Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Deuteronomy-Chapter 31

Deut 31.1-30 tells us about the lasat counsel of Moses. He is 120 years old and these words in Deuteronomy are seen as the his “dying declaration’; we have the concept of succession discussed with the appointment of Joshua; the public reading of the Torah at the end of every seven years at Sukkot; the Song of Moses; Moses hands this book containing the Sinai Covenant and the covenant in Moab to the Levites to be placed by the Ark.

v 1…So Moses went (vayelach) and spoke these words to all Israel.

v 2…And he said to them, “I am one hundred and twenty years old today, I am no longer able to come and go (and maintain the duties of public life like before), and the Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross this Jordan.’

v 3…It is the Lord your God who will cross ahead of you , he will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, just as the LOrd has spoken.

v 4…And the Lord will do to them just as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them.

v 5…And the Lord will them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you (to utterly destroy them).

v 6…Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes before you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”

v 7…Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel (publically; Moses will not be taking Israel across the Jordan into the promised land, Joshua will. This alludes to the fact that the Torah cannot save us and bring us into the promised land, only Yeshua can), “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 give it to them as an inheritance.

v 8…And the Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; he will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear, or be dismayed (Moses does this so Joshua’s authority cannot be challenged. It’s the same with the Torah. It reveals Yeshua publically in ways that cannot be challenged by anyone else).”

v 9…So Moses wrote this law (no hint of an oral law because Moses wrote all the words down) and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the sons of Israel.

v 10…Then Moses commanded them saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of the remission of debts (the sabbatical year, called the year of remission in Deut 15.9), at the feats of Sukkot,

v 11…when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God (Exo 23.14) at the place which he will choose (Jerusalem Temple), you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing (no hint of an oral law here either, what was written was read).

v 12…Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien (non-Jew who has joined himself to the God of Israel) who is in your town, in order that they may hear and learn to fear (respect) the Lord your God, and be careful to observe (do-Jam 1.22) all the words of this law (no hint of an oral law, this was read).

v 13…And their children, who have not known (this law yet), will hear and learn to feat the LOrd your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess (we don’t need experts trained in the oral law of Rabbinical Judaism to explain the written law. His word is clear so that even a seven year old child can understand it according to v 10-13. Each generation was was to follow the written law as God led. We are not to exceed what was written. An oral law can be helpful on how to do something, but we are not to accept the authority of the oral law as being from God The rabbis say the oral law is the “spaces” between the words of the written law. We are to teach Moses, not the spaces between what Moses said. Rabbinic Judaism was not around in the time of Yeshua, it showed up after the destruction of the Temple. A famous rabbi called Yochanon Ben Zakkai said, “Prayer, repentance and good works will avert the evil decree.” That is the basic rabbinical doctrine of Judaism, but that is not the teaching of Moses. Judaism does not teach Moses, they teach Talmud and rabbinic thought. If they taught Moses, they would know about sin and they would know who Yeshua is (Psa 40.7; John 5.39-47; for more information on the validity of the oral law, we refer you to our teaching called, “A Case Against A Divinely Inspired Oral Law” on this website).”

v 14…Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, the time for you to die is near, call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, that I may commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.

v 15…And the Lord appeared in tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the doorway of the tent.

v 16…And the Lord said to Moses, “You are about to sleep with your fathers (this is a common expression that is used of both good and bad; the term is used to make it less formidable and to assure them of “awakening” out of it at the resurrection); and this people (later generations) will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them.

v 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 shall be consumed , and many evils and troubles shall come upon them; so that they will say in that day,’ ‘Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come upon us?’

v 18…But I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil which they will do. for they will turn to other gods (in v 16-18 “ha Shoah”, a word for the Holocaust, is encoded).

v 19…Now therefore write this song (the song in the following chapter) for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel, put it on their lips, in order that this song may be a witness for me against the sons of Israel.

v 20…For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and seve them, and spiurn me and break my covenant.

v 21…Then it shall come about when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify before them as a witness, for it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants, for I know their intent which they are developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.”

v 22…So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel.

v 23…The he (Moses in the name of Yehovah) commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you.”

v 24…And it came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book until they were complete (no hint of an oral law here, all the words were written down)

v 25…that Moses commanded the Levites (priests) who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying,

v 26…”Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LOrd your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you (this is what Hilkiah found in 2 Chr 34.14).

v 27…For I know your rebellion and your stubbornness; behold, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the Lord, how much more, then, after my death?

v 28…Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words (of the song) in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them.

v 29…For I know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you, and evil will befall you in the latter days (“acharit yamim” is in the distant future and an eschatological term), for you will that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger with the works of your hands (idols).”

v 30…Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel (the leaders-v 28) the words of this song until they were complete.

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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