[It is encouraging to hear these words: you are about to lie beside your fathers.
The Hebrew Scriptures are not ‘other-life’-centered. The religion that sprung from it—Judaism—therefore focuses on what man can do in his lifetime, not to earn points for the next life or be assured of making it into ‘heaven’, but to be relevant to his time and the people in his lifetime.
The Giver of LIfe is clear in His declarations that if we choose life (i.e., obey His commandments, live His Torah), that we need not worry about the afterlife, and we all should leave it at that.
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It is not only Moshe who has been told this — the Patriarchs of Israel were also described as joining their fathers. This gives us hope that yes, the Lord of Life Who placed us in our circumstances of family and friends while on this earth, people we love and know, with whom we would want to reconcile after losing them in death — that it would be possible in the afterlife. How? We don’t know and should not bother speculating. No one has come back from the ‘beyond’ even if many claim that’s what they have done and have written books and gotten rich from films about their return-from-death experience.
More than words of men, let’s just trust the words of the Eternal One who lives beyond earthly time. If He tells Moshe “you will sleep with your fathers” instead of “you will die and be no more”, there’s already a hint that death is ‘rest’ and ‘sleep’ a ‘sabbath’, and not the last word for those who, like Moshe, made their choice in life.
Commentary here is from the best of Jewish minds as collected in one resource book by Dr. J.H. Hertz, Pentateuch and Haftorahs; our translation of choice is EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.–Admin1.]
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Deuteronomy/Davarim 31
E. THE LAST DAYS OF MOSES (CHAPTERS XXXI-XXXIV)
The remainder of the Book deals with the close of Moses’ life, and incorporates his Farewell Song and Blessing, which recapitulate and enshrine in poetry his message unto Israel. One other Song of Moses, Psalm XC, the ‘Prayer of Moses the Man of God,’ may likewise have been the product of the latest period of the Lawgiver’s life. It is a meditation on the lot of humanity, and contrasts the fleeting generations of man with the mountains at whose feet the Israelites wandered, and with the eternity of Him who existed before ever those mountains were brought forth. Stanley speaks of it as ‘the funeral hymn of the world’; and in Watts’ noble version it has become a cherished spiritual possession of the English-speaking race:—
O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come; Our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home. Before the hills in order stood, or earth received her frame. From everlasting Thou art God to endless years the same. A thousand ages in Thy sight are like an evening gone; Short as the watch that ends the night before the rising sun.———————————————————-
(1) COMMITTAL OF THE LAW TO THE KEEPING OF THE PRIESTS
1-8. APPOINTMENT OF JOSHUA
Moses announces the approaching close of his leadership and the appointment of his successor.
1 Now Moshe went and spoke these words to all Israel,2 he said to them: A hundred and twenty years old am I today; I am no longer able to go-out and to come-in, and YHVH has said to me: you are not to cross over this Jordan!
go out and come in. Though, when he died, his eye had not become dim, nor had his natural strength abated, he could no longer attend to the activities of public life.
and the LORD hath said unto me. See III,27. This is referred to five times by Moses, and comes again and again as a pathetic break in the majesty of his periods. It forms a most important thread of connection through the different parts of the book (Moulton).
thou shalt not go over this Jordan. Even though I were yet capable to ‘go out and come in’, I must bow to the Divine decree (Biur).
he will go over. You need have no fear that my impending death will weaken you. Joshua will lead you in warfare under Divine guidance.
4 YHVH will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, that he destroyed them.5 YHVH will give them before you and you will do to them according to all the command that I have commanded you.
do unto them. See VII,1; XX,16.
6 Be strong, be courageous, do not be overawed, do not be terrified before them, for YHVH your God, he is the one who goes with you, he will not let-go-of you, he will not abandon you!not fail thee. See IV,31.
in the sight of all Israel. So that Joshua’s authority might not henceforth be questioned. Moses now repeats before all Israel the words he had formerly spoken to Joshua alone; III,28.
8 ail you, he will not abandon you; you are not to be overawed, you are not to be shattered!
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9-13. PUBLIC READING OF THE TORAH
Moses, having committed the Torah to writing, delivers it into the hands of the priests and elders—the religious and secular heads of the nation—and enjoins upon them to have it read periodically to the assembled people. Religion in Judaism was not to be the concern of the priests only, who are to share in its truths with a small esoteric circle of political leaders. the priests are merely its guardians and teachers, and the whole body of religious truth is intended to be the everlasting possession of the entire people. This commandment strikes the keynote of the spiritual democracy established by Moses. The Torah is the heritage of the congregation of Jacob; XXXIII,4.
