XXXI.
Deuteronomy 31:1-8. MOSES RESIGNS HIS CHARGE AS LEADER TO JOSHUA.
(1) And Moses went and spake. — The expression is unusual. Possibly it means “went on to speak.” The Palestine Targum has, “He went into the house of instruction and spake.” The LXX. have apparently preserved a different reading, and say, “And Moses made an end of speaking these words” (like Deuteronomy 32:45), as if the Hebrew were vay’cal instead of vay-yelek. A transposition of two letters would make all the difference.
(2) I am an hundred and
twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in. — The description of Moses’ death in Deuteronomy 34:7, says, “his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” Yet he may have felt within himself that his work was done. “I have no longer authority, for the authority is taken from me and given into the hand of Joshua” is one interpretation. And it suits with what follows. “The Lord hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.”
(3) The Lord thy God, he will go over before thee... Joshua, he shall go over before thee. — Can it be accidental that Jehovah and Joshua are spoken of in exactly the same language, and that there is no distinguishing conjunction between them, the “and” of the English Version being supplied? “Jehovah, He is going over; Joshua, he is going over.” Verbally, the two are as much identified as “The God who fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel that redeemed me from all evil” (Genesis 48:15-16). The prophetical truth of this identification is too remarkable to be missed.
(4) As he did to Sihon and to Og. — The value of these two conquests, before Israel passed the Jordan, was inestimable, as an encouragement to them to persevere.
(5) According unto all the commandments. — The Hebrew word for “commandments” is in the singular, Mitzvah, the principle of action.
(6) Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid. — Here this is addressed to the people in the plural number. The same thing is said to Joshua in the next verse.
(7, 8) And Moses called unto Joshua. — In these words Moses formally delivers the charge of the people to Joshua, to lead them over Jordan.
He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee. — Repeated by Jehovah Himself (Joshua 1:5). “Will not let thee go” is the exact meaning of “fail” here. Comp. Deuteronomy 9:14, “let me alone.”