Friday April 19, 2019
Good Friday. Many followers of Christ commemorated His crucifixion. Some members of the Korean Bible Study group attended the Good Friday service at their respective home church to honor Christ. For those who did not have home church assembled to press on to finish the last portion of Deuteronomy in the University of Maryland College Park campus. Praise the LORD for the great weather again – a mild temperature in the mid 60s with occasional breeze.
Deuteronomy 31
Let’s make sure, first, we are reminded of the author’s background: Moses. Although he was 120 years old, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated (Deut. 34:7), and he knew his death was imminent. A man of 120 years old, who knew God face to face and was still full of vigor, must have had many godly wisdoms to impart to the younger generation. In a situation like this, he would declare the most important messages and wisdoms that he accumulated over his entire 120 years of life, especially from the last 40 years, during which he had led the Israelites from Egypt to the east of Jordan River. Therefore, even for the readers in the 21st century of the Deuteronomy 31 have a strong reason to heed the last words of Moses.
This chapter presented many diverse instructions specific to each group or person. Therefore, I divided the instructions by categorizing them into distinct speaker-listener combinations. They are summarized in the table below.
| Category – Speaker/Listener | Moses to All Israelites (v.1-8) | Moses to Joshua (v. 7-8) | Moses to the Levitical Priests(v. 9-13) | The LORD to Moses (v.14-22, 24) | The LORD to Joshua (v. 23) | Moses to the Levites(v. 23-29) |
| Old Leadership | Moses won’t be able to lead you any longer. | Moses will die soon (repeated twice) | ||||
| New Leadership | The LORD your God and Joshua will lead you. | Be strong and courageous because Joshua will lead them to land. | Call Joshua that the LORD may commission him. | Be strong and courageous and you (Joshua) will bring the Israelites into the land I promised | ||
| “Steadfastness” of the Israelites | Israelites will fall away and the LORD’s anger will be kindled. | The Israelites will fall away. | ||||
| Steadfast and Inclusive God | Be strong and courageous for the LORD will not fail you nor forsake you. | THe LORD will not fail you, nor forsake you. | Assemble everyone in Israel, including all the aliens, and teach the word to them to hear, learn and fear the LORD. Educate the next generation. Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priest | To Moses, write a song and teach it to the Israelites that show faithfulness of God and unfaithfulness of Israelites | Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD God. |
Overall observation of the chapter
The Wealth of the Nations, written by Adam Smith and published in 1776, starts with an interesting topic. The book’s very first chapter is about the division of labor. After making a series of keen observations of pin manufacturing processes, Adam Smith was awed by a significant increase in productivity in pin production when the division of labor was appropriately implemented. Somewhat – although a distant “somewhat” – Deuteronomy 31 reminded me of the division of labor instructed by the LORD to each stakeholder group within the Israelites. Some messages were given directly from the LORD to Moses and Joshua. Others were from Moses to all the Israelites and Moses to the Levitical priests. These messages, although distinct, have some common elements.
Old leadership and the remaining task
One of the major questions that came up when I was reading this chapter was why the LORD God decided to have a major change in the leadership at such a crucial juncture of the Israelites. Normally, this abrupt change in leadership before a major conquest war can be extremely risky. When the question was brought up to the bible study group, we started to brainstorm.
One potential reason that the LORD decided to change the leadership was because Moses was old, the LORD wanted to relieve him from this straining duty and burden (Imagine yourself having led 600,000 people for 40 years in the wilderness!) Yet, this reasoning may be weak because Deuteronomy 34:7 states that Moses was still full of vigor. Despite his advanced age of 120, Moses was very healthy. Note that not every person of God was healthy at the end of his/her life. King David, man after God’s heart, was frail when he was old and advanced in age (1 Kings 1).
The second possible reason could be that the LORD God knew that a new, younger leadership would be more suitable to lead the second generation Israelites. This reason seems plausible. To the most second generation Israelites, Moses was a reverent, fearful leader. Their parents disobeyed the LORD and Moses, and everyone of them, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, fell dead in the wilderness. Moses was the one who received godly revelation of the Law and Ten Commandments. To them, Moses was an epitome of a vertical leadership with charisma. On the other hand, Joshua could been considered a comrade and collaborate leader, which can be more appropriate to the new generation. If Moses had continued to lead, then the Israelites community would have been robbed of the opportunity to nurture the growth of new leadership. In addition, there could have been a danger of idolizing human leader over God.
The third possible reason that the LORD God decided to change the leadership was that He loved Moses too much. Although the nominal reason that Moses was not allowed to enter the land of Canaan was his disobedience to the LORD by hitting the rock with his staff instead of speaking to it (Numbers 20), the heart of the LORD may not have been entirely in anger. It was possible that the LORD detected the frailty in Moses and decided to relieve him from the duty. Instead of implementing punishment, the LORD’s decision to have Moses step down from the leadership before the conquest of Canaan could be an ultimate sign of the LORD’s deep affection for Moses. The LORD wanted Moses to come back to Him.
Moses knew when to let go and obeyed God. In April 2018, Omar al-Bashir, the ignominious leader of Sudan for nearly four decades, was forced to step down by the military. It is incredibly difficult to step down especially after many decades of having the top position. Moses did an excellent job of leading the grumbling, stiff-necked Israelites for 40 years in the wilderness. He taught the Law, the life-giving Law, to God’s people. He oversaw the building of the tabernacle. He completed his mission assigned by the LORD God. It was the time for him to step down – and that was good in the sight of the LORD.
New Leadership and Be strong and Courageous
God was grooming Joshua to be the leader. About 40 years ago, Joshua was the general that led the Israelites to fight the army of Amalek while Aaron and Hur helped Moses to hold his hand up until the sun set (Exodus 17). Not only was he capable of leading armies, he also had the discernment – only Caleb and he were able to see the land of Canaan with God’s perspective and power. The LORD made it clear – Moses would pass away, and Joshua would lead the people.
“Faithfully” sinful human
So far so good. However, Moses knew that the Israelites would continue to be unfaithful and rebellious (Deut. 31:27). Moses warned this to the Israelites, and soon they confirmed it. The book of Judges confirmed their rebellious attitudes and unfaithfulness. Many prophets in the kingdom of Judah and Israel rebuked their unfaithfulness. Our lives continue to reflect our sinful shortcomings.
Faithfully good God
God knew that the Israelites would lead themselves astray to serve other gods and idols of other nations. Despite fully knowing their stiff-necked attitudes, God still led them through the wilderness under Moses and still promised to lead them into the land of Canaan under Joshua. God continues to abide by His faithfulness.
Good Friday
That brings us back to Good Friday. Despite knowing that we would fall short, Jesus died on the cross. Deuteronomy 31 continues to remind us of God’s faithfulness. Good Friday reminds us of faithful Christ.
Give Life 