Deuteronomychapter 31
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Key verse
When Moses had finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end,
It stands in The book laid beside the ark as a witness, verses 24 to 30.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Joshua commissioned publicly; the Law written; the reading every seven years. Moses is 120; he cannot any more go out and come in; the LORD has said he will not cross Jordan. ‘Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.’ The Law is written and delivered to the priests and elders; read every seven years at the Feast of Tabernacles before all Israel. Men, women, children, strangers. That they may hear and learn. The LORD foretells the people's future apostasy; Moses is to write a song that will testify against them in the evil day to come.
Context
Law · Moses · Deuteronomy overview
Where the chapter sits
Deuteronomy 31 falls in Final words, song, blessing, death (chapters 31–34). Joshua commissioned; the song of Moses (ch. 32); the blessing of the tribes (ch. 33); Moses' death on Nebo and his burial by God (ch. 34).
Before it: Third sermon, blessings and curses, chapters 27–30.
The whole shape of Deuteronomy→The world behind this chapter
Deuteronomy 31The history
Moses is a hundred and twenty and says he can no longer go out and come in, a set phrase for leading an army in the field. The handover to Joshua is done in public, in front of all Israel, which is how authority was transferred in a society without written commissions.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
Moses writes the law down and gives it to the priests who carry the ark and to the elders. Ancient treaty documents were deposited in a sanctuary, and this one is placed beside the ark of the covenant. That is the treaty deposit clause, done exactly the way the era did it.
It is then given a public reading schedule: every seven years, in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD. Men, women, children, and foreigners in the towns are all to hear it. Regular public reading was how treaty terms stayed known in a world with few copies and fewer readers.
God then tells Moses plainly that the people will break the covenant after his death, and instructs him to write a song and teach it to them, so that when trouble comes the song will testify against them. Songs survive where documents do not. A memorized poem travels in the mouths of children long after a scroll is lost.
What it meant to them
The first hearers were being handed a leader, a book, a reading schedule, and a song, all in one afternoon. Each was designed to outlast the man speaking.
The hardest word in it is the honesty. God does not pretend the nation will hold. He builds the warning into their own songbook, so that the day they fall apart, the words are already in their mouths.
Sources cited
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Be strong; he goes over before you
1. (vv. 1-2)
Deuteronomy 31:1
“Moses went and spake--It is probable that this rehearsal of the law extended over several successive days; and it might be the last and most important day on which the return of Moses to the place of assembly is specially noticed.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)· Deuteronomy 31:1reformed
Deuteronomy 31:1, 1 more voiceWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Deuteronomy 31:1
“And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel. The following words, even to the whole body of the people summoned together on this occasion.”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:1reformed
Deuteronomy 31:2
“I am a hundred and twenty years old - The life of Moses, the great prophet of God and lawgiver of the Jews, was exactly the same in length as the time Noah employed in preaching righteousness to the antediluvian world.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 31:2evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:2, 3 more voices
Deuteronomy 31:2
“I am an hundred and twenty years old - The 40 years of the wandering had passed since Moses, then 80 years old, “spake unto Pharaoh” (Exo 7:7; Compare Deu 34:7). I can, no more go out and come in - Render I shall not longer be able to go out and come in: i.”
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e., discharge my duties among you. There is no inconsistency with Deu 34:7. Moses here adverts to his own age as likely to render him in future unequal to the active discharge of his office as leader of the people: the writer of Deu 34:1-12, one of Moses’ contemporaries, remarks of him that up to the close of life “his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated” Deu 31:7; i. e. that he was to the last, in the judgment of others, in full possession of faculties and strength.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· Deuteronomy 31:2evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:2
“And he said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:2reformed
Deuteronomy 31:2
“But he cannot any longer discharge his office; for, 1. He is 120 years old, and it is time for him to think of resigning his honour and returning to his rest. He that had arrived at so great an age then, when seventy or eighty was the ordinary stint, as appears by the prayer of Moses ( Ps. xc.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 31:2puritan
a.Moses gives two reasons for handing over, and they sit side by side. I can no more go out and come in is the idiom for leading men in war, the same pair of verbs he used at Numbers 27:17 when he asked God for a man to go out and come in before the congregation. Deuteronomy 34:7 will say his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated, so both statements stand in the same book, and older readers take verse 2 of the office rather than of the body. The second reason is God's word barring him from Jordan, which this book gives three times as for your sakes at 1:37, 3:26 and 4:21, where Numbers 20:12 gives it as because ye believed me not.
