Scripture Daily

Context No. 179 of 4322 · Deuteronomy

Context · Reflection

Deuteronomy 31:7-13: in context

7Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall cause them to inherit it. 8The LORD himself is who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be discouraged.” 9Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the LORD’s covenant, and to all the elders of Israel. 10Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of booths, 11when all Israel has come to appear before the LORD your God in the place which he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and the foreigners who are within your gates, that they may hear, learn, fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law, 13and that their children, who have not known, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over the Jordan to possess it.”

Moses is about to die without entering the land. This passage is the handover, done in public, and then an instruction about the future that is easy to skim past.

He calls Joshua and speaks to him in the sight of all Israel: be strong and courageous, you will bring this people into the land, and the LORD himself goes before you, he will not leave you or forsake you. The commissioning happens in front of everyone, so that the people hear the promise made to their new leader rather than being told about it afterward.

Then Moses writes the law down and gives it to the priests, with a command about how it is to be used. Every seven years, at the Festival of Booths, in the year of release, read this law aloud before all Israel in their hearing. And the list of who must be there is specific: men, women, little ones, and the foreigner within your towns, so that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD, and their children who have not known it may hear and learn. The children who do not yet understand are named as a reason to hold the reading. What do I do in front of people who are too young to follow it, on the grounds that they will remember it later?

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