Deuteronomy 33
English Standard Version

Moses' Final Blessing on Israel
33 This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the people of Israel before his death. 2 He said,

“The LORD came from Sinai
    and dawned from Seir upon us;
    he shone forth from Mount Paran;
he came from the ten thousands of holy ones,
    with flaming fire at his right hand.
3 Yes, he loved his people,
    all his holy ones were in his hand;
so they followed in your steps,
    receiving direction from you,
4 when Moses commanded us a law,
    as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.
5 Thus the LORD became king in Jeshurun,
    when the heads of the people were gathered,
    all the tribes of Israel together.

6 “Let Reuben live, and not die,
    but let his men be few.”

7 And this he said of Judah:

“Hear, O LORD, the voice of Judah,
    and bring him in to his people.
With your hands contend for him,
    and be a help against his adversaries.”

8 And of Levi he said,

“Give to Levi your Thummim,
    and your Urim to your godly one,
whom you tested at Massah,
    with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah;
9 who said of his father and mother,
    ‘I regard them not’;
he disowned his brothers
    and ignored his children.
For they observed your word
    and kept your covenant.
10 They shall teach Jacob your rules
    and Israel your law;
they shall put incense before you
    and whole burnt offerings on your altar.
11 Bless, O LORD, his substance,
    and accept the work of his hands;
crush the loins of his adversaries,
    of those who hate him, that they rise not again.”

12 Of Benjamin he said,

“The beloved of the LORD dwells in safety.
The High God surrounds him all day long,
    and dwells between his shoulders.”

13 And of Joseph he said,

“Blessed by the LORD be his land,
    with the choicest gifts of heaven above,
    and of the deep that crouches beneath,
14 with the choicest fruits of the sun
    and the rich yield of the months,
15 with the finest produce of the ancient mountains
    and the abundance of the everlasting hills,
16 with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness
    and the favor of him who dwells in the bush.
May these rest on the head of Joseph,
    on the pate of him who is prince among his brothers.
17 A firstborn bull—he has majesty,
    and his horns are the horns of a wild ox;
with them he shall gore the peoples,
    all of them, to the ends of the earth;
they are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
    and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

18 And of Zebulun he said,

“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,
    and Issachar, in your tents.
19 They shall call peoples to their mountain;
    there they offer right sacrifices;
for they draw from the abundance of the seas
    and the hidden treasures of the sand.”

20 And of Gad he said,

“Blessed be he who enlarges Gad!
    Gad crouches like a lion;
    he tears off arm and scalp.
21 He chose the best of the land for himself,
    for there a commander's portion was reserved;
and he came with the heads of the people,
    with Israel he executed the justice of the LORD,
    and his judgments for Israel.”

22 And of Dan he said,

“Dan is a lion's cub
    that leaps from Bashan.”

23 And of Naphtali he said,

“O Naphtali, sated with favor,
    and full of the blessing of the LORD,
    possess the lake and the south.”

24 And of Asher he said,

“Most blessed of sons be Asher;
    let him be the favorite of his brothers,
    and let him dip his foot in oil.
25 Your bars shall be iron and bronze,
    and as your days, so shall your strength be.

​26 “There is none like God, O Jeshurun,
    who rides through the heavens to your help,
    through the skies in his majesty.
27 The eternal God is your dwelling place,
    and underneath are the everlasting arms.
And he thrust out the enemy before you
    and said, ‘Destroy.’
28 So Israel lived in safety,
    Jacob lived alone,
in a land of grain and wine,
    whose heavens drop down dew.
29 Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you,
    a people saved by the LORD,
the shield of your help,
    and the sword of your triumph!
Your enemies shall come fawning to you,
    and you shall tread upon their backs.”

This should be reminiscent of Jacob blessing each of his sons, the leaders of what we know as the Twelve Tribes of Israel.  Let's see if we notice what is the same and what is different as Moses gives a final blessing to the people as if he was their father before he dies.

