Deuteronomy 31:1-13
Joshua the New Leader of Israel (Numbers 27:12–23)
1 Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them: “I am one hundred and twenty years old today. I can no longer go out and come in. Also the LORD has said to me, You shall not cross over this Jordan.’ 3 The LORD your God Himself crosses over before you; He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua himself crosses over before you, just as the LORD has said. 4 And the LORD will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites and their land, when He destroyed them. 5 The LORD will give them over to you, that you may do to them according to every commandment which I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”
7 Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. 8 And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”
The Law to Be Read Every Seven Years
9 So Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, saying: “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the LORD your God and carefully observe 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 which you cross the Jordan to possess.”
Here we see the transfer of leadership from Moses to faithful general Joshua as they are about to enter the promised land. Though this faithful leader and conduit to bring the Law was kept from entering due to his disbelief and disobedient behavior when he hit the rock instead of speaking to it as directed by faith (Numbers 20:8, 11, 12), he was still blessed to have come so far and done so much for his people and would be long remembered as the father of the nation even until the days of Jesus Christ who fulfilled the Law (Matthew 5:17, Hebrews 3:3, 5) as one far greater. He was faithful to the end. Therefore a lead needed to take the place of Moses to lead the people into their inheritance and Joshua who had borne a true testimony of faith to enter the first time (Numbers 14:6, 30, 38) when others feared and lied, he was elected by the LORD through His mouthpiece Moses to take on this immense responsibility. Moses encouraged them all to trust the LORD to guide them as promised saying, “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” This exhortation applies to we who are now in Christ the greatest ever more to trust and obey without reservation through this life into the promised heavenly country of His Kingdom to come. He will never forsake us because of the promise of unending salvation in His Son who has kept the entirety of His word for us and made us righteous and accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6) and whose word keeps us in His hand (John 10:28,29, Ephesians 1:13, 14) into eternity and beyond this life, even when we fail as Moses did. He will lead us across the figurative river of death as in Pilgrim’s Progress, the shadow pictured by the Jordan River crossed by Israel into the promised land at last to possess the kingdom (Daniel 7:18, Luke 12:32) of God at last, where the Son who is our righteousness leads us until we will finally hear (Matthew 25:34), ‘Enter into the Promised Kingdom of God!
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