2. (vv. 3-5)
Deuteronomy 31:3
“Joshua, he shall go over before thee - See on Num 27:17 (note), etc.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 31:3evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:3, 2 more voices
Deuteronomy 31:3
“The Lord thy God, he will go over before thee,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:3reformed
Deuteronomy 31:3
“Note, It is a great encouragement to a people when, instead of some useful instruments that are removed, God raises up others to carry on his work. He ensures their success.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 31:3puritan
Deuteronomy 31:4
“And the Lord shall do unto them as he did unto Sihon, and to Og, kings of the Amorites,....”
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Deliver them up into their hands; see the history of this in Num 21:10, and unto the land of them whom he destroyed; put them into the possession of the land of Canaan, as they were now in possession of the land of those two kings he destroyed by them. This instance is given to encourage their faith, assuring them that what had been done to them would be done to the Canaanitish kings, and their subjects, and their lands.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:4reformed
Deuteronomy 31:5
“And the Lord shall give them up before your face,....”
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To ruin and destruction; the Targum of Jonathan is,"the Word of the Lord shall deliver them up:" that ye may do unto them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you; that is, utterly destroy them, make no covenant with them, enter into no alliances nor contract any marriages with them; but demolish their altars, cut down their groves, and break their images in pieces; of which last Aben Ezra interprets the words; but they are not to be restrained to that single instance; see Deu 7:1.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:5reformed
a.The sentence puts God over Jordan first and Joshua second, and Joshua's commission is stated as something the Lord hath said rather than as an arrangement of Moses' own. The proof offered is Sihon and Og, the two kings east of Jordan whose defeat Numbers 21:21-35 records and this book retold at 2:26 through 3:11, so the argument runs from what this generation watched to what it has not seen yet. Verse 5 ties the conquest to the commandments already given, which keeps the war under the law rather than the law under the war.
3. (vv. 6-8)
Deuteronomy 31:6
“Be strong - חזקו chizku, the same word that is used Exo 4:21 (note), Exo 9:15 (note), for hardening Pharaoh’s heart. See the notes there. The Septuagint, in this and the following verse, have, Ανδριζου και ισχυε, Play the man, and be strong; and from this St.”
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Paul seems to have borrowed his ideas, 1Co 16:13: Στηκετε εν τῃ πιστει· ανδριζεσθε, κρατιουσθε: Stand firm in the faith; play the man - act like heroes; be vigorous.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 31:6evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:6
- Quoted inHebrews 13:5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
'I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee' ('he hath said')
Deuteronomy 31:7
“Moses hands over to Joshua that office as leader of the people, to which he had already been designated Deu 1:38; Num 27:23. He assigns also to the Levitical priests and the elders, as the ecclesiastical and civil heads of the nation, the responsibility of teaching the law and enforcing its observance Deu 31:10-13.”
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Both these were symbolic acts, designed to mark the responsibility of the parties concerned after the death of Moses.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· Deuteronomy 31:7evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:8
“The Lord - doth go before thee - To prepare thy way, and to direct thee. He will be with thee - Accompany thee in all thy journeys, and assist thee in all thy enterprises. He will not fail thee - Thy expectation, however strong and extensive, shall never be disappointed: thou canst not expect too much from him.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 31:8evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:8, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 31:8
“And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:8reformed
a.Be strong and of a good courage falls three times in this chapter, to the people at verse 6, to Joshua at verse 7, and again at verse 23, and Joshua 1:6, 1:7 and 1:9 will put the same words to the same man on the far bank. Hebrews 13:5 quotes the promise of verse 6 in the form I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, and turns it against covetousness and the fear of want. Moses charges Joshua in the sight of all Israel, so the nation watches the succession happen instead of hearing about it afterward.
B. Read this law aloud in the year of release
1. (vv. 9-11)
Deuteronomy 31:9
“Moses wrote this law - Not the whole Pentateuch, but either the discourses and precepts mentioned in the preceding chapters, or the book of Deuteronomy, which is most likely.”
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Some of the rabbins have pretended that Moses wrote thirteen copies of the whole Pentateuch; that he gave one to each of the twelve tribes, and the thirteenth was laid up by the ark. This opinion deserves little credit.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 31:9evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:9, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 31:9
“It was usual in cases of public or private contract for two copies of the engagement to be made--one to be deposited in the national archives or some secure place for reference, should occasion require. The other was to remain in the hands of the contracting parties (Jer 32:12-14).”