First, Moses gives a blessing to all the people of Israel reminding them how the LORD has been with them and has given the both His Presence and the special revelation of the Law.  They are also reminded in this blessing that the LORD is to be their king.  This will be important later when the people ask to have a king like all the other nations, because it will be a rejection of the LORD as their king.

There is not much of a blessing for Reuben the firstborn, in fact it feels like not a blessing at all when Moses says that the tribe of Reuben will live long, but will always be few in number.

​Judah is blessed as the leader of the people (though it may not be immediately obvious here, but we see that also if we look at the blessing the Jacob gave his children).  Moses calls on all the other tribes to contend for him and preserve him from his adversaries, for whether they realize it or not, this is the line that is to be preserved above all because it is the line that the Messiah will come from.

Of Levi, they people are told that they are give them their tithes and offerings, and that the LORD is to give them direction to lead the people and make righteous judgment in the way that He gave them to cast lots (the Thummin and Urim) that would communicate to them His will.  The Levites were called upon to stand with the LORD even when no one else would (like at Mount Sinai).  Above all, they are to keep the covenant and to teach it to the other tribes.  They are to make atonement and intercession for the people both through prayer and through sacrifices.  Only when the people are in right standing before God will they have victory over their enemies, so it is very important that the Levites be protected by all the other tribes and that all the Levites defend and protect the sanctuary that would be kept at the center of the camp.

Benjamin was blessed and called the beloved of the LORD.  He would dwell in safety and the LORD God surrounds him all day long.  I believe this to be a reference to the Divided Kingdom that was to come and how Benjamin was the only other tribe other than Judah to stay in the Southern Kingdom of Judah.  They were faithful to the LORD and His Temple and to the tribe of Judah who had been chosen to be king and to the faithful of the tribe of Levi.

Now we see Joseph addressed, which is an address to Manasseh and Ephraim, the two sons of Joseph that were given his "double portion" of the blessing.  These sons of Joseph would be blessed on behalf of Joseph.  They would have good land, good harvests, and and they would be considered "prince" among their brothers--we'll see this in the divided kingdom as Ephraim in particular will be a leader among the tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and often this group of tribes will be known collectively as Ephraim.  The LORD will give Ephraim and Manasseh military victory over the enemies they fight, yet I will say that both of these tribes will in the end join the rebellious tribes that abandoned the king that the LORD had chosen, abandoned the Temple and worshiped false gods.  We'll see that these who were potentially strong leaders for good would now lead their brothers in evil ways.

Zebulun and Issachar are blessed together as a single entity though they are two separate tribes.  They would be people of the mountains and of the sea and they will offer right sacrifices according to this blessing.  These two tribes make up much of the land in which Jesus did most of his ministry.  There is a prophecy that says that out of this "land of darkness" (for it would be heavily influenced by Roman paganism) would come a glorious light.
​
Gad is blessed next.  They along with the tribes of Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh took what appeared to be the best portion and chose their own inheritance on the east side of the Jorden River (the same way that Lot did when the land was divided between him and Abram).  So this "blessing" of getting the best portion of the land seems a little tongue-in-cheek as they were willing to desert their brothers and try to avoid war for what they perceived to be safety.  Instead, they will always live in fear of being attacked because they will live on the same side of the Jorden River as their enemies and they must always be the first to act to defend their brothers, so they will never live in peace as they must always be on watch.

Now the LORD comes to Dan.  There is not much said to Dan because we'll learn later that the LORD will not have much good to say to Dan because that tribe will be apostate and will turn the northern tribes to the worship of false gods.  This tribe will actually lose their eternal inheritance in the kingdom from what I can tell because they are the tribe that all apostates belong to and all apostates will have their portion in the Lake of Fire, not heaven.  We'll talk about this more as we study more of the Old Testament, but for right now, know that we will often see all kinds of wickedness, perversion and idolatry associated with the tribe of Dan, and so there is no blessing to be given to them.  Notice how they are even connected with Bashan, the pagan king who they had just defeated--Dan would seemingly pick up where Bashan left off.

​Naphtali's also doesn't have much said about it, other than they will live in blessing and will possess the lake (presumably the Sea of Galilee) and the land to the south of the lake.

