Deuteronomy 31:1

FAREWELL ADDRESS OF MOSES INCLUDING HIS PARTING SONG AND BENEDICTION (Deuteronomy 31-33)

Again in this chapter we have a problem with Deuteronomy 31:1, regarding whether it concludes the preceding chapters or looks forward to the next chapters. "The Septuagint (LXX) considered it as the conclusion of what preceded; and the KJV and the RSV (along with our own version, the ASV) believe that Deuteronomy 31:1. refers to what follows. It is difficult to know which is meant."[1] We see no valid reason for departing from the ASV.

There are a number of very interesting events recorded in this chapter, quite a few of which might be called "the last actions of Moses."

These final chapters continue to be Mosaic in their entirety. Nothing has frustrated critics any more than this. As Nicholson said, "The most perplexing difficulty in attempting to analyze the literary growth of Deuteronomy is the remarkable homogeneity in language, style, and ideology which pervades the book."[2] To us, such a remark is laughable. What else should the critics have expected of a portion of that larger work called the Pentateuch, which for thousands of years has been universally understood as the writing of Moses? What Nicholson wrote is solid evidence that the old traditions are correct and that Moses indeed wrote the "Five Books." This "homogeneity" that Nicholson mentioned is no slight thing at all; he confessed that "the differences" in various parts of the writings of Moses "are slight, amounting to no more than a nuance in syntax, or at most a short phrase."[3] No wonder Von Rad admitted that this portion of the Pentateuch "confronts the commentator who seeks to analyze it with a thoroughly complicated state of affairs!"[4] It is no problem for the believer that the death of Moses (Deuteronomy 34) was probably added to the Pentateuch by Joshua, and possibly also the song and benediction (Deuteronomy 32-33), although written by Moses might also have been actually included in the book by Joshua. Joshua also was fully inspired, and as Sir Isaac Newton said, "Joshua wrote some things in the book of the Law of God (Joshua 24:26). These were public books and not written without the authority of Moses and Joshua."[5] It seems to us that among those things that Joshua wrote in the Law of God, the passages in these final chapters pointed out above were probably included. Of course, there may be some who insist that Moses wrote every word of Deuteronomy. Of such persons, McGarvey said:

"A very small number of persons with extreme views of inspiration, have expressed the opinion that Moses, by inspiration, wrote this account and all those comments at the end of the book; and destructive critics have sometimes cited this fact to discredit that great host of able scholars who believe in the Mosaic authorship of the whole Pentateuch. This is unworthy of men claiming to be critics. We could as well quote many of the silly comments advanced by unskilled advocates of critical positions!"[6]

"And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel. And he said unto them, I am a hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: and Jehovah hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan. Jehovah thy God, he will go over before thee; he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt dispossess them: and Jehovah, he shall go over before thee, as Jehovah hath spoken. And Jehovah will do unto them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and unto their land, whom he destroyed. And Jehovah will deliver them up before you, and ye shall do unto them according to all the commandment which I commanded you. Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be affrighted at them: for Jehovah thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of good courage; for thou shalt go with this people into the land which Jehovah hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And Jehovah, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee nor forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed."

"And Moses went and spake ..." (Deuteronomy 31:1). Alexander is correct in the affirmation that "this does not mean that Moses went anywhere!"[7] A similar passage in the N.T. is, "Jesus went and preached unto the spirits in prison" (1 Peter 3:19); and there also, the meaning is not that Jesus went anywhere. It was merely a redundant way of saying that he preached. If a judge dismisses a criminal with the command, "Go and behave yourself," the meaning is not that the person is commanded to go anywhere. Many ancient writers used this type of language. Herodotus often wrote: "he spoke, saying," "speaking, he said," etc. Barnes compared the expression "he went and preached" to such expressions by Herodotus.[8] James Macknight also agreed with this.[9] This O.T. example of this rather unusual type of idiom is valuable in that it sheds light on the many foolish theories based on 1 Peter 3:19, concerning what Jesus did while he was dead and buried! Again from Macknight:

"If Christ is said by Paul to go and do what he did by his apostles (Ephesians 2:17), then the apostle Peter with equal propriety may say that Christ "went and preached" by the hands of Noah."[10]

The true meaning here is that the speaking Moses did "was the consequence of his having arranged, disposed, or set himself to speak."[11]

"I can no more go out and come in ..." (Deuteronomy 31:2). It is unfair to contrast these words with what was said of Moses in Deuteronomy 34:7, that his eye was not dim nor his natural strength unabated, as if the two statements were incompatible. Moses was saying here that he was no longer able to lead the people, and, in view of his advanced age, it is remarkable that he had been able to lead them so long. The contradiction that critics are always hunting, nothing else whatever in the Sacred Text being of any interest to them, does NOT exist. Moses did not say here that he was blind and no longer able to move about. What he said was that he was no longer able to "go in and out" as the leader of Israel. The 120 years of Moses' life were lived as follows: forty years in the courts of Pharaoh, forty years in Midian with Jethro, and forty years leading Israel to the banks of the Jordan. In Deuteronomy 31:2, Moses was not thinking of his abilities as they existed at that moment, but of the strength that future leadership in the wars of Canaan would require. Cook stated that it would be preferable to render the passage, "I shall not longer be able to go out and come in."[12]

"And Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as Jehovah hath spoken ..." (Deuteronomy 31:3). These words, spoken publicly and formally before all Israel, constituted Moses' resignation of the leadership of Israel and the appointment of Joshua as his successor. Joshua was a mighty man of war, having won a great victory over the Amalekites shortly after the Exodus, but it should be remembered that Joshua was some forty-two years younger than Moses. At the time of his appointment to succeed Moses, "Joshua was 78 years of age; he died 32 years later at age 110 (Joshua 24:29)."[13] God had already approved this transfer of authority in Numbers 27:17, but here the formal transfer occurs.

"Be strong and of good courage ..." (Deuteronomy 31:6,7). This commandment, delivered first to the people and a moment later to Joshua, has been the marching order for God's people in all ages. "Paul seems to have borrowed this in 1 Corinthians 16:13, where we have, `Stand firm in the faith, play the man, be vigorous,' - act like heroes."[14]