Deuteronomy chapter 31

Wow, has it really been that long since I posted? For shame! Stupid assignments.

vs 1

So here's another speech from Moses. This one has a bit of a different character, though.

vs 2

It's not quite as cheery as Bilbo Baggins' speech, but then he was only eleventy one. I don't actually think the age was so much a factor (but he was old!). The fact was, God had said he wasn't going to cross the Jordan, and that's what Israel was up to, so he couldn't take then any farther.

vs 3

Note that it is God who is mentioned first in his role as going before Israel. God is the leader of his people, and it is God that will make everything happen. Joshua will go too, sure. But God is the important one.

vs 4

Joshua won't destroy them. God will.

vs 5

That is, the total remorseless slaughter with your own hands. Note that even at Jericho, while God pulled the walls down, the Israelites still had to get up to their necks in the blood of children.

vs 6

This is the same call that the people will make upon Joshua - to be strong and courageous. It's more than a physical strength, and more than an outer courage too. They must have the fortitude to do what needs to be done, regardless of the awfulness. It might be righteous, but it won't be nice.

Most of all, though, they cannot fear - for there should be no fear for them if God has promised to be with them. Because God will not leave or forsake.

vs 7

Now it's official - the office is being transferred. The final parts of the job are being transferred. Strength and courage will be needed to deal not just with their enemies, but with Israel too. The division of the inheritance will be as scary as the fighting for it. Scary in a different way, but still.

vs 8

God will be with his people, but there is a special sense in which he will be with Joshua as the leader of his people. And Joshua especially will have God with him.

Remember that no-one ever tells you not to be afraid or discouraged if the situation isn't going to be scary and discouraging.

vs 9

That really does make it sound like Moses wrote down Deuteronomy. It sounds either like several copies, or that one copy was entrusted to the priests and leaders of the people. One copy is probably more likely, given what happens to it.

vs 10

It's not as often as we might think. Every seven years, once during the feast of tents. Maybe if they'd done it every year? But then we forget that these are the stories of the people - they will be told at every feast anyway. They will be talked about around the campfire. They will be written on the doorframes, talked about on the roads, taught to the children.

Well, that was the plan.