The Law Is Handed Over In Written Form And It Is Commanded That It Be Read In Its Totality To All Israel Every Seven Years (Deuteronomy 31:9-13).
Moses' attention now turned to the priests. They primarily had the responsibility for the maintenance of the whole covenant, especially the ritual element.
Analysis using the words of Moses:
a And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bear the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel (Deuteronomy 31:9).
b And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, when all Israel is come to appear before Yahweh your God in the place which He shall choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing (Deuteronomy 31:10-11).
b Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and your resident alien who is within your gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear Yahweh your God, and observe to do all the words of this law (Deuteronomy 31:12).
a And that their children, who have not known, may hear, and learn to fear Yahweh your God, as long as you live in the land to which you go over the Jordan to possess it (Deuteronomy 31:13).
Note that in ‘a' Moses wrote the Instruction and handed it over officially to the priests who would teach it to, and enforce it on, the people, and in the parallel it is so that their children might hear it and learn to fear Yahweh. In ‘b' they were to gather every seven years to hear the reading of the whole Torah at the Feast of Tabernacles, and in the parallel the people were to be assembled to hear, learn and fear Yahweh.
‘ And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bear the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel.'
In the context of the book ‘this law' would refer to the whole of Deuteronomy up to this point. God's instruction in Deuteronomy is now firmly placed in the context of the Sanctuary. But the fact that he did this confirms that he would also have done it previously for the remainder of the Law, the whole of the Pentateuch. Deuteronomy in itself was very much incomplete as a source of Law, it had simply given various slants on it, and said very little about the ritual that would be the primary responsibility of the priests. He would have been irresponsible merely to record this popular version, and not the more detailed requirements contained elsewhere. This is confirmed in Nehemiah 8:14-15 when in the reading of the law at the feast of Tabernacles Leviticus was clearly read. Thus Moses had this written in order to put it with the other scrolls/tablets (Deuteronomy 31:26).
We are not to see the whole Law as all written down for the first time at that stage. It had taken many years to write, and to bring to completion. Moses would have recorded it and built on it. It would already have been placed ‘by the side of the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh'. But now he was about to die and so he had finalised it with this summary in Deuteronomy, and then solemnly handed it over to the religious and secular leadership. It was to be the foundation of their authority. Now that Moses would no longer be with them this would be their Bible.
It was not handed over to Joshua. While Joshua was supreme leader under Yahweh, the oversight of the people was in the joint hands of the priests and the elders, and the Law was therefore held within the Sanctuary, a seal on the covenant between Yahweh and His people.
“The priests, the sons of Levi, who bear the Ark of the covenant of Yahweh.” The priesthood had overall responsibility for the Ark and all its movements. It was under their jurisdiction. This does not mean that they had to actually carry it themselves, except when it was uncovered and going forth to war. Levites had been appointed for the task of being its bearers when it was covered (Numbers 4:4-15). But it was the priests who covered it and had overall responsibility, and who alone could carry it when it was uncovered. To have such an exalted position as this, responsibility for the Ark of the covenant of Yahweh, demonstrated their unique standing with Yahweh. They were the throne-servants who served the Lord of the whole earth.
“All the elders of Israel.” These might include in this context the princes of the tribes, the tribal heads, the judge (Deuteronomy 17:9) and wider judges, the sub-tribal heads, the leading men of the tribes, the commanders of thousands, and the wider-family heads. (Compare Deuteronomy 29:10; 2 Chronicles 5:2).
‘ And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, when all Israel is come to appear before Yahweh your (thy) God in the place which he shall choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.'
Provision was now made for the reading of God's Instruction every seven years during the seventh year ‘Year of Release' at the Feast of Tabernacles. Then all Israel would appear before Him at the place which He would choose to hear the reading of ‘this law', the whole Law, ‘before all Israel' in their hearing. In Nehemiah it is clear that ‘the book of the law' read at the feast of Tabernacles certainly included Leviticus (Nehemiah 8:14-15, compare Leviticus 23:34-42). This periodic reading out of a treaty was a familiar feature of many treaties as a reminder to those bound by them.
This confirms the importance of the Year of Release to Israel. Only one aspect has been mentioned in Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 15:1-11), but it was a year of great import (Exodus 23:10-11; Leviticus 25:2-7), indeed of such importance that, when they failed to keep it, it would be divinely enforced by turning them out of the land (Leviticus 26:34-35; Leviticus 26:43). Their failure to observe it was a sign of refusal to recognise His ownership of the land, and of themselves and their time.
Of course this was not the only time when the people would hear God's Instruction. Some part of it would be communicated at every feast. But this was to be the time when the whole Law was read out.
“The year of release.” Compare Deuteronomy 15:1; Deuteronomy 15:9 where debt was released, and Exodus 22:11 where the land was ‘released'.
‘ Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and your (thy) resident alien who is within your (thy) gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear Yahweh your God, and observe to do all the words of this law,'
For this reading of God's Instruction all must gather, men, women, children and resident aliens so that all may learn, and fear Yahweh and observe to do all that He had said in His Instruction.
But it may be that some of the women and children could be represented by some who would stand in for them from among their number, and that recitals of the Law were also arranged in cities and towns, for the cattle could not be left for seven days without milking on their farms. ‘All Israel' in verse 11 could mean all the adult males. They certainly had to gather at the Sanctuary. But some of the remainder could possibly gather in their cities and towns. Compare how unleavened bread had to be throughout the whole of Israel at the feast of unleavened bread (Deuteronomy 16:4) even though the males had to gather at the Sanctuary.
‘ And that their children, who have not known, may hear, and learn to fear Yahweh your (of ye) God, as long as you (ye) live in the land to which you (ye) go over the Jordan to possess it.'
This was to be very much a renewing of the covenant with the latest members of Israel. Each seven years the latest additions to Israel would ‘know and hear and learn to fear' Yahweh their God. And this was to go on for as long as they lived in the land which they were going over Jordan to possess. They too must learn that the land was Yahweh's and that they held it from Him.
They would, of course, have been taught the instruction of Yahweh from babyhood. But hearing it solemnly read out at the feast would be the seal on their recognition of it as the word of Yahweh.
For the theoretical purpose for the land was that it would be an everlasting kingdom under Yahweh, a land of purity and light among the nations, a land where Yahweh and His people would be together within the covenant relationship. It was to be like a marriage. The actual practise would in fact turn out to be far different simply because of the disobedience of the people.
But in the final analysis it was preparing for a greater purpose which would be revealed in the coming Messiah, resulting in an everlasting kingdom which was beyond man's wildest dreams.