Charles Ellicott Commentary Deuteronomy 31:1-8

"And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel. And he said unto them, I am a hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: and Jehovah hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan. Jehovah thy God, he will go over before thee; he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt dispossess them: [and] Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as Jehovah hath spoken. And Jehovah will do unto them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and unto their land; whom he destroyed. And Jehovah will deliver them up before you, and ye shall do unto them according unto all the commandment which I have commanded you. Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be affrighted at them: for Jehovah thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of good courage: for thou shalt go with this people into the land which Jehovah hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And Jehovah, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed." — Deuteronomy 31:1-8 (ASV)

Deuteronomy 31:1–8. MOSES RESIGNS HIS CHARGE AS LEADER TO JOSHUA.

And Moses went and spoke. — The expression is unusual. Possibly it means “went on to speak.”

The Palestine Targum has, “He went into the house of instruction and spoke.” The Septuagint has apparently preserved a different reading, and says, “And Moses made an end of speaking these words” , as if the Hebrew were vay’cal instead of vay-yelek. A transposition of two letters would make all the difference.

I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in. — The description of Moses’ death in Deuteronomy 34:7 says, “his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” Yet he may have felt within himself that his work was done.

“I have no longer authority, for the authority is taken from me and given into the hand of Joshua” is one interpretation. And it fits with what follows. “The LORD hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.”

The LORD thy God, he will go over before thee ... Joshua, he shall go over before thee. — Can it be accidental that Jehovah and Joshua are spoken of in exactly the same language, and that there is no distinguishing conjunction between them, the “and” of the English Version being supplied? “Jehovah, He is going over; Joshua, he is going over.”

Verbally, the two are as much identified as “The God who fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel that redeemed me from all evil” (Genesis 48:15–16). The prophetical truth of this identification is too remarkable to be missed.

As he did to Sihon and to Og. — The value of these two conquests, before Israel passed the Jordan, was inestimable, as an encouragement to them to persevere.

According unto all the commandments. — The Hebrew word for “commandments” is in the singular, Mitzvah, the principle of action.

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid. — Here this is addressed to the people in the plural number. The same thing is said to Joshua in the next verse.

And Moses called unto Joshua. — In these words Moses formally delivers the charge of the people to Joshua, to lead them over Jordan.

He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee. — Repeated by Jehovah Himself (Joshua 1:5). “Will not let you go” is the exact meaning of “fail” here. Compare Deuteronomy 9:14, “let me alone.”