Deuteronomy 31:9-13

Deuteronomy 31:9. MOSES RESIGNS HIS CHARGE AS LAWGIVER TO THE PRIESTS.

(9-11) And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests... And... commanded them, saying... thou shalt read. — This must be distinguished from the deliverance of the “book” to the Levites in Deuteronomy 31:25. The deliverance here must be understood as a charge and a trust conveyed to the priests, making them responsible for the “reading of the law,” and for the instruction of the people. This is the special duty of the priests. They are said to “bear” the ark of the covenant here; not because they always carried it (they did sometimes, as in Joshua 3), but because they were responsible for it, just as they were also responsible for the exposition of the law (Deuteronomy 17:9). This is another example of the distinction between priests and Levites in the book of Deuteronomy.

(10, 11) At the end of every seven years, in the... year of release, in the feast of tabernacles... thou shalt read this law. — The fulfilment of this command, as far as the reading of the law is concerned, is described in Joshua 8:34; and again “at the feast of tabernacles” in Nehemiah 8. That the law read on these occasions was especially the book of Deuteronomy appears from the Talmudical treatise Sotah (p. 41), where the reading of it by the king is described as beginning with Deuteronomy 1:1 : “These are the words.” It is in this connection that the story is told of Agrippa that he wept when he came to Deuteronomy 17:15, “Thou mayest not set a stranger over thee.” But they said, “Fear not, Agrippa, thou art our brother,” and he then finished the reading. It was read from a platform erected in the forecourt of the temple. From this passage it is clear that the “reading” was understood to refer specially to the book of Deuteronomy.

(13) That their children... may hear. — It is obvious from this that the existence of many copies of the law was not contemplated by the writer. Comp. Deuteronomy 6:6 : “These words shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them.”