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The same course was followed on this renewal of the covenant between God and Israel.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)· Deuteronomy 31:9reformed
Deuteronomy 31:10
“At the end of every seven years - thou shalt read this law - Every seventh year was a year of release, Deu 15:1, at which time the people’s minds, being under a peculiar degree of solemnity, were better disposed to hear and profit by the words of God.”
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I suppose on this ground also that the whole book of Deuteronomy is meant, as it alone contains an epitome of the whole Pentateuch. And in this way some of the chief Jewish rabbins understand this place.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 31:10evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:11
“Compare the marginal references. It is not to be supposed that the whole of the Pentateuch was read, nor does the letter of the command require that it should be so.”
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This reading could not be primarily designed for the information and instruction of the people, since it only took place once in seven years; but was evidently a symbolic transaction, intended, as were so many others, to impress on the people the conditions on which they held possession of their privileges and blessings.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· Deuteronomy 31:11evangelical
a.The law goes into writing and then into two sets of hands, the priests who bear the ark and the elders of Israel. The public reading is fixed to one point in the calendar, the feast of tabernacles in the year of release, which makes it every seventh year, and it happens in the place which the Lord shall choose, the phrase that falls fifteen times in chapters 12 to 26 and never once names the place. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown set this beside the ordinary practice of drawing two copies of a contract, one lodged for safekeeping and one left with the parties, and read verse 9 and verse 26 that way. Nehemiah 8:1-8 and 8:14-18 record such a reading at this same feast centuries later.
2. (vv. 12-13)
Deuteronomy 31:12
“But into divers assemblies or synagogues. Women who hereby are required to go to Jerusalem at this solemnity, as they were permitted to do in other solemnities. Children - Such of them as could understand, as appears from Neh.”
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viii, 2, 3, the pious Jews doubtless read it daily in their houses, and Moses of old time was read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· Deuteronomy 31:12evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:13
“And that their children, which have not known anything,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:13reformed
Deuteronomy 31:13, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 31:13
“17 Then 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?”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 31:13puritan
a.The list of who must be gathered names the women, the children and the stranger within thy gates, so the hearing reaches past the men who go up to the feast. Verse 13 gives the reason for the seven-year interval, that their children, which have not known any thing, get their hearing before they are grown. John Wesley reads verse 11 to mean the priests and Levites did the reading in several assemblies at once, since one voice could not carry to a nation.
C. This people will rise up and go astray
1. (vv. 14-15)
Deuteronomy 31:14
“The transaction recorded in these verses may be regarded as the solemn inauguration of Joshua to the office to which he had some time before Num 27:22 been called, and his recognition in it by God, which were manifested by his being summoned into the tabernacle with Moses while the Lord appeared in the pillar of cloud (compare Num 11:25…”
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Num 12:5). Deu 31:16 The future apostasy of the people is announced in the presence of Joshua that the latter might be fully aware of the danger and strive in his day to avert it.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· Deuteronomy 31:14evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:15
“This is the only time in all this book that we read of the glory of God appearing, whereas we often read of it in the three foregoing books, which perhaps signifies that in the latter days, under the evangelical law, such visible appearances as these of the divine glory are not to be expected…”
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but we must take heed to the more sure word of prophecy.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 31:15puritan
a.Joshua was designated at Numbers 27:18-23 with the laying on of hands, and here God calls him into the tabernacle to take the charge in person. Matthew Henry observes that this is the only appearance of the glory of God recorded in Deuteronomy, where the three books before it report such appearances often. The pillar of cloud that led the march out of Egypt at Exodus 13:21 now stands still at the door while the succession is settled.
2. (vv. 16-18)
Deuteronomy 31:16
“Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers - שכב shocheb, thou shalt lie down; it signifies to rest, take rest in sleep, and, metaphorically, to die. Much stress cannot be safely laid on this expression to prove the immortality of the soul, or that the people in the time of Moses had a distinct notion of its separate existence.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 31:16evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:16, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 31:16
“Worshipping the gods of the Canaanites (who had been the natives, but henceforward were to be looked upon as the strangers of that land) would undoubtedly be counted a deserting of God, and, like adultery, a violation of the covenant.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 31:16puritan
Deuteronomy 31:17
Then my anger shall be kindled, . . . and I will hide my face from them--an announcement of the withdrawal of the divine favor and protection of which the Shekinah was the symbol and pledge.
