Moses' Final Charge From Yahweh (Deuteronomy 31:14-23).
God now called Moses and Joshua into the Tent of Meeting, and when they had entered, the cloud stood over the door of the Tent of Meeting in order to demonstrate that they were in conference, and to prevent interruption by the priests. Both Moses and Joshua as servants of Yahweh clearly had a unique right of access.
In a book where the emphasis was on the ‘place' which Yahweh would choose where the people met, this one and only mention of the Tent of Meeting must be seen as significant. It is bringing out the difference at this point between Moses and Joshua on the one hand, and the priests and the people on the other. At this point Moses and Joshua alone went into the Tent of Meeting itself, and went behind the cloud as they had at Sinai, while the remainder stayed away. The priest could minister in the tent but Yahweh owned it. They could only enter with His permission.
And in this private interview a totally different picture was given of the situation that was being presented. In the first half of the chapter all had been confidence and assurance and certainty and encouragement. But in this second half, while the same general pattern is followed as in Deuteronomy 31:1-13, a reference being first made concerning Israel as a whole (Deuteronomy 31:16-21, contrast Deuteronomy 31:1-6), then concerning Joshua (Deuteronomy 31:23, compare Deuteronomy 31:7-8), then a giving of the Instruction to the priests, which was to include the elders (Deuteronomy 31:24-26 with Deuteronomy 31:28, compare Deuteronomy 31:9), the emphasis is totally different. It is pessimistic rather than optimistic. The first half was full of confidence and expectancy. This second half is filled with doubt and mystery. We can almost again hear the words of Moses, ‘the secret things belong to Yahweh our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us (Israel) and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this Instruction (Deuteronomy 29:29).' While the children of Israel had received what Yahweh had given them, His secrets were only being revealed to Moses and Joshua.
Compare for this sudden switch in mood Deuteronomy 28:1-14 with Deuteronomy 28:15-68; and Deuteronomy 29:1-21 with Deuteronomy 29:22-28, the latter leading up into the saying in Deuteronomy 29:29.
And the giving of these secrets was then followed by the giving of the book of the law to the priests and a communication to the elders (Deuteronomy 29:24-29, contrast Deuteronomy 29:9-13), while stressing to both the untrustworthiness of, and stiffnecked attitude of the people, with regard to the covenant. Among other things it was an attempt to remind them that they should not be complacent.
So in this chapter a message of hope is deliberately combined with a communication of doubt, as previously in the book. Compare Deuteronomy 4:23-31; Deuteronomy 28 all; Deuteronomy 29:1-28; Deuteronomy 30:1. Let them go forward confidently but let them beware and recognise what they were in their own hearts.
He begins Deuteronomy 31:14-29 by informing Moses that his death is approaching, and called on him to bring Joshua in with him into the Tent of Meeting. And there He informed him prophetically in no uncertain terms of what Israel's future would be like. His emphasis was on the fact that it was a future that would result in failure. And the purpose for emphasising this was so that he and Joshua (ye) might write a song, which would be available to speak to Israel when that time of failure came. The song was as given in Deuteronomy 31:30. This was a main purpose of this secret meeting, the need to write an inspired song to meet future emergencies.
Yahweh then personally called on Joshua, and repeating Moses' previous assurance, confirmed his appointment as the new leader, and encouraged him with the certainty of His help. At least that part of their future was secure.
Analysis using the words of Moses:
a And Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, your days approach that you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may give him a charge.” (Deuteronomy 31:14 a).
b And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tent of meeting, and Yahweh appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the door of the Tent (Deuteronomy 31:14-15).
c And Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers, and this people will rise up, and play the prostitute after the foreign gods of the land, to which they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them” (Deuteronomy 31:16).
d “Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them (Deuteronomy 31:17 a).
e And I will hide my face from them, and they will be devoured, and many evils and troubles will come upon them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?' ” (Deuteronomy 31:17).
e And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they will have wrought, in that they are turned to other gods” (Deuteronomy 31:18).
d “Now therefore write you this song for yourselves, and teach you it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel” (Deuteronomy 31:19).
c “For when I shall have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxed fat; then will they turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant” (Deuteronomy 31:20).
b “And it shall come about, when many evils and troubles are come on them, that this song will testify before them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they frame this day, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.” So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel (Deuteronomy 31:21-22).
a And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, “Be strong and of good courage; for you will bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore unto them: and I will be with you” (Deuteronomy 31:23).
