Page:Keil and Delitzsch,Biblical commentary the old testament the pentateuch, trad James Martin, volume 1, 1885.djvu/1483

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which he assumed towards it (vid., Deu 32:47). נדּח, to permit oneself to be torn away to idolatry (as in Deu 4:19).
As Deu 4:26; Deu 8:19. He calls upon heaven and earth as witnesses (Deu 30:19, as in Deu 4:26), namely, that he had set before them life and death. וּבחרתּ, in Deu 30:19, is the apodosis: “therefore choose life.” ==Verse 20== Deu 30:20 חיּיך הוּא כּי, for that (namely, to love the Lord) is thy life, that is, the condition of life, and of long life, in the promised land (vid., Deu 4:40).

Chap. 31


Verse 1

IV. Moses’ Farewell and Death - Deuteronomy 31-34


With the renewal of the covenant, by the choice set before the people between blessing and curse, life and death, Moses had finished the interpretation and enforcement of the law (Deu 1:5), and brought the work of legislation to a close. But in order that the work to which the Lord had called him might be thoroughly completed, it still remained for him, before his approaching death, to hand over the task of leading the people into Canaan to Joshua, who had been appointed as his successor, to finish writing out the laws, and to hand over the book of the law to the priests. The Lord also directed him to write an ode, as a witness against the people, on account of their obstinacy, and teach it to the Israelites. To these last arrangements and acts of Moses, which are narrated in ch. 31 and 32, there are added in ch. 33 the blessing with which this man of god bade farewell to the tribes of Israel, and in ch. 34 the account of his death, with which the Pentateuch closes.
Deu 31:1-13 describe how Moses promised the help of the Lord in the conquest of the land, both to the people generally, and also to Joshua,