The Saddening of Moses Just Before He Dies -- Deuteronomy 31:22-30

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Moses Gives His Last Order to Israel With Sadness -- Deuteronomy 31:22-30

Just prior to this passage, God had ordered Moses to write a song that Israel would remember when they forsook Him in the years ahead. This passage starts off by saying that Moses wrote that song, inspired by God, that very day. And he taught it to Israel. We find the song in the chapter after this one.

Here, however, in verse 23, Moses commissions Joshua, his replacement, as the leader of Israel, and tells him to be strong and courageous. Joshua, you will remember, was known for his servant's heart and attitude, feeling inferior to his master Moses, and doubting he could accomplish what Moses believed he could., David Guzik speaks to this:

"This was a manly way to speak to Joshua. God (and Moses) would not pander to Joshua's weak and timid nature. He didn't hear, "Oh Joshua, you're so wonderful." "Oh Joshua, you're so strong." "Oh Joshua, you're so courageous." Instead, he heard, "Now is the time. Step up to the challenge. Be strong and of good courage!" You shall bring the children of Israel into the land: Joshua, by nature weak and lacking courage, needed to hear this from Moses. He needed to hear, "You are going to do it. It is going to happen."

How many times with my own children, or even grandchildren, not to mention church leaders, have I felt that this is the very talking to they needed to hear? "Stop doubting. Start doing." We can all stand to hear that at times, I'm sure. While God is patient with us, every day that we delay carrying out His plan for our life, we are holding back the blessings related to that matter that God wants us to have.

The passage then tells us that after finishing the writing of the Law, Moses instructs the Levites to place the book of the Law beside the ark of the covenant where it was to remain there as a "witness against" them. The very phrase God used earlier in reference to the song that He asked Moses to write.

And then Moses echoes the words, knowledge, and feelings of God when he tells the Israelites that he knows they are rebellious and stubborn, even while he still lives, and that they will be much more so once he dies. (verse 27)  No wonder Joshua had to be encouraged having heard both from God and now Moses that the people he was about to lead would be so disobedient to God. Can you imagine being a pastor today of a group of people of which God has told you would sin so badly that God would be totally disgusted with them? And yet, I can only assume, knowing that we are all human, that this happens often. May such pastors have the wisdom to pray hard for their flock and may they have the boldness to warn them. And may we have the faith not to be those people.

Then Moses asks for all the elders and officers to be assembled together so they may hear his words (of the song that is coming) and that he could "call on heaven to witness against them". (verse 28)  Matthew Henry has this to say:

"It is probable that this was the very book that was found in the house of the Lord (having been somehow or other misplaced) in the days of Josiah (2 Chr. 34:14), and so perhaps the following words here, that it may be a witnessagainst thee, may particularly point at that event, which happened so long after; for the finding of this very book occasioned the public reading of it by Josiah himself, for a witness against a people who were then almost ripe for their ruin by the Babylonians."

Moses tells them how corrupt they will become after he dies, doing evil in God's sight, and provoking His anger. And with that, he spoke the words of the song.

Let us for a moment stop and think, once again, how Moses must have felt on that very day. During his life, he had witnessed the unfaithfulness of his people and he tells them that (verse 27). He knew them well. Matthew Henry points out that "Their rebellions against himself he makes no mention of: these he had long since forgiven and forgotten; but they must be made to hear of their rebellions against God, that they may be ever repented of and never repeated."

Now, having heard from God that their wickedness would be even greater after his death, this must have made him extremely sad. Henry continues,

"Many a sad thought, no doubt, it occasioned to this good man, to foresee the apostasy and ruin of a people he had taken so much pains with, in order to [make] them good and make them happy; but this was his comfort, that he had done his duty, and that God would be glorified, if not in their settlement, yet in their dispersion. Thus our Lord Jesus, a little before his death, foretold the rise of false Christs and false prophets (Mt. 24:24), notwithstanding which, and all the apostasies of the latter times, we may be confident that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church, for the foundation of God stands sure."

It should be our prayer for ourselves, and for our brothers and sisters, and for our children and grandchildren, that we should never have to have a song remind us of our turning against God.

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