Note that in ‘a' Moses is to call Joshua and they are to present themselves in the Tent of Meeting so that Joshua can be given a charge, and in the parallel he gave Joshua the charge and told him to be strong and of good courage, for he would bring the children of Israel into the land and Yahweh would be with him. In ‘b' they went and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting and Yahweh appeared in the pillar of cloud and it stood over the door of the Tent. (The cloud is the witness to the covenant and His purpose was twofold, firstly to give Joshua a charge and secondly to tell Moses to write a song which would be a witness against the failure of the people to keep the covenant). And in the parallel when trouble comes on them the song will testify against them as a witness. In ‘c' the people will rise up and play the prostitute after foreign gods and will forsake Yahweh, and break His covenant which He has made with them, and in the parallel they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise Yahweh, and break His covenant. In ‘d' then His anger will be kindled against them in that day, and He will forsake them, and in the parallel the song which is a charge that they have forsaken Him is to be written as a witness against the children of Israel. In ‘e' He ‘will hide His face from them', and many ‘evils' and troubles will come on them and they will realise that God is not among them, and in the parallel He ‘will hide His face from them' because of the ‘evil' that they have wrought in turning to other gods. Note also the repetition in the first statement and the parallel of ‘in that day'.
We should notice that this is the third charge to ‘be strong and of good courage'. Compare Deuteronomy 31:6 and Deuteronomy 31:7 for the other two. It is giving ‘complete' assurance. Furthermore the song is referred to four times in this passage, once to be written (Deuteronomy 31:19), twice to be a twofold witness against them (Deuteronomy 31:19; Deuteronomy 31:21), and once in the writing (Deuteronomy 31:22). It is central to their purpose in being there, and to the passage.
‘ And Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, your (thy) days approach that you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves (ye both) in the tent of meeting, that I may give him a charge.” And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tent of meeting.
God first confirmed that Moses must die. He must therefore make preparation. So He called on him to bring Joshua with him into the Tent of Meeting, so that He may ‘give him a charge'. Though he must die for His failure at Meribah, Moses was not rejected. He was still Yahweh's supreme representative. The Tent was the place of the covenant, and he was safely within the covenant, as Joshua would be as well. And here he must pass on his responsibilities to his successor.
‘ And Yahweh appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the door of the Tent.'
And there, alone with them in the Tent, Yahweh appeared in a pillar of cloud, the cloud by which He had led Israel in the way, when also they had not believed (Deuteronomy 1:33). It was the same cloud that had hidden Yahweh when He proclaimed the covenant (Deuteronomy 5:22), and into which Moses and Joshua had ascended previously as they went up alone and left the children of Israel behind (Exodus 24:13; Exodus 24:15). Now as then there was again a separating between them and the whole of Israel. To them were to be revealed the secret things.
We should note that the coming of the cloud was in complete contrast to the writing of the song. The cloud was the witness that He was there as the God of the covenant, that Yahweh was with them and with His people. The song would be a witness that at come stage they would break the covenant, and was in order to be ready for that day.
This is the first mention in Deuteronomy of the Tent of Meeting, although there can be little doubt that it was around the Tent that Israel had gathered to hear the words of Moses, in ‘the place' at that time chosen by Yahweh which the Tent proclaimed. But the people could not enter the Tent. It was unknown territory to them and had thus been ignored in the people's covenant, being seen rather as ‘the place'. It is mentioned here to confirm its status as the place where Yahweh would be met with, and Yahweh manifested His presence in the Tent, by means of the familiar pillar of cloud which hovered over the door of the Tent (Exodus 13:21-22; Exodus 33:9-10; Numbers 12:5; Numbers 14:14) preventing access. And there He spoke first with Moses.
‘ And Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers, and this people will rise up, and play the prostitute after the foreign gods of the land, to which they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.” '
Yahweh was under no illusions about Israel. Even though they would be given every opportunity to serve Him faithfully, their future was known to Him. He knew that once Moses ‘slept with his fathers' they would be unfaithful and turn to the gods of the land, and would forsake Him and be unfaithful to the covenant which He had made with them. It had already happened both at Sinai and at Baal-peor. It would not happen immediately while Joshua was around, but it would certainly happen. And He now made this known to Moses so that he would, with Joshua's help, write the song that could be a blessing to Israel in the future.
It is here made clear to us that God is sovereign over the whole future. Alone in the Tent He can reveal what that future holds, because from that future He intends to finally establish His purposes. But He makes clear that it will not be achieved easily. Outside the Tent was optimism, and entreaty and encouragement, as they looked forward to the short term, the occupation of Canaan. Inside it was the truth as things would be in the longer term. Outside men were called on to choose freely. Inside the inexorable purposes of God are unfolded, the result of the extremes of man's sinfulness.
