Deuteronomy 31:1-8--Joshua to Succeed Moses

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.”

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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.