32 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Deuteronomy 31 Moses being old, and knowing he should quickly die, and must not go over Jordan with the people of Israel, acquaints them with it, and encourages them and Joshua to go over notwithstanding, and not be afraid of their enemies, since the Lord would go with them, and deliver them into their hands, Deuteronomy 31:1; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel. The following words, even to the whole body of the people summoned together on this occasion. It seems that after Moses had made the covenant with them he was directed to, he dismissed the people to their tents, and went to his own, and now returned, having ordered them to meet him again, very...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter Moses, having finished his sermon, I. Encourages both the people who were now to enter Canaan (ver. 1-6), and Joshua who was to lead them, ver. 7, 8, 23. And, II. He takes care for the keeping of these things always in their remembrance after his decease, 1. By the book of the law which was, (1.) Written. (2.) Delivered into the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said unto them, I [am] an hundred and twenty years old this day,.... Whether the meaning is, that that day precisely was his birthday, is a question; it may be the sense is only this, that he was now arrived to such an age; though Jarchi takes it in the first sense, to which are objected his words in Deuteronomy 31:14; yet it seems by...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The Lord thy God, he will go over before thee,.... This he said to encourage the people of Israel; that though he should die, and not go over with them, their ever living and true God, the great Jehovah, the Lord of hosts, he would go before them, and fight their battles for them; so that they had nothing to fear from their enemies: [and] he will...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord shall do unto them as he did unto Sihon, and to Og, kings of the Amorites,.... Deliver them up into their hands; see the history of this in Numbers 21:10; and unto the land of them whom he destroyed; put them into the possession of the land of Canaan, as they were now in possession of the land of those two kings he destroyed by them....
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord shall give them up before your face,.... To ruin and destruction; the Targum of Jonathan is, "the Word of the Lord shall deliver them up:'' that ye may do unto them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you; that is, utterly destroy them, make no covenant with them, enter into no alliances nor contract any marriages...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Be strong and of a good courage,.... The Septuagint version is, "play the men, and be strong;'' be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, trusting and relying on him that goes before you; and so take heart, and be of good courage, and act the manly part; the apostle seems to refer to this passage, 1 Corinthians 16:13; fear not, nor be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses called unto Joshua,.... Who might be at some distance from him, with the tribe to which he belonged. The Targum of Jonathan adds, "out of the midst of the people:'' and said unto him, in the sight of all Israel; now assembled together, and what follows was said in their hearing, to make him the more respectable to them: be strong and of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord, he [it is] that doth go before thee,.... The Word of the Lord, his Shechinah, according to the above Targum, and so in the next clause; the same that brought Israel out of Egypt, had gone before them in the wilderness, and now would go before Joshua and them into the land of Canaan: he will be with thee; to guide and direct, to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses wrote this law,.... The book of Deuteronomy, or the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses, which he had now finished, and which all of them together are sometimes called the law, Galatians 4:21; and delivered it unto the priests, the sons of Levi; who were the teachers of the law, as Aben Ezra observes; see Malachi 2:7; and therefore it...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses commanded them,.... The priests and the elders, to whom the law was delivered: saying; as follows: at the end of [every] seven years; every seventh year was a year of rest to the land, and of remission of debts to poor debtors: at the close of this year or going out of it, according to the Misnah (t), even on the eighth year coming in,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God,.... As all the males were obliged to do three times in the year, and one of those times was the feast of tabernacles, and so a proper season for the reading of the law; see Exodus 23:14; in the place which the Lord shall choose; the city of Jerusalem, and the temple there: thou shall read...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Gather the people together, men, and women, and children,.... At the three grand festivals in other years, only males were obliged to appear; women might if they would, but they were not bound to it; but at this time all of every age and sex were to be summoned and assembled together; and it is said (z), when the king read in the book of the law,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And [that] their children, which have not known [anything],.... Of God and of his law and of their duty to God, to their parents, and the rest of their fellow creatures: may hear, and learn to fear the Lord your God; hear the law of God, learn the meaning of it, and so be brought up in the fear, nurture, and admonition of the Lord, and serve him...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord said unto Moses,.... Either at the same time, or quickly after; rather, perhaps, the same day: behold, thy days approach that thou must die; which does not necessarily imply that he had some days to live, though but few; but that the time of his death drew nigh, his last moments were approaching; the time of his death being, as every...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of cloud,.... As he was wont to do, see Exodus 33:9; in which cloud there was a lustre, a brightness, a glory visible, which showed that he was there: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle; it seems to have appeared first in the tabernacle, and then it came out of it,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord said unto Moses,.... Out of the pillar of cloud: behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; a phrase expressive of death, frequently used both of good and bad men, which serves to render death easy and familiar, and less formidable; and to assure and lead into an expectation of an awaking out of it, or a resurrection from it: and this...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day,.... As the anger of a man is against his wife who has treacherously departed from him: and jealousy, which is the rage of such a man, is very cruel; and much more the wrath and anger of a jealous God, who is a consuming fire: and I will forsake them; withdraw his favours from them, and his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I will surely hide my face in that day,.... Which is repeated for the certainty of it, and that it might be taken notice of; that he was the spring and source of all their good things, their sun and their shield, who being withdrawn from them, they would be deprived of every thing that was good, and be liable to all evil; and this he would do, for...