“Play the prostitute.” A sign of unfaithfulness and wantonness. Compare Exodus 34:15-16; Leviticus 17:7; Leviticus 20:5; Numbers 15:39; Judges 2:17; Judges 8:27; Judges 8:33; etc. It indicates reckless unfaithfulness to a marriage covenant, a covenant which was very similar to Yahweh's covenant of love with Israel. Cult prostitution would have been well known to Israel from connections with Canaanite religion in parts of Egypt, where Baal was clearly worshipped.
“Foreign gods of the land.” The point here was that although they were worshipped in the land they were foreign to it and should not be there. For this was Yahweh's land, separated to Him and holy.
“Break my covenant.” Compare Genesis 17:14; Leviticus 26:15; Leviticus 26:44).
“ Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they will be devoured, and many evils and troubles will come upon them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?' ”
The result will be that His anger will be kindled against them, and He will forsake them too. He will hide His face from them and the result will be that they will be at the mercy of the nations and will be ‘devoured'. Many evils and troubles will come on them through invasion and servitude because they have deserted Him. And this will eventually waken them up and will turn their thoughts back to God. The cursings would continue to apply until they awoke a gradual stirring in their hearts.
“ And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they will have wrought, in that they are turned to other gods.”
For in that day He would continue to hide His face from them because of all their evil doings and their unfaithfulness. Awareness of Him was not in itself enough. There must be a turning away from other gods. There must be true repentance.
“ Now therefore write you (ye) this song for you (ye), and teach you (thou) it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.”
The purpose in bringing all this out is now stated. Moses as a prophet, together with Joshua (this serves to confirm that Joshua was involved in much of what Moses ‘wrote'), had to prepare a prophetic message that Israel would be able to turn to at that time, which would speak to their situation. Moses had written God's Instruction for Israel. That was to be taught to the children that they may be a part of the covenant and know Yahweh's will. But now, along with Joshua, he was to write a song. This song was also to be taught to the children, but it was to be of a different nature. It was in fact very much a Complaint Document, a complaint similar to a typical complaint against a vassal written by his overlord in response to a breach of treaty, examples of which are known. It is a call for their restoration having breached the treaty. Such ‘Complaint' documents would be something that would have been well known to Moses from Egypt.
With the knowledge that Moses had of what the future held as revealed in Deuteronomy 4:23-31; Deuteronomy 28 all; Deuteronomy 29:22-29; Deuteronomy 30:1, we should not be surprised that he would consider the need to prepare for it. And the song format would be a means of doing so without being itself a disillusionment to the people.
“ For when I shall have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxed fat; then will they turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant.”
To Moses God outlined what He knew would eventually happen. Whether this was private communication to Moses, or whether Joshua was included, we are not told. Perhaps it was better for Joshua not to know to the fullest extent what was to happen. His part may simply have been to again later record the words of Moses. (He was mainly there for a different purpose).
The news was not good. Having been brought into the land in accordance with Yahweh's oath to their fathers (it was because of this oath that He was bringing them in at all), into the land flowing with milk and honey, instead of being grateful and remaining faithful to Him for ever, they will lapse. When they have ‘eaten and filled themselves, and waxed fat; then will they turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant.' Note the sequence. They would first fill themselves with all the good things that He had given them, and then they would turn to other gods and serve them. Having ‘milked' Yahweh, they would then desert Him. And yet such was His goodness that He would still persevere with them.
Note the contrast here. Yahweh had sworn the oath to their forefathers, and was faithful to His promises. They had sworn to obey the covenant, but would be unfaithful to it.
“ And it shall come about, when many evils and troubles are come on them, that this song will testify before them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they frame this day, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.”
As a result of their desertion many evils and troubles would come on them, and it was then that they would turn to the Song that Moses must now write, for it would be a witness to them, both of their infidelity and of God's continual mercy. Moses need not worry. It would not be forgotten by them. Their seed would sing it continually until one day its significance dawned on them. Meanwhile Yahweh wanted Moses to know that He was perfectly aware of how these people were thinking even before He has brought them into the land. Note again the stress on ‘which I swore'. That is in fact the reason why He was still going to bring them into the land.
‘ So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.'
And so Moses did what Yahweh had said, and wrote the song that Yahweh had commanded, and taught it to the children of Israel. This verse is a summary verse simply put in to let us know that Moses will be obedient. Then the passage goes on with the present circumstances. It is typical of ancient literature.