Last, but not least is Asher who is to be "most favored" among his brothers.  They would have to defend against attacks both by land and by sea.  They will have bars of iron and bronze (strong defenses) and they will be strong for themselves and their brothers.

Moses then wraps up by speaking to all of Israel again, putting the focus back on the LORD.  There is none like Him who is their king.  He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He Himself will be their eternal dwelling place (think of that when you think of the New Heaven and the New Earth).  These people were looking for a physical land and physical rest, but the LORD wanted to provide them something so much better than the inheritance and the rest they were looking for...He wanted them to have Him, their perfect peace and rest.  "Stayed upon Jehovah, lives are fully blest.  Finding as He promised, perfect peace and rest," as the hymn says.

They LORD would fight for them and show them when and where to go to battle, and if they would remain obedient to Him, their victory is sure, as would be the abundence and fruitfulness of their grain and wine.

"Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you,
    a people saved by the Lord,"

We too rejoice to be a people saved by the LORD, and we too can be sure the LORD will be victorious and that we will stand alongside Him and have victory over all our enemies who have made themselves out to be His enemies.  They will not be able to stand before Him.

Deuteronomy 32:48-52
English Standard Version
​
Moses' Death Foretold
48 That very day the LORD spoke to Moses, 49 “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. 50 And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 51 because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. 52 For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”

Before Moses was to die, the LORD let him look on the Promised Land that he would not enter--remember it was because of his sin of striking the rock when he was told to speak to the rock when the LORD was going to provide water for the people (an issue with his anger that he's dealt with his whole life, but this time it was a big deal because it was interfering with the LORD trying to show His people something about Christ--that He would only be struck once and then all we need to do is pray to Him to receive everything that we need).  The LORD still made a way through the Holy Spirit to explain this to us many years later in the New Testament, but it does make it harder to see.

Up to this point Moses has been trying to blame the people in a sense saying "You provoked me to anger and caused me to sin," but the LORD did not lay the blame on the people, but squarely on Moses.  In fact, the LORD tried to put safety measures in place by telling Moses to take others with him who would help him to control his anger, but they also failed in their duty.

This was the end of Moses leading the people and Moses went up on Mount Nebo to die and "be gathered to his people" (his spirit went to Paradise like the rest of the saved Old Testament saints), but the LORD will take Moses' body and bury it Himself so that it would not become a temptation for the people to worship it.  The LORD has been gracious in allowing Moses to speak one last time to to the people and in giving him the chance to see the Promised Land before his death, though he would not enter it.

Deuteronomy 31:30-32:47
English Standard Version

The Song of Moses
30 Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the ears of all the assembly of Israel:

32 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
    and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 May my teaching drop as the rain,
    my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
    and like showers upon the herb.
3 For I will proclaim the name of the LORD;
    ascribe greatness to our God!

4 “The Rock, his work is perfect,
    for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
    just and upright is he.
5 They have dealt corruptly with him;
    they are no longer his children because they are blemished;
    they are a crooked and twisted generation.
6 Do you thus repay the LORD,
    you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created you,
    who made you and established you?
7 Remember the days of old;
    consider the years of many generations;
ask your father, and he will show you,
    your elders, and they will tell you.
8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
    when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders of the peoples
    according to the number of the sons of God.
9 But the LORD's portion is his people,
    Jacob his allotted heritage.

10 “He found him in a desert land,
    and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
    he kept him as the apple of his eye.
11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
    that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
    bearing them on its pinions,
12 the LORD alone guided him,
    no foreign god was with him.
13 He made him ride on the high places of the land,
    and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with honey out of the rock,
    and oil out of the flinty rock.
14 Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
    with fat of lambs,
rams of Bashan and goats,
    with the very finest of the wheat--
    and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.