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It never appeared in the second temple; and its non-appearance was a prelude of "all the evils that came upon them, because their God was not among them."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)· Deuteronomy 31:17reformed
Deuteronomy 31:18
“I will surely hide my face - Withdraw my approbation and my protection. This is a general meaning of the word in Scripture.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 31:18evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:18, 2 more voices
Deuteronomy 31:18
“I will surely hide my face in that day,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:18reformed
Deuteronomy 31:18
“But, if God hide his face from us and our prayers, we are undone.”
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He directs Moses to deliver them a song, in the composing of which he should be divinely inspired, and which should remain a standing testimony for God as faithful to them in giving them warning, and against them as persons false to themselves in not taking the warning,
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 31:18puritan
a.God tells Moses what the nation will do before Moses is dead and before the nation is in the land. The words are the words of a broken marriage, go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land and break my covenant, which is the figure Hosea builds a whole book on. The judgment named is withdrawal, I will hide my face from them, and the people are quoted in advance getting the diagnosis right, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown tie the hidden face to the absence of the Shekinah from the second temple.
3. (vv. 19-21)
Deuteronomy 31:19
“Write ye this song - The song which follows in the next chapter. Things which were of great importance and of common concern were, among the ancients, put into verse, as this was found the best method of keeping them in remembrance, especially in those times when writing was little practiced. Even prose was sometimes sung.”
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The history of Herodotus was divided into Nine books, and each inscribed with the name of one of the Nine Muses, because these books were anciently sung. Homer is reported to have sung his poems through different Greek cities.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 31:19evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:20
“For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:20reformed
Deuteronomy 31:21
“This song shall testify against them - Because in it their general defection is predicted, but in such a way as to show them how to avoid the evil; and if they did not avoid the evil, and the threatened punishment should come upon them, then the song should testify against them, by showing that they had been sufficiently warned…”
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and might have lived to God, and so escaped those disasters.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 31:21evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:21, 2 more voices
Deuteronomy 31:21
“And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:21reformed
Deuteronomy 31:21
“When their troubles come upon them, this song shall not be forgotten, but may serve as a glass to show them their own faces, that they may humble themselves, and return to him from whom they have revolted. Note, Those for whom God has mercy in store he may leave to fall, yet he will provide means for their recovery.”
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Medicines are prepared before-hand for their cure.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 31:21puritan
a.The song is commissioned as evidence for a trial that has not opened, and verse 21 says why it will hold, that it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed. Verse 20 names plenty as the occasion of the turning, when they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat, which is the warning of 6:11-12 and 8:11-14 arriving now as a forecast. The song itself is chapter 32, and the New Testament quotes it more often than any other chapter of this book, at Romans 10:19, at Romans 12:19 with Hebrews 10:30, and at Romans 15:10.
4. (vv. 22-23)
Deuteronomy 31:22
“Moses therefore wrote this song the same day,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:22reformed
Deuteronomy 31:23
“And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:23reformed
Deuteronomy 31:23, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 31:23
“Thou shalt put them into possession of Canaan. If they afterwards by their sin throw themselves out of it again, that will be no fault of thine, nor any dishonour to thee, therefore be of good courage. " II.”
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The solemn delivery of the book of the law to the Levites, to be deposited in the side of the ark, is here again related (
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 31:23puritan
a.Moses writes the song on the day he is told to and teaches it, so the witness is in place long before the failure it was written for. Verse 23 delivers the charge announced at verse 14, and the speaker is left unnamed, so Keil and Delitzsch read the Lord as the speaker because verse 14 said that I may give him a charge, while others carry Moses over as the subject from verse 22. The words are the ones Moses used at verse 7, with one addition, I will be with thee, which Joshua 1:5 repeats to him again.
D. The book laid beside the ark as a witness
1. (vv. 24-26)
Deuteronomy 31:24
“And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book,....”
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In this book of Deuteronomy, and which concluded the Pentateuch: until they were finished; all the words of the law, and the whole five books of Moses, excepting some few verses, Deu 34:1, which were added by another hand, Joshua or Ezra.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:24reformed
Deuteronomy 31:24, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 31:24
“Moses completes the writing out of the book of the Law, and directs it to be placed by the ark of the covenant. Deu 31:24 The “book” here spoken of would contain the whole Pentateuch up to this verse, and be “the Book of Moses,” called generally by the Jews “the Law” (compare Mat 22:40; Gal 4:21).”
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Deu 31:25 The Levites, which bare the ark - i. e., as in Deu 31:9, “the priests the sons of Levi.” The non-priestly Levites could not so much as enter the sanctuary or touch the ark (compare Num 4:15).
