Last Testament of Moses
Deuteronomy 31: 1-29
The Great Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Max A Forsythe
Introduction: One colorful story of the great man of the Twentieth Century, pictures Winston Churchill at an evening social gathering, where one of the Grand Dame’s of English society pointedly tells him that he is drunk! ”Yes Madam” he readily admits, but not to outdone, he tells her that she was ugly. Further, on the morrow he explained, he would be sober again, but her condition would remain unchanged! That discourse reminds me of so many frustrating occasions in public service where my “superiors” would remind me that I was “upset”, “frustrated” or “difficult to get along with”. I almost always was thinking to myself: “and tomorrow I will regain my cool, but your policies, procedures and affections will remain always and forever “stupid”!
My analysis of public mis-education has not changed much over the last twenty-some years! That legacy of lies, deceit and squandering of truth has all but effectively destroyed Western Civilization in our country! Thankfully, I have been allowed to leave that third of my life behind. I providentially have, if the Lord is gracious – another third of allotted years to go. “To rebuild what others destroy” reads one translation of Isaiah 58:12 – it is the family theme verse, which I discovered during the first third of my life when I was taking the “Olive Drab” tour of Europe sponsored by my rich Uncle Sam. I hope I still have a few years to make something of that familiar family verse.
Dr Brown discusses the three-fold periodization of the life of Moses in his commentary to set apart the text before us. The first forty years provided Moses the very best in education, diplomatic experience and an understanding of the principles of leadership and government as developed in the extravagant Egyptian Court. Then, because he killed a minor Egyptian official – he spent the next third of his life in the wild deserts of Midian, living as a simple shepherd. Finally, the Lord calls him to the great task at hand, the deliverance of the people of Israel from the slavery of Egypt. And therein he spends his final forty years bringing us to this point in the revelation history of the Exodus. The final arrangements of the aged Moses are made and set forth in the context of these last chapters in the book of Deuteronomy.
Meredith Kline titles this chapter and the following as the “final section of the covenant document [which] has as its unifying theme the perpetuation of the covenant relationship. Of special importance is the subject of royal succession, which is also prominent in the extra-biblical suzerainty treaties. This succession is provided for by the appointment and commissioning of Joshua as dynastic heir to Moses in the office of mediatorial representative of Yahweh.”
Old Covenant Milieu: J.A. Thompson divides this chapter into three purposeful sections. The first section contains a threefold charge: “As Moses approached his death he gave a series of charges to the people (1-6), to Joshua (7-8), and to the priests (9-13), each concerned in some way with the maintenance of the Covenant.” The second section is a literary connection of the several themes in this chapter. They culminate in the divine charge given to both Moses and Joshua (14-23) and a provision for the preservation of the covenantal records (24-29).
Let us look first to Moses’ words to the people of God in the first six verses. What better testimony at the end of a long and fruitful life than the encouragement of the people to trust in the Lord to accomplish all that has been promised to them since the time of Abraham. True, there would be much fighting, toil and trouble before the land could be contained by the godly rule of God’s elect. However, the victory was as certain as the Japanese Imperial Navy Admiral Yamamoto predicted for the opposing American forces in 1941.
The God of battles, the Old Covenant writers gladly acknowledge our Creator God to certainly be. In that regard, they were theologically ahead of our present day wherein moderate and liberal churches wouldn’t want any such claims to be taken too seriously today. Christian warriors however, may well understand the necessity of implicit trust in a greater God, who protects not only the nation but also the souls of those who die as well as those who will survive to a ripe old age. The old adage of there being “no atheists in foxholes” is only partially true – but a certain seriousness about life does take hold of many veterans who have seen the elephant and lived to show their wounds and tell their stories.
In the next scene, Moses sets Joshua up in front of the people and announces publicly and charges him with the awesome responsibility of leading the elect people of God into their promised earthly rest. We see the striking words in the last phrase of verse seven: “and you shall cause them to inherit it.” Yes, we know that God is always the primary cause in the providential arrangements of all things. However, there are secondary causes that help to trigger events because certain people have been courageous to obey the clear and precise calling of the Lord.
To this day, we set aside the leaders, pastors, elders and deacons of Christ’s Church for the purpose of serving the same Lord who blessed Joshua with a successful military campaign of many months and even some years. My own thematic family verse of several generations challenged me when I first translated its Latin from a picture of the family crest. Eventually, I figured out that it came from the book of Isaiah and just last year, I heard that the same was also the motto of a well-known television evangelist, whose goals and methods are different from my own. But, each of us in the our different ways take seriously the admonition of the Lord, even as we read how the Lord’s admonition was delivered to Joshua.
In the third scene here, the priests and elders are admonished to read the law, which Moses is giving to them, at least once in every seven years. A specific feast is noted, and an expectation that all of Israel will gather for the occasion is announced. Now, a lot has changed since the time of Moses, Samuel, David and all of the rest of the Old Covenant saints. The signs of the seasons were not overwhelmingly appreciated and on at least one occasion – the law of God disappeared from public view for many years – hidden in a plastered over storage area.
In time, with the increase in Old Covenant content through ongoing revelation, local rabbi’s began to undertake a regular study and exposition of the whole of the law. By the time of Christ, this was a regular habit in the weekly gatherings for worship.
I find the seven-year cycle to be particularly interesting because that is the same period of time, which the Disney Company retires, old children’s films before releasing them to a newborn and younger generation time after time over the course of years. Many Sunday School publications also follow a seven-year cycle. And finally, that is usually the amount of time it takes the average person to read through the whole of the Old and New Covenants. Stored away in an old box, I recently found my first three Bibles. The dates in them averaged seven years apart. I also still have on my shelves another three volumes of differing translations. Again, the accession numbers in those bibles are about five to seven years apart. Yes, at my age I should be on my eighth read through if the principle is worthy of such emulation. However, as I contemplated my responsibility I remembered that I couldn’t read those first seven years, so I am only one reading behind?