15 “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;
    you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
then he forsook God who made him
    and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
16 They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
    with abominations they provoked him to anger.
17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
    to gods they had never known,
to new gods that had come recently,
    whom your fathers had never dreaded.
18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,
    and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

19 “The LORD saw it and spurned them,
    because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
20 And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;
    I will see what their end will be,
for they are a perverse generation,
    children in whom is no faithfulness.
21 They have made me jealous with what is no god;
    they have provoked me to anger with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are no people;
    I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire is kindled by my anger,
    and it burns to the depths of Sheol,
devours the earth and its increase,
    and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 “‘And I will heap disasters upon them;
    I will spend my arrows on them;
24 they shall be wasted with hunger,
    and devoured by plague
    and poisonous pestilence;
I will send the teeth of beasts against them,
    with the venom of things that crawl in the dust.
25 Outdoors the sword shall bereave,
    and indoors terror,
for young man and woman alike,
    the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
26 I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;
    I will wipe them from human memory,”
27 had I not feared provocation by the enemy,
    lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
lest they should say, “Our hand is triumphant,
    it was not the LORD who did all this.”’

28 “For they are a nation void of counsel,
    and there is no understanding in them.
29 If they were wise, they would understand this;
    they would discern their latter end!
30 How could one have chased a thousand,
    and two have put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
    and the LORD had given them up?
31 For their rock is not as our Rock;
    our enemies are by themselves.
32 For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom
    and from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison;
    their clusters are bitter;
33 their wine is the poison of serpents
    and the cruel venom of asps.

34 “‘Is not this laid up in store with me,
    sealed up in my treasuries?
35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
    for the time when their foot shall slip;
for the day of their calamity is at hand,
    and their doom comes swiftly.’
36 For the LORD will vindicate his people
    and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone
    and there is none remaining, bond or free.
37 Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods,
    the rock in which they took refuge,
38 who ate the fat of their sacrifices
    and drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you;
    let them be your protection!

39 “‘See now that I, even I, am he,
    and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
    I wound and I heal;
    and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
40 For I lift up my hand to heaven
    and swear, As I live forever,
41 if I sharpen my flashing sword
    and my hand takes hold on judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
    and will repay those who hate me.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
    and my sword shall devour flesh--
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
    from the long-haired heads of the enemy.’

43 “Rejoice with him, O heavens;
    bow down to him, all gods,
for he avenges the blood of his children
    and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
He repays those who hate him
    and cleanses his people's land.”
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44 Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. 45 And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. 47 For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

It sounds as if Jesus may have even given the words to Moses to sing because the song talks in first-person from the point of view of the One who is responsible to bear the sword in the LORD's kingdom, and we know that is Jesus.  We will see the full extent of this judgment play out in the end times in the book of Revelation, and we know that in the end the LORD and all His army of heaven win hands down--of the Lord's enemies are defeated before Him by the sword that comes from His mouth.

There is then a call to worship as the people are supposed to respond by worshiping their Creator and Sustainer.  The whole world is supposed to know who He is and chose to worship Him.  Those that chose not to do so now, will be compelled to do so at the time of their judgment.

Moses taught this song to all the people in the presence of Joshua and warned them to take heart and hear the warnings within it, so that they may understand that the LORD is commanding them to be careful to obey the whole Law so that He can bless them and not have to curse them; so that they can be His friends and not His enemies.  This is a matter of life and death to them and their whole purpose and existence as the people of the LORD is wrapped up in their obedience to the Law.  Their destiny as they know face a true "watershed" moment at the Jorden River will be determined by if they continue to walk in obedience, or if they attempt to become just like the Canaanites that the LORD is sending them into the Land to destroy--what makes the people think that the LORD will not also send others into their land to destroy those who are unfaithful?

This is quite a long passage today, but this is the song that the LORD told Moses to write and share with the people before his death that the LORD would help the people to remember and it would stand as a witness against them when they violated the Law and broke the covenant and the blessing of the LORD was removed and the curses of the Law came upon them.

Moses asks for the people to soak up the words of this song as the ground soaks up a gentile rain and that it would give refreshment and help promote growth and life.

Throughout this song, the LORD is called The Rock.  He is a sure and steady foundation that the people must build upon individually and corporately.  His ways are perfect and just.  He is faithful and in all ways without sin.  All of His judgments and actions are righteous.

