Deuteronomy 31:10

31:9-13 Though we read the word in private, we must not think it needless to hear it read in public. This solemn reading of the law must be done in the year of release. The year of release was typical of gospel grace, which is called the acceptable year of the Lord; for our pardon and liberty by Christ, engage us to keep his commandments. It must be read to all Israel, men, women, children, and to the strangers. It is the will of God that all people should acquaint themselves with his word. It is a rule to all, therefore should be read to all. Whoever has read of the pains taken by many persons to get scraps of the Scriptures, when a whole copy could not be obtained, or safely possessed, will see how thankful we should be for the thousands of copies amongst us. They will also understand the very different situation in which the Israelites were placed for many ages. But the heart of man is so careless, that all will be found too little, to keep up a knowledge of the truths, precepts, and worship of God.

The priests and the elders, to whom the law was delivered: saying; as follows: at the end of every seven years; every seventh year was a year of rest to the land, and of remission of debts to poor debtors: at the close of this year or going out of it, according to the Misnah (t), even on the eighth year coming in, the following was to be done, namely, the reading of the law; and so Jarchi interprets it of the first year of release, the eighth, that is, the first year after the year of release; but Aben Ezra better interprets it of the beginning of the seventh year; for as he elsewhere observes on Deuteronomy 15:1; the word signifies the extremity of the year, and there are two extremities of it, the beginning and the end, and the first extremity is meant; which is more likely than that the reading of the law should be put off to the end of the year, and which seems to be confirmed by what follows: in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, or "in the appointed time" (u); of the year of release, of the release of debtors from their debts, Deuteronomy 15:1; when the time or season appointed and fixed was come: moreover, what is here directed to being to be done at the feast of tabernacles, shows it to be at the beginning of the year, since that feast was in the month Tisri, which was originally the beginning of the year, before the coming of the children of Israel out of Egypt, and still continued so for many things, and particularly for the years of

Deuteronomy 31:10-11 . The year of release — The most proper time that could be chosen for the purpose, when they were freed from debts, and troubles, and cares of a worldly nature, and at liberty to attend to the reading of it without distraction; and when all Israel were required to appear before the Lord, even the women and children, Deuteronomy 31:12 . Thou shall read — The chief governor was either to do it himself, or take care that it was done by the priests and others who had the charge of instructing the people. Thus, Joshua himself read all the words of the law before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers, Joshua 8:34 ; Josiah and Ezra did the same, 2 Chronicles 34:30 ; Nehemiah 8:2 . But Jehoshaphat employed the priests and Levites to do it, 2 Chronicles 17:9 . This law before all Israel in their hearing — It was to be read from this original copy, for the greater solemnity of the action, and that it might make a deeper and more lasting impression on their minds. The pious Jews who had copies of the law, doubtless read it frequently in their houses. Some portion of it was read in the synagogues every sabbath day, Acts 15:21 . In Jehoshaphat’s time it was read by his command in the different cities of Judah, and the people were instructed out of it by the priests and Levites; but at every year of release it was to be read, not only publicly, to all the people, but throughout.

Moses hands over to Joshua that office as leader of the people, to which he had already been designated Deuteronomy 1:38 ; Numbers 27:23 . He assigns also to the Levitical priests and the elders, as the ecclesiastical and civil heads of the nation, the responsibility of teaching the law and enforcing its observance Deuteronomy 31:10-13 . Both these were symbolic acts, designed to mark the responsibility of the parties concerned after the death of Moses.

10, 11. At the end of every seven years, … thou shalt read this law—At the return of the sabbatic year and during the feast of tabernacles, the law was to be publicly read. This order of Moses was a future and prospective arrangement; for the observance of the sabbatic year did not commence till the conquest and peaceful occupation of Canaan. The ordinance served several important purposes. For, while the people had opportunities of being instructed in the law every Sabbath and daily in their own homes, this public periodical rehearsal at meetings in the courts of the sanctuary, where women and children of twelve years were present (as they usually were at the great festivals), was calculated to produce good and pious impressions of divine truth amid the sacred associations of the time and place. Besides, it formed a public guarantee for the preservation, integrity, and faithful transmission of the Sacred Book to successive ages.

10 . At the end of every seven years … the year of release ] See Deuteronomy 15:1 ff. set time ] Heb. mo‘ed , in Deuteronomy 16:6 of a fixed hour of day; here as in Exodus 23:15 (see Dri.’s note) of a season fixed for a sacred festival; for another application see Deuteronomy 31:14 . the feast of Booths ] See Deuteronomy 16:13-15 . Deuteronomy 31:10

Moses then handed over the law which he had written to the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant, and to all the elders of Israel, with instructions to read it to the people at the end of every seven years, during the festal season of the year of release ("at the end," as in Deuteronomy 15:1 ), viz., at the fast of Tabernacles (see Leviticus 23:34 ), when they appeared before the Lord. It is evident from the context and contents of these verses, apart from Deuteronomy 31:24 , that the ninth verse is to be understood in the way described, i.e., that the two clauses, which are connected together by vav. relat. ("and Moses wrote this law," "and delivered it"), are not logically co-ordinate, but that the handing over of the written law was the main thing to be recorded here. With regard to the handing over of the law, the fact that Moses not only gave the written law to the priests, that they might place it by the ark of the covenant, but also "to all the elders of Israel," proves clearly enough that Moses did not intend at this time to give the law-book entirely out of his own hands, but that this handing over was merely an assignment of the law to the persons who were to take care, that in the future the written law should be kept before the people, as the rule of their life and conduct, and publicly read to them. The explanation which J. H.