, and the LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’

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The LORD your God Himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will dispossess them. Joshua will cross ahead of you, as the LORD has said. And the LORD will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, when He destroyed them along with their land.

The LORD will deliver them over to you, and you must do to them exactly as I have commanded you.

Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 31:6

Moses
Moses

Then Moses called for Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. The LORD Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

Reflect

He goes with you

Moses could not go with them, so he told them who would: “it is the LORD your God who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.” Courage here is not a feeling you work up. It rests on Someone who goes ahead. Write down the thing you are most afraid of this month. Then write what changes if the LORD is already there ahead of you, and will not leave.

The Reading of the Law

Moses

God Commissions Joshua

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, the time of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, so that I may commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tent of Meeting.

Then the LORD appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent.

At dusk on a Canaanite hilltop, a rough standing stone and a tall wooden pole stand beside a small stone altar under an old oak, no one there, the land spread out below.

And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.

On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’

And on that day I will surely hide My face because of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods.

Now therefore, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it, so that it may be a witness for Me against them. When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject Me and break My covenant. And when many troubles and afflictions have come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants. For I know their inclination, even before I bring them into the land that I swore to give them.”

1:16

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

So that very day Moses wrote down this song and taught it to the Israelites.

Then the LORD commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land that I swore to give them, and I will be with you.”

Deuteronomy 31:23

Question

Quick question

Moses charged Joshua in front of all Israel. Then both men were called to the Tent of Meeting.

Who commissioned Joshua at the Tent of Meeting?

Courtyard · 100 × 50 cubitsNGate · EastTent of MeetingBronze altarBasinThe tent, enlarged · 30 × 10 cubitsArkTableLampstandIncense altarVeilScreenMost Holy PlaceHoly Place

Plan to scale in cubits · north at the top

The tabernacle

The cloud and the Book

Two moments at the same tent. The LORD appeared in a pillar of cloud, and “the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent” where Moses and Joshua stood. Then Moses had the Levites place the Book of the Law “beside the ark of the covenant” in the Most Holy Place, where the stone tablets of the covenant already lay inside the ark.

The Law Placed in the Ark

When Moses had finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end, he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD: “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you.

For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you are already rebelling against the LORD while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after my death!

Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officers so that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. And in the days to come, disaster will befall you because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger by the work of your hands.”

Moses Begins His Song

Then Moses recited aloud to the whole assembly of Israel the words of this song from beginning to end:

Pray

Strong and courageous

Moses handed on the law to the priests and elders, the leadership to Joshua, and a song to the people, so that “their children who do not know the law will listen and learn to fear the LORD.” Pray for the people who handed the faith on to you, and thank God for them. Pray for leaders who will carry it on after you. And pray for one child or young person by name, that they will learn to fear the LORD and know that He will never leave them nor forsake them.

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Deuteronomy 31

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A verse to carry with you

Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Deuteronomy 31:6

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