Those who have broken faith and covenant with Him to choose their sin and rebellion over the LORD are no longer worthy to be called His children, for they are no longer made in His likeness and bearing His image.  They are blemished, but He is holy and perfect in both His nature and His actions.  Those that rebel against the LORD, even if they belong to the family of Abraham, are part of a crooked and twisted generation, and the LORD calls such people foolish and senseless.

Since He is our Father who created all of us, He alone is worthy of all glory and honor and praise and will not share it with any other.  He alone is worthy of our worship.  This is the way it has always been and since the LORD set the boundaries for each nation, He alone is able to take away that authority and the blessing of the land and give such authority and land to others either temporarily or permanently (however, we know He has made an everlasting covenant with Israel to never completely destroy them and that they will eventually return to the Promised Land once they repent and believe.

The LORD chose Israel who was not a people to be His chosen people.  He has revealed Himself to them and led them these 40 years through the wilderness, giving them special provision and special revelation.    He has kept them safe from their enemies and has given them food to eat and a good, rich land, "flowing with milk and honey" that they did not work to cultivate as their own, along with anything fruitful that the Land produced.

The LORD knows that the people will get comfortable and complacent with the blessings that He would pour out on them and would turn away to false gods, even though those gods and idols had done nothing for them and could do nothing for them.  The people would willfully choose to abandon the LORD as their God because they would want to be like all the other nations in the way they worshiped and in their morality and culture.

This will provoke the LORD to jealousy, for He is a God whose name is Jealous, and His fiery judgment will be poured out on those that He calls His own in a spirit of correction.  He will send disasters and plagues not unlike those He sent on Egypt so that the people might see that they are not being any different than the Egyptians were, but they will not see this.  God will have to eventually take them away from the Land before they realize how bad they have messed up.

The nation of Israel will try to claim credit for their military victories that they only won because of the LORD's help, and the LORD says they will be a nation that is void of counsel and in which there is no understanding among them--part of this is that there is no wisdom apart from God and I think another reason for this is that the LORD can and will give them over, eventually, to a depraved mind like we see in Romans 1.

The people will look more like Sodom and Gomorrah than like people of the kingdom of heaven.  They will be their own enemies and will become the enemies of the LORD, though they will still try to call themselves by His name.  Their identity is rooted in sin and rebellion against everything the LORD is and stands for, and antithetical to what He is trying to do in them and through them.

The LORD is storing up His wrath and vengeance for the great and terrible Day of the LORD in which judgment will be poured out on all the enemies of the LORD.  The LORD indicates that even some of "His people" will be caught up in this judgment as they are storing up wrath, not blessings, for themselves.  The day of calamity and judgment will be swift and sure for both the people of God and all those who make enemies with them.  In the end though, for the sake of the covenant He made with Abraham, He will continue to love the people and will change their hearts and vindicate them  They will bring sacrifices to Him in repentance to ask for peace and forgiveness, and their sacrifices will be accepted.  Once this happens and the people return to the LORD, the LORD will make it known to the people and the nations that He once again hold Israel in a place of special favor, not because of anything they could do to earn His love, but simply because He has chosen to love them (even when they were at their worst).

Deuteronomy 31:14-30
English Standard Version

Joshua Commissioned to Lead Israel
14 And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may commission him.” And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. 15 And the LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent.

16 And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them. 17 Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and 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, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ 18 And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods.

19 “Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel. 20 For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant. 21 And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.” 22 So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel.

23 And the LORD commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. I will be with you.”

24 When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, 25 Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, 26 “Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. 27 For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after my death! 28 Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”​

Verse 30 is a transitional verse that fits better with the next chapter, so I'll try to remember to post that in the beginning of tomorrow's passage, but this passage basically finishes out chapter 31 for us, and we are quickly approaching the end of the book of Deuteronomy as we are now seeing the transition of leadership from Moses to Joshua.  In today's passage, we'll see that Joshua will be commissioned by the LORD to lead the people and will do so in a way where no one will be able to refute that the LORD had chosen him.

