Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 31:1-8
Loth to part (we say) bids oft farewell. Moses does so to the children of Israel: not because he was loth to go to God, but because he was loth to leave them, fearing that when he had left them they would leave God. He had finished what he had to say to them by way of counsel and exhortation: here he calls them together to give them a word of encouragement, especially with reference to the wars of Canaan, in which they were now to engage. It was a discouragement to them that Moses was to be removed at a time when he could so ill be spared: though Joshua was continued to fight for them in the valley, they would want Moses to intercede for them on the hill, as he did, Exo 17:10. But there is n…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 31:2
also the Lord hath said--should be "for the Lord hath said" thou shalt not go over this Jordan. While taking a solemn leave of the people, Moses exhorted them not to be intimidated by the menacing opposition of enemies; to take encouragement from the continued presence of their covenanted God; and to rest assured that the same divine power, which had enabled them to discomfit their first assailants on the east of Jordan, would aid them not less effectually in the adventurous enterprise which they were about to undertake, and by which they would obtain possession of "the land which He had sworn unto their fathers to give them."
John Gill on Deuteronomy 31:5
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 with them; but demolish their altars, cut down their groves, and break their images in pieces; of which last Aben Ezra interprets the words; but they are not to be restrained to that single instance; see Deuteronomy 7:1.
John Calvin on Deuteronomy 31:1-8
Deuteronomy 31:1-8
1. And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel.
1. Abiit itaque Moses, et loquutus est verba ista ad universum Israelem.
2. And he said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also the Lord hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.
2. Dixitque eis, Centurn et viginti annerum suae hodie, non possum ultra egredi et ingredi: praeterea Jehova dixit ad me, Non transibis Jordanera istum.
3. The Lord thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them: and Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the Lord hath said.
3. Jehova Deus tuus…
