Deuteronomy 31:14-23

Again Joshua's Commission, with Introduction to Moses" Song

The composition is very curious. In Deuteronomy 31:14; Deuteronomy 31:23we have an account of the charge to Joshua, which is in substance not the continuation of the deuteronomic one in Deuteronomy 31:1, but parallel to that, and is couched in a phraseology resembling that of E (see notes), to which source it is generally assigned. It is interrupted by Deuteronomy 31:16, which have nothing to do with Joshua, but are an address of the Lord to Moses, and without connection with Deuteronomy 31:14, except that the motive in both cases is the imminent death of Moses. The language, while containing some phrases of E and some deuteronomic formulas, gives to the latter a peculiar turn