(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Deuteronomy 31:9–13, “And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law: And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.”
When Moses gave the contract to Israel so that they new generation could make it on their own behalf, he committed it to writing. Everybody’s memory is faulty in some respect but if something is written down then it is fixed and can be referred to at any time if people have different recollections. The priests were dedicated to acting for the people to the Lord and for the Lord to the people so they were the natural choice to be custodians of this written contract. Every seven years, Israel was called upon to celebrate their jubilee, which was similar to the Sabbath but measured in years instead of days. Every year Israel was also called upon to celebrate holidays so that they could remember what the Lord had done for them and offer Him their thanks for His goodness. Once a year, Israel was to live in tents to remember that they lived in tents for forty years as they travelled in the wilderness. This was a celebration of the fact that the Lord miraculously fed them and gave them water while they lived as desert nomads for all those years. In the seventh year, at this time, they were to read the Law together in a public place. In every period of seven years a new group of children would be born. Their parents were expected to teach them about the Lord and their contract with Him as they grew up. However, it was essential that the whole nation affirmed this contract on a regular basis so that they young people would understand that the contract was not just a matter for the individual but for the entire nation as well. They were all to be reminded that each person in the nation would be held responsible if they rejected the Law on a national basis. It would never be good enough for an individual to say, “I’m okay!” because they were all responsible to male sure that everybody was keeping the Law. As long as everybody took full responsibility then everyone would remain true to the Lord. It was important to remember that every generation wants to push the boundaries but each generation starts from the place where the last generation stopped. The only way to stop this tendency was for everyone to go back to the beginning every seven years to that each generation would start with the pure contract before they tried to push their boundaries.
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