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· Deuteronomy 31:24evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:25
“That Moses commanded the Levites,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:25reformed
Deuteronomy 31:26
“Take this book of the law,....”
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Not Deuteronomy only, but the whole Pentateuch: and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God; not in the ark, for there were nothing there but the two tables of stone with the ten commands on them, 1Ki 8:9; but on one side of it; the Targum of Jonathan says, it was"put in a chest (or box) on the right side of the ark of the covenant;''which is very probable.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:26reformed
Deuteronomy 31:26, 2 more voices
Deuteronomy 31:26
“Take this book of the law - The standard copy to which all transcripts must ultimately refer: another copy was put into the bands of the priests. See the note on Deu 31:9.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 31:26evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:26
“Take this book - Probably the very same book, which (after having been some way misplaced) was found in the house of the Lord, in the days of Josiah, and publickly read by the king himself, for a witness against a people, who were then almost ripe for ruin.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· Deuteronomy 31:26evangelical
a.The book is finished and set in the side of the ark rather than inside it, where 1 Kings 8:9 says nothing lay but the two tables of stone. Both the song at verse 19 and the book at verse 26 are called a witness, and verse 28 adds heaven and earth to the record, which answers the two or three witnesses this same law requires at 19:15. 2 Kings 22:8 has Hilkiah finding the book of the law in the house of the Lord in Josiah's reign, and the reading of it turns the policy of a kingdom inside a day.
2. (vv. 27-29)
Deuteronomy 31:27
“While I am yet alive - ye have been rebellious - Such was the disposition of this people to act contrary to moral goodness that Moses felt himself justified in inferring what would take place from what had already happened. 1.”
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Never was a people more fully and faithfully warned, and from this very circumstance we may see that they were under no fatal constraining necessity to commit sin against God; they might have avoided it, but they would not.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· Deuteronomy 31:27evangelical
Deuteronomy 31:28
“Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:28reformed
Deuteronomy 31:28, 2 more voices
Deuteronomy 31:28
“8 And the L ORD , he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed. Loth to part (we say) bids oft farewell.”
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Moses does so to the children of Israel: not because he was loth to go to God, but because he was loth to leave them, fearing that when he had left them they would leave God.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 31:28puritan
Deuteronomy 31:28
“It was delivered to them with a solemn appeal to heaven and earth concerning the fair warning which was given them by it of the fatal consequences of their apostasy from God, and with a declaration of the little joy and little hope Moses had in and concerning them.”
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He declares what little joy he had had of them while he was with them,
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 31:28puritan
Deuteronomy 31:29
“For I know that after my death,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· Deuteronomy 31:29reformed
Deuteronomy 31:29, 1 more voice
Deuteronomy 31:29
“Thus our Lord Jesus, a little before his death, foretold the rise of false Christs and false prophets ( Matt. xxiv. 24 ), notwithstanding which, and all the apostasies of the latter times, we may be confident that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church, for the foundation of God stands sure.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· Deuteronomy 31:29puritan
a.Moses gives his evidence for the forecast, which is the forty years he has watched, that ye have been rebellious against the Lord while I am yet alive with you this day. Stiff neck goes back to Exodus 32:9 at the golden calf, and 10:16 in this book told them to be no more stiffnecked. Verse 29 repeats to the elders and officers what verses 16 to 21 told Moses inside the tabernacle, so the people hear the forecast of their own turning from his mouth, and the phrase in the latter days carries it past the generation standing in front of him.
3. (v. 30)
Deuteronomy 31:30
“Moses again, when about to depart from this life, sang a fear-inspiring canticle in Deuteronomy. He left the song as a sort of testament to the people of Israel, to teach them the kind of funeral they should expect, if ever they abandoned God.”
Nicetas of Remesiana· written before 414· LITURGICAL SINGING 3· Deuteronomy 31:30patristic
a.One text gets four handlings in this chapter: put in their mouths at verse 19, written at verse 22, taught to the children of Israel in the same verse, and here spoken aloud to the whole assembly. Until they were ended marks the seam, and what follows in chapter 32 is that text set down whole. Adam Clarke notes that matter meant to last was commonly cast into verse in societies where few could write, and that even history was sung.
This page carries no textual note on Deuteronomy 31. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Adam Clarke; Albert Barnes; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Matthew Henry and Nicetas of Remesiana, LITURGICAL SINGING 3.
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