9 Now Moshe wrote down this Instruction and gave it to the priests, the Sons of Levi, those carrying the coffer of the Covenant of YHVH, and to all the elders of Israel.10 And Moshe commanded them, saying: At the end of seven years, at the appointed-time of the Year of Release, on the pilgrimage- festival of Sukkot,
in the set time of the year of release. According to Tradition, the reference here is to the ‘Sabbatical year’, called in XV,9 ‘the year of release’. The Feast of Tabernacles referred to is that immediately following the conclusion of the Sabbatical year. And there seems to be a special reason why that period was chosen for this public reading of the Law. It was in order to testify that, although there had been neither sowing nor reaping during that year, the Israelites were nevertheless sustained by the mercies of God, to Whose word they were resolved ever to remain loyal, whether in prosperity or adversity (Hoffmann).
11 when all Israel comes to be seen at the presence of YHVH your God, at the place that he chooses, you are to proclaim this Instruction in front of all Israel, in their ears.thou shalt read. This is addressed to the nation, which delegates the performance of this duty to its representatives (Hirsch). In the days of Josephus, it was done by the High Priest. An early Mishnah declares it to be the function of the King.
this law. Rabbinic Tradition reports that the King read from the beginning of Deuteronomy to the end of the first section of the Shema (I-VI,9), the second section of the Shema (XI,13-21), and concluded with XIV,22 to the end of XXVIII.
12 Assemble the people, the men, the women, and the little-ones, and your sojourner that is in your gates, in order that they may hearken, in order that they may learn and have-awe-for YHVH your God, to carefully observe all the words of this Instruction;men and the women and the little ones. ‘The men were assembled,’ says Rashi, quoting the Talmud, “to learn”; the women,m “to hear”; the little ones, “to cause recompense to those who bring them.”‘ ‘Let neither woman nor child be excluded from this audience, nay, nor yet the slaves. For it is good that these laws should be so graven on their hearts and stored in the memory that they can never be effaced. Let your children also begin by learning the laws, most beautiful of lessons and a source of felicity’ (Josephus). None realized more clearly than the Rabbis the spiritual power that comes from the mouth of babes and sucklings (Psalm VIII,3). ‘The moral universe rests upon the breath of school children,’ is one of their deep sayings.
hear . . . learn . . . observe. Merely ‘to hear’ the Torah read once every seven years in a public assembly would not be sufficient. It was to be ‘learnt’; i.e. made an object of study. Further, the Torah must be made the rule of life, and its teachings ‘observed’.
13 and (that) their children, who do not know, may hearken and learn to have-awe-for YHVH your God, all the days that you remain-alive on the soil that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.and that their children . . . may hear, and learn. The ‘children’ are identical with ‘the little ones’ in the preceding verse. Their presence in such an assembly would mean their initiation into the knowledge of the Torah, and of the duties which it prescribes. Here we have another instance of the vital importance of religious education, so characteristic of the Book of the Farewell Orations of the Lawgiver. The Rabbis worked in the spirit of the Lawgiver when they determined to make the Torah the Book of the People by translating it into the vernacular, and expounding it for the masses. They went far beyond the requirement of reading to the people a portion of Deuteronomy every seven years. They divided the Torah in 156 portions, and had a portion read on each Sabbath in the Synagogue, so as to cover the whole Torah in three years. In the large and influential Jewry of Babylon, the custom prevailed of completing the whole of the Torah in the course of one year; and this eventually became the rule throughout the Diaspora. An appropriate selection from the Prophets—the Haftorah—early accompanied the Pentateuchal lesson on Sabbaths, Festivals, and Fasts.
14-23. INTRODUCTION TO THE SONG OF MOSES
The purpose of the Song, and the circumstances in which Moses received the command to compose and teach it.
14 YHVH said to Moshe: Here, your days are drawing-near to die. Call Yehoshua and station yourselves at the Tent of Appointment, that I may command him. So Moshe went, along with Yehoshua, they stationed themselves at the Tent of Appointment.give him a charge. lit. ‘command him,’ appoint him to the office of Leader.
15 And YHVH was seen at the Tent of Appointment, in a column of cloud, and the column of cloud stood over the entrance to the Tent of Appointment.
