V. 1. ff. And Moses went and spoke these words 2c.
"He went away after the preaching of the law, the exhortation, the threat, and the way of fulfilling the law were finished, and everything that his ministry required of the people was accomplished. But after he had returned, that is, on another day, he spoke what is written in this chapter. It is written how he prepared himself for death, took leave and promised that the nations should be destroyed, how he appointed Joshua as his leader, how he commanded that the law should be written and read every seventh year, and how he made a song in remembrance. And so Moses concludes his sermon in this chapter. For the 32nd chapter contains this song, the 33rd chapter the blessings; the 34th chapter cannot have been written by Moses.
First of all, he says that he is a hundred and twenty years old and can no longer go out and come in, that is, take charge of the affairs of the people and administer his office. But even this would not have prevented him entirely, if the Lord had not said that
he should not go over the Jordan. He therefore proclaims to them that the LORD will be their guide against the heathen who are to be destroyed; but under the LORD Joshua will be their guide in his stead; and he adds glorious promises, saying [v. 6.], "Be of good courage, fear not, neither be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God himself will walk with thee, and will not turn away his hand from thee, nor forsake thee." The same he repeats and speaks [v. 7.] to Joshua, when he was called before the people, and appoints him as leader, so that in such a way both the people and the leader may base themselves in faith on the word of the promise of God, their supreme leader.
After the leader had been appointed and the people had been encouraged, he ordered the law to be read publicly every seventh year by the Levites in the place the Lord had chosen. Then the Lord calls Moses and Joshua and commands them to make a song as a testimony of the future transgression and punishment, for it was certain that they would later fall into transgression.
because they did not all have the Spirit; since, as Moses testified [v. 27], they disobeyed the Lord while he was still alive, how much more after his death! Finally it is commanded [v. 26] that the book of the law be placed in the side of the ark of the covenant for a testimony against them. And after the elders and officers were gathered together, he spoke the song.
The secret interpretation of the dying Moses and the appointment of Joshua has been touched upon above [Cap. 3], therefore it must be briefly repeated here. Moses is the office of the law,
which does not lead to perfection, that is, to righteousness, but it shows sin, and requires grace, which it does not confer, therefore he dies and departs on this side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, that is, in the righteousness of works. Joshua follows him as a leader, that is, the ministry of grace, and leads the people into the land of promise, that is, to the true righteousness in Christ, as the Israelites pass dry-footed through the Jordan, that is, as both sin and death recede and give way to grace.