Bible Commentaries
Deuteronomy 31

Verses 1-30

Deuteronomy 31:23

Moses, in God's name, did counsel Joshua, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them. God immediately did command him (Joshua 1:6 ), Be strong and of a good courage; and again (v. 7), Only be thou strong and very courageous; and again (v. 9), Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage. Lastly, the Reubenites and Gadites heartily desired him (v. 18), Only be strong and of a good courage. Was Joshua a dunce or a coward? Did his wit or his valour want an edge, that the same precept must so often be pressed upon him? No doubt neither, but God saw it needful that Joshua should have courage of proof, who was to encounter both the froward Jew and the fierce Canaanite. Though metal on metal, colour on colour, be false heraldry, line on line, precept on precept is true divinity.

Thomas Fuller.

Deuteronomy 31:26

St. John of the Cross says that God commanded that nothing should be placed within the ark which contained the manna except the book of the law and Aaron's rod, 'which signifies the Cross'. 'Thus the soul which cares for no other thing except to keep perfectly the Law of the Lord and to bear the Cross of Christ, will be a true Ark which will have within it the true Manna, which is God.'

Obras, Vol. 1. p. 22.

References. XXXII. 11, 12. J. M. Neale, Sermons Preached in a Religious House, vol. ii. p. 331. W. J. Brock, Sermons, p. 1. W. M. Taylor, The Limitations of Life, p. 78. XXXII. 20. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx. No. 1784. XXXI. -XXXII. Ibid. p. 341. J. Monro-Gibson, The Mosaic Era, p. 333. XXXII. 8, 9. M. Dods, Israel's Iron Age, p. 172. XXXII. 31. J. Barton Bell, Christian World Pulpit, 1890, p. 74. D. Moore, Penny Pulpit, No. 3342. P. McAdam Muir, Modern Substitutes for Christianity, p. 173. XXXII. 39. Bishop Alexander, The Great Question, p. 30. XXXII. 47. H. J. Buxton, God's Heroes, p. 226. XXXII. 48-50. C. D. Bell, Hills that Bring Peace, p. 143. XXXII. 48-62. J. W. Boulding, Sermons, p. 1. XXXII. 52. R. Betts, Christian World Pulpit, 1890, p. 51.