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fathers. See on Gen. XLVII: but when I sleep with my fathers (Jacob).
go astray. The lit. meaning of the verb indicates the immorality of heathen worship.
whither they go to be among them. The land amidst whose people the Israelites go to dwell.
17 And my anger will flare up against them on that day. I will abandon them and I will conceal my face from them; (they) will be (ripe) for devouring, and there will befall them many and troubling ills. And they will say on that day: Was it not because God was not in my midst (that) there have befallen me these ills?because our God is not among us? An acknowledgement of their guilt and of the justice of their punishment.
18 But I, I will conceal, yes, conceal my face on that day, because of all the ill that they have done, for they faced-about to other gods!19 But now, write yourselves down this song, teach it to the Children of Israel, putting it in their mouths, in order that this song may be for you as a witness against the Children of Israel.
write ye this song for you. The Song in the following chapter. Moses and Joshua were both to write it. According to Ibn Ezra, this command is addressed to each Israelite. The Rabbis deduced from this the recommendation to each Israelite that he write for himself a copy of the Torah. In recent centuries, the custom has grown up for the sopher (scribe) who completes the writing of a Scroll to trace the final sentences of the Torah in outline merely. At the festive celebration, called the Siyyum, each letter in those sentences is filled in by a different man, who thereby symbolically takes part in the writing of a Sacred Scroll.
put it in their mouths. Let them know it by heart.
20 When I bring them to the soil about which I swore to their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, and they eat, and are satisfied, and grow fat, and they face-about to other gods, and serve them, spurning me and violating my covenant:into the land . . . and waxen fat. The comfort and luxury of such a land would probably demoralize them, and cause them to go astray.
and despised Me. Or, ‘and provoked Me to anger’ (Targum, Rashi).
21 it will be, when there befall them many and troubling ills, this song will speak up before their presence as a witness, for it will not be forgotten from the mouths of their seed. Indeed, I know the plans that they are making today, (even) before I bring them into the land about which I swore!as a witness. For God. Whenever the people murmur and ask, ‘Why has all this evil befallen us?’ it will vindicate the retributive justice of God.
for it shall not be forgotten. A Divine assurance that, be Israel’s misfortunes what they may, Israel will never altogether forget its destiny, and cease to be ‘the people of the Book’.
their imagination. Their imaginings—in an undesirable sense; their evil passions and tendencies.
22 So Moshe wrote down this song on that day, and he taught it to the Children of Israel.23 Now he commanded Yehoshua son of Nun and said: Be strong, be courageous, for you will bring the Children of Israel to the land about which I swore to them; and I myself will be-there with you.
and he gave. Better, and He gave. This continues v. 15. the subject is God (Rashi).
24-30. MOSES HANDS THE LAW TO THE LEVITES TO BE DEPOSITED IN THE ARK
24 And it was, when Moshe had finished writing down the words of this Instruction in a document, until they were ended,25 Moshe commanded the Levites, those carrying the coffer of the Covenant of YHVH, saying:
26 Take this document of Instruction and place it beside the coffer of the Covenant of YHVH your God, let it be there among you as a witness.
27 For I myself know your rebelliousness, and your hard neck; here, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against YHVH- even (more) so after my death!
by the side of the ark. In the Ark were the Ten Words, the ten foundation principles of the Sinaitic Covenant. The entire Book of the Law, which contained both the laws of the Sinai Covenant and those of the Covenant in the Plains of Moab (XXVIII,69), was placed by the side of the Ark (Koenig).
The Traditional explanation is that the Sefer was placed on a ledge projecting from the Ark; others hold that it was placed within the Ark, by the side of the Tables of Testimony.
for a witness. When in the days of Josiah (II Kings XXII,8-17) this Book of the Law was found in the Temple, it was indeed a witness for God in Israel, and instrumental in bringing Israel back to his Father Who is in Heaven.
27 For I myself know your rebelliousness, and your hard neck; here, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against YHVH- even (more) so after my death!28 Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officials, that I may speak in their ears these words, that I may call-to-witness against them the heavens and the earth.
and call heaven and earth to witness. A reference to the opening words of the Song in the next chapter.
in the end of days. A phrase indicating some distant future; Gen. XLIX,1. The apostasy here predicated became widespread in the days of some of the Judges; Judges II,11-16; III,7.
through the work of your hands. This does not mean ‘your actions’; but, by analogy of IV,28, it refers to the idols, the product of their hands.
30 So Moshe spoke in the ears of the entire assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended:all the assembly of Israel. Gathered for the purpose. This v. forms the transition to the Song.