(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Deuteronomy 31:1–8, “And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel. 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. 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. And the LORD shall do unto them as he did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and unto the land of them, whom he destroyed. And the LORD shall give them up before your face, that ye may do unto them according unto all the commandments which I have commanded you. Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD 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 a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the LORD hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And the LORD, 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.”
Moses had just been telling Israel that it was essential for them to make the contract with the Lord God on their own behalf. They needed to understand that they had responsibilities that came with the privileges of living in the Promised Land. He had just made an incredibly simple but deeply profound statement. Everything in the Law was based on the fact that there is only one God. God is Almighty and Eternal but is completely distinct from His creation. Even though the Lord chose Israel to be the vehicle through whom He would bless all the families of the world, they were still just creatures made in His own image. He then moved on to his closing remarks. At that stage, he was 120 years old. Even though Moses had taken Israel from slavery in Egypt, by the Lord’s miraculous intervention, and brought them to the borders of the Promised Land, he was not going in to the Land himself. This was a punishment for something that Moses chose to himself. Instead of speaking to the rock to bring out water, in a fit of anger, Moses struck the rock instead and his actions had consequences. (Num 20:7–12, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”) Moses reminded Israel of the fact that they had already defeated two of the great Amorite kings because their iniquity was now full (compare Genesis 15:16, “But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”) If the Lord had already begun the destruction of the Amorites, He was going to complete that task. However, Moses went on to say that they were to be strong and courageous as they went about that task. If they believed in the integrity of the Lord then they would experience His integrity and enjoy everything that He promised them. The Amorites believed in other gods but if there is only one God then they believed in nothing and would not find any help as they tried to resist the Lord God. The Lord does not fail people, because “failure” means that a person has run out of resources to complete a task he has begun. “Forsake” means leave alone. In many ways these are parallel concepts. As long as they believed that there is only one True God then they could go about their task with confidence knowing that He is always there and His resources are always available.
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