AM Bible Study Group; February 1, 2012

Deuteronomy 31:30-32:47

Theme: The greatest legacy that the aged can pass on to the young is to encourage them to “trust and obey” God.

What a great moment it is when the aged pass on a legacy to the young. And what a blessing when the legacy is a godly one. In Psalm 37:25-26, King David said, “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lends; and his descendants are blessed.” As Psalm 78 says, “For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments . . .” (Psalm 78:7-9). As David told Solomon, “I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. And keep the charge of the LORD your God . . .” (1 Kings 2:2-3).

In this morning’s passage, we have the beginning of Moses’ final words to the people of Israel. It had already been established that he would not enter the promised land; and that Joshua would lead the people in his place (see 1:37-38) and that he himself was about to die (3:23-29). And so now, aged Moses—like a loving great-grandfather speaking final words to his many children—gives these final charges. What a great example they set for the sort of legacy we need to leave for the generation yet to come!

I. THE CHARGE TO THE PEOPLE CONCERNING THE LAND (vv. 1-6).

A. These are words Moses spoke “to all Israel” (v. 1). He was, as it were, addressing those who would now step forward and take possession of the inheritance God had given them through him. Three things, in verse 2, stand out concerning what he said about his own limitations. First was Moses’ great age. He was 120 years old. His life spanned three generations; and each generation of forty years marked a significant change in God’s leading in his life: forty years training to be a pharaoh, forty years of humility as a shepherd, and forty years of leading God’s people out of bondage and into the land of promise. Second was his physical limitations. He could no longer “go out and come in”. He could physically no longer lead the people and needed to turn the leadership over to another. And third was God’s prohibition to him. He was also limited because he himself had been forbidden by God from entering the promised land. Now that they were about to enter it, they needed to go on without him.

B. And yet, the people’s successful inheritance of the land didn’t depend on him. It would all be God’s doing; and God was not leaving them. God would cross over the land before them (v. 3). Apart from Him, they could do nothing. But they would be able to go in to take the land because He goes in with them. God would also do to the nations as He had done to Kings Sihon and Og (v. 4). These two victories (see Numbers 21:21-35) became the standard of all that God would do for them in days to come if they trusted Him. And God would give the nations over to the nation of Israel (v. 5). This was so “that you may do to them according to every commandment which I have commanded you.”

C. Therefore, Moses’ exhortation to them was to trust in the sufficiency of God on their behalf. They could “be strong and of good courage” in the face of the nations that they would dispossess of the land. This was because “the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you” (v. 6). No greater legacy can be passed on to those who come after us than to teach them to trust in the unchanging God of the generations.

II. THE CHARGE TO JOSHUA CONCERNING THE LEADERSHIP (vv. 7-8).

A. In the providence of God, though, they would still have a human leader. It would not be the leader himself who would bring about the success, but rather God. And that leader would be successful so long as he also trusted in God. That man was Joshua— as God had already commanded. Moses had failed to hallow God in the sight of the people at the matter of Kadesh (Numbers 20:1-13); and had commanded that Joshua would lead the people into the land (Deuteronomy 1:37; 3:26-28). Moses did not resist this; and so, instead, he gave a charge to the new leader—”in the sight of all Israel” (v. 7).

B. Moses urged Joshua, therefore, “Be strong and of good courage”. It would be his responsibility to go with the people to the land God was giving them and cause them to inherit it. Joshua did not need to fear this great task, for “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” (v. 8). God Himself would give this same charge to Joshua after Moses died (see Joshua 1:1-9). A godly leader does good to pass on leadership when it’s time to do so; and he does so in no better way than to urge the new leader to trust in the God who proves Himself faithful to each new generation.

III. THE CHARGE TO THE PRIESTS AND LEADERS CONCERNING THE LAW (vv. 9-13).

A. One of the final acts in this legacy is one that has resulted in our being able to study the Book of Deuteronomy today. “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” (V. 9). Moses had just finished speaking this law to them (see chapters 4-26). But he didn’t trust their memory. He wrote it down as a permanent record. Later on, he ordered that this written copy be kept in the ark of the covenant (see 31:26).

B. He ordered that these leaders read the book of the law to the people regularly—every seven years (v. 10), “at the appointed time in the year of release” (see 15:1-6), “at the Feast of Tabernacles” (see 16:13-15). This would be appropriate, first, because all people would be gathered together at that time to hear it (vv. 11-12); and second, because the remembrance of how God delivered them from their bondage in Egypt would solidify to them their obligation to the covenant.

C. This was not just for those who were gathered at that time. The act of writing of the law and reading it again regularly would also benefit future generations; “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” (v. 13). The older generation of godly followers of Jesus Christ do the greatest possible service to the generation to come when they exalt the Bible and exhort that next generation to read the words of God that will outlast heaven and earth!