Deuteronomy 31:26

31:23-30 The solemn delivery of the book of the law to the Levites, to be deposited in, or rather by the side, of the ark, is again related. The song which follows in the next chapter is delivered to Moses, and by him to the people. He wrote it first, as the Holy Spirit taught him; and then spake it in the hearing of all the people. Moses tells them plainly, I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves. Many a sad thought, no doubt, it occasioned to this good man; but his comfort was, that he had done his duty, and that God would be glorified in their dispersion, if not in their settlement, for the foundation of God stands sure.

Take this book of the law,.... Not Deuteronomy only, but the whole Pentateuch: and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God; not in the ark, for there were nothing there but the two tables of stone with the ten commands on them, 1 Kings 8:9; but on one side of it; the Targum of Jonathan says, it was"put in a chest (or box) on the right side of the ark of the covenant;''which is very probable. Jarchi observes, that the wise men of Israel are divided about it in the Talmud (e); some of them say there was a table (or ledge) that stood out from the ark without, and there it was put; others say it was put on the side of the tables of the law within the ark; the former are in the right: that it may be therefore a witness against thee; when they fall into idolatry or any other sin, a transgression of any of the laws therein contained. (e) T. B. Bava Bathra, fol. 14. 1. 2.

Verse 26. - In the side of the ark ; at or by the side of the ark . According to the Targum of Jonathan, it was in a coffer by the right side of the ark that the book was placed; but the Talmudists say it was put within the ark, along with the two tables of the Decalogue ('Baba Bathra,' 14); but see 1 Kings 8:8 . Deuteronomy 31:26

In the side, i.e. in the outside, in a little chest fixed to it, for nothing but the tables of stone were contained in the ark, 1 Kings 8:9 . Here it was kept for greater security and reverence. A witness against thee, i.e. against thy people, to whom he turns his speech, that they might be more affected with it.

26. Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark—The second copy of the law (see on [167]De 31:9) was deposited for greater security and reverence in a little chest beside the ark of the covenant, for there was nothing contained within it but the tables of stone (1Ki 8:9). Others think it was put within the ark, it being certain, from the testimony of Paul (Heb 9:4), that there were once other things inside the ark, and that this was the copy found in the time of Josiah (2Ki 22:8).

With the installation of Joshua on the part of God, the official life of Moses was brought to a close. Having returned from the tabernacle, he finished the writing out of the laws, and then gave the book of the law to the Levites, with a command to put it by the side of the ark of the covenant, that it might be there for a witness against the people, as He knew its rebellion and stiffneckedness ( Deuteronomy 31:24-27 ). על־ספר כּתב, to write upon a book, equivalent to write down, commit to writing. תּמּם עד, till their being finished, i.e., complete. By the "Levites who bare the ark of the covenant" we are not to understand ordinary Levites, but the Levitical priests, who were entrusted with the ark. "The Levites" is simply a contraction for the full expression, "the priests the sons of Levi" ( Deuteronomy 31:9 ). It is true that, according to Numbers 4:4 ., the Kohathites were appointed to carry the holy vessels, which included the ark of the covenant, on the journey through the desert; but it was the priests, and not they, who were the true bearers and guardians of the holy things, as we may see from the fact that the priests had first of all to wrap up these holy things in a careful manner, before they handed them over to the Kohathites, that they might not touch the holy things and die ( Numbers 4:15 ).

Hence we find that on solemn occasions, when the ark was to be brought out in all its full significance and glory, - as, for example, in the crossing of the Jordan ( Joshua 3:3 ., Deuteronomy 4:9-10 ), when encompassing Jericho ( Joshua 6:6 , Joshua 6:12 ), at the setting up of the law on Ebal and Gerizim ( Joshua 8:33 ), and at the consecration of Solomon's temple ( 1 Kings 8:3 ), - it was not by the Levites, but by the priests, that the ark of the covenant was borne. In fact the Levites were, strictly speaking, only their (the priests') servants, who relieved them of this and the other labour, so that what they did was done in a certain sense through them. If the (non-priestly) Levites were not to touch the ark of the covenant, and not even to put in the poles ( Numbers 4:6 ), Moses would not have handed over the law-book, to be kept by the ark of the covenant to them, but to the priests. ארון מצּד, at the side of the ark, or, according to the paraphrase of Jonathan, "in a case on the right side of the ark of the covenant," which may be correct, although we must not think of this case, as many of the early theologians do, as a secondary ark attached to the ark of the covenant (see Lundius, Jd. Heiligth. pp. 73, 74). The tables of the law were deposited in the ark ( Exodus 25:16 ; Exodus 40:20 ), and the book of the law was to be kept by its side.