This concept of a regular hearing and appreciation of the word of God is all that the prophet Moses is encouraging. The tribal heritages, the national will and the providence of God may dictate various and sundry changes in the organization of people and Old Covenant Church, but the regular study of the revelation record is still beholden upon those called into Christ’s spiritual kingdom even today. So if you have not arranged an ongoing plan of study and meditation, you are all young enough to begin immediately!
Before we leave these first three scenes, let us take to heart that not only the people are challenged, but also the religious leaders as well the national ones expected to encourage a godly study of the covenantal texts. As we leave the threefold admonition of people, priests and leaders, we read in the next section that the Lord God of heaven and earth appears in the sanctuary to Moses and Joshua. There the Lord confirms what Moses already knows and Joshua has been led to expect. The leadership of the people of Israel must be transferred to the next generation in peace of God’s ongoing presence.
Every once in a while I hear or see the transition of power in a church from one generation of elders to the next. It is not always a pretty picture! Older pastors sometimes think they are indispensable, and older elders are reluctant to see things in the same light as their own replacements. Do remember this everyone, especially those of you who are older! The time will come to pass on Elijah’s cloak of office to another. Of course, you may have to do so before the fiery chariot arrives to carry you across to the promised heavenly land!
And may I also admonish the younger men, who are being groomed, trained, mentored and counseled towards the awesome responsibilities that lie ahead. “Rome wasn’t built in a day” is more than just an antiquated worldly proverb. Only age and experience will help you realize the timelessness of the glorious gospel of grace and the ongoing worldly resistance to take it seriously and to heart. While there are many things we can use younger men for, the wisdom of holding off any final passing on of power until after the age of thirty is well advised. Sharing of course is a different matter, but the perspective of several generations is always worth the argument and discussion necessary to come to a consensus.
One of the troubling revelations in this section is the prophetic oratory of the God of Israel. Israel, as the expectant bride of the promised Messiah shall play in the mud, the grime and sin of idolatry. The bride of Christ will fall far short of the virginal purity necessary to please the eternal Father of the groom. And so, the God of all the earth, in addition to the admonitions of people, priests and leaders will give all a song to sing in their hearts – commanding them to sing of these covenantal themes.
A while back, I had had an email from a Charismatic preacher who was preaching in a liberal Presbyterian Church. He wanted to know how to wean them from the stogy old hymns in the hymnal that I grew up on. I admonished him, that if he took away that hymnal and another pastor replaced him in that church, the people not having the old established and doctrinally correct verses to remind them of the faith would more easily fall into the same errors as those who write and sing the all too worldly “spiritual songs” which require a lot of discernment and rewriting to drive out the devils of all manner of heresy. You will notice here in our singing, that we do not have a very wide repertoire of spiritual songs. That is because we have chosen the best of the lot and there are precious few that meet the necessary theological underpinnings required.
In verse twenty-two we see that “Therefore Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel.”
Time was short and growing shorter for the aged and infirm prophet, so he delayed not in accomplishing his assigned responsibility. We read in the next verse that he also immediately “inaugurated” Joshua to his office of leadership.
Verse twenty-four tells us that Moses wrapped up the publication of the Torah and gave it into the care of the Levitical brotherhood who carried the Ark of the Lord. One last meeting is ordered for the tribal officials. And in that meeting, he shares the revelation of the Lord concerning the prophetic spiritual wandering of the people of Israel. Not on their watch, he pleads with those who gather before him. Thus, we see recorded the last testament of the greatest and first Prophet of Israel. His books, have been graciously protected these many millennia by the very God who revealed the contents into the scribal care of Moses himself.
New Covenant Continuum: Leaving this Old Covenant event behind, we may very well wonder as so much of modern paganism does, what use is their in studying these manuscripts that would keep us from being all the sinners we would hope and like to be? Well should we remember that Jesus asked pointedly if the church would survive to welcome Him at the end of the age?
Dr Raymond Brown observes that the children of Israel are admonished to consider a fourfold exposition of the revelations given through Moses. I would summarize his outline in these words:
1. The written word contained in the scrolls of the Torah
2. The visual word contained in the festival of booths when the law was to be verbalized.
3. The vocal word preached faithfully to Israel periodically
4. The singing of the word with joy in the heart of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs
And so is the New Covenant Church still admonished to continue the same worship of God in Spirit and in truth. While the dramatic scenes of the second admonishment are downplayed in the Protestant era, we need to realize that we do that for a purpose, since the Reformational whitewashing of pictographic scriptural analysis for illiterate masses of the High Middle Ages was aimed at encouraging the people to read and understand God’s word for themselves instead of being awed and amazed at the artistic transfer of sacred context.
Contemporary Application: There is unfortunately, a similar sequence that is sadly being replayed in our time, due to educational mismanagement and even a deliberate dumbing down of the generations to keep them from comprehending the intricacies of the sacred literature. This would allow of course, the experts to explain what little of the divine truth they are content to share with the masses.
Of special interest to me is the depth of scholarship in the Puritan and Reformed era of four hundred years ago. Are we truly heirs of such glorious scholarship? Not many are, liberals whom I have known did purposely hide away the best of the Christian tradition, hoping against hope that the Church might be weaned from such straightforward analysis. Praise be to God that He has raised up a handful of congregations here and there to speak the divine revelation in love and firmness, so that those whom God is calling to Himself may realize the importance of the covenant revealed in word and song.
May we hear the last testament of the prophet Moses and seek the revealed wisdom of God’s eternal word contained in every verse, sentence and paragraph kept safe for our use and understanding these many centuries since Moses went home to be with the Lord. Amen.
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