The LORD tells Moses to call Joshua to the tent of meeting and the LORD's presence both filled the tent and guarded the entrance so that no one could enter.  The LORD tells Moses in the presence of Joshua what is coming for the people of Israel.  Moses is about to die and the people are soon going to rebel against the very Law that they swore to obey.  The LORD's anger will come upon them, mostly because they will turn to idols and false gods and the LORD is a jealous God.  Trouble and calamity will come upon the people and the LORD will not bless them, the meaning of "will hide My face from them."  The people will assume this means that the LORD no longer is among them and while He will in some ways forsake them in their disobedience, He will never forget His eternal, unbreakable covenant that He made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and for the sake of Abraham and for the sake of His own Name will be faithful to complete the eternal covenant that would be fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus, the Christ.

Moses' final act was to write a song to teach to the people (that will be our next chapter we study together) and they are to sing it so that there will be a witness that the LORD has warned them of all the things that are to come when they do what they are going to do.  What a bleak outlook to give Moses right before he dies.  It sounds like the LORD is saying all the work that he has put in to lead the people and teach them was all for naught as they are going to quickly forget everything that was taught to them, but that Moses shouldn't be surprised because he knows they are a rebellious people and experienced their rebellion more than a few times himself and was often mediating for the people asking God not to destroy them completely but to give them another chance.  The LORD is going to make sure that the Jews don't forget this song so that it will be a witness against them when they become like the people that the LORD defeated.

The LORD then again tells Joshua to be strong and courageous and that he will lead Joshua and the people in the same way that He did for Moses and that He will bring His people into the Land that He had promised to them.  This is the end of "The Book of the Law" (the portion that Moses wrote).  We see that Deuteronomy actually tells us that Moses finished and gave a copy to the Levites to put in the Tabernacle next to the Ark of the Covenant or the Ark of the Testimony as a witness against the people, and it was to be read before all the people every seven years like we studied last time.

Moses then wants to call all the elders of the people together one last time so that he can give the people one final message and a final blessing (and some final warnings) before he dies.  These will be our final chapters of the book of Deuteronomy (chapters 32-34) where Moses teaches the people the final song that the LORD has given him, gives each tribe a final blessing, and then dies and the LORD takes his body away so that the people will not make a shrine out of it and stay there where Moses' body rested--they needed to continue to move forward in obedience as the LORD would continue to lead them with Joshua as their new leader--a military leader well-suited for the next phase of the journey where the main focus will be conquest and battle--a battle and a victory which belongs only to the LORD.

Deuteronomy 31:9-13
English Standard Version
​
The Reading of the Law
9 Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Moses then commanded the people that the entire Law should be read to the people ever seven years during the Feast of Booths (the Feast of Tabernacles).  Everyone is to come together to listen to the reading of the Law of the LORD--men, women, children, citizens and foreigners alike.  And everyone is to pay attention so that those who have never heard or never understood may hear and gain understanding, and so that those that have heard it all before may hear it again and renew their love for the Law of the LORD.  In this way, each generation will renew continue to make and renew its covenant with the LORD, and they are to do this as long as they live in the Promised Land.--there is no requirement for them to do this if they are living in a foreign land.

Deuteronomy 31:1-8
English Standard Version

Joshua to Succeed Moses
31 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them, “I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ 3 The LORD your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, as the LORD has spoken. 4 And the LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5 And the LORD will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

7 Then Moses summoned 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 that the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. 8 It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Now that the entire Law has along with its blessings and curses has been given to this new generation, Moses tells the people that his life is at an end.  The LORD has told him that he will not go any further in this journey with the people, but that the LORD Himself will continue to go before the people to lead them and that the LORD has chosen Joshua to succeed Moses as the leader of His people.

The people are to go forward without fear because the LORD will fight for them and they will do to all the peoples that are remaining in the land what they did to King Sihon and King Og--those peoples will be dispossessed of the Land and the LORD's people will claim it as their eternal inheritance.

We see all the people commanded to be strong and courageous, but the LORD will come to Joshua and say this specifically to him several times when He is the new leader of the people--a job that feels too big for him.  Moses then also tells Joshua to be strong and courageous.  How and why?  Because the LORD will go before him--this is what the LORD said as well as what Moses said, and we'll see it repeated for Joshua in the book of Joshua.  He would never abandon Joshua, so there was no need to be in fear.

Deuteronomy 30:11-20
English Standard Version

The Choice of Life and Death
11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

I find it interesting that the LORD says the command He is giving them is not too hard for them to obey.  I agree that it is a simple command that is not hard to understand.  It is not a mystery that only God Himself can understand or something that requires secret knowledge or a decoder ring that is hidden somewhere and requires much exploration and study to find that hidden knowledge or learn how to crack the code.  God's people were to choose life not death, good not evil, and obedience not rebellion.  They are to love the LORD their God first and foremost and they are to express this love by obediently walking in all of the ways in which He has commanded them.  No longer are they to try to simply learn His character and infer how He wants them to live because of that character--that's what we see much of in the time of the patriarchs.  There are some explicit commands there, but for the most part the LORD's people figured out that they were not to murder because the LORD was the giver of all life and the only one that was justified in taking a life (with the exceptions of war and capital punishment, which we see given in the Law).  They are to be truthful and not tell a lie because He is truthful and honest in all His ways--it is His nature, and so on.

The LORD would bless them for their obedience with long life and prosperity, but if they turned to other gods and became like the Canaanites, the LORD says that they will surely die--this should sound much like the one rule that was given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and the LORD knew that it was possible for them to be obedient and never eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but He also knew that they would.  In the same way here, I believe the LORD when He says that it is not too hard to obey this one one, but He knows us better than we know ourselves and knows that none of us would fully obey the Law because all of us have fallen in Adam and only the Second Adam could come and obey this command and all the others to take our place (see Romans 5).

If the people that were called by His name turned to other gods and worshiped them, the LORD would remove blessings and prosperity, even removing them from their land by exile, and He would permit other pagan nations to come into the land to plunder it and to rule over it (temporarily) until His people repented and returned to Him.

The LORD calls heaven and earth as witnesses against His people that He has warned them of what is to come when they disobey, and He knows they will disobey.  The choice is theirs and while it seems like a no-brainer choice, we know that we all face this same choice every day and make the wrong choice over and over again as we choose self and pleasure and what we think will make us happy in the moment or what we think will bring us the most glory or we try to manipulate things to turn out the way we want them to be--which almost never ends well.  This is a decision that is not just for each individual person but for their entire nation and for all their future generations.  There is no such thing as "personal sin" that doesn't affect anyone else.

Our choice to be disobedient brings judgment and condemnation on anyone who knows about our disobedience and turns a blind eye to it, or even someone who should know what is going on with us and actively chooses not to know (friends, neighbors, church members, coworkers, etc--the LORD does not give people a pass for turning a blind eye or willful ignorance.  You are your brother's keeper according to the Law).

Therefore this is an oath or vow that each swore individually, but that they also swore corporately as tribes and as a nation, and it was not just for them but they also swore it for their children and their children's children and so on who could not swear for themselves.  This is partially why the sign of circumcision was commanded to occur on the eighth day.  It was a covenant that the parents were making on how to raise their child and the children would look back at it and live their lives in conformity to that covenant that was made between the LORD and their parents and they would continue to circumcise their own sons in taking that covenant upon themselves so that the covenant was for each generation and the next generation as well.

While the curse of sin which is the power of the Law that we fear is no longer in place because of the LORD took all the curses upon Himself, it is still the mechanism for us to identify ourselves as being the holy people of God and for us to show our love for Him, and in return the blessings of the Law are poured out on the people of God because of Christ (not because of our good works because anything good we do is because He is acting in and through us to accomplish those good works, for without Him we can do nothing that is pleasing or satisfying to the LORD).  We should desire to obey not out of fear of curse, rejection, or punishment, but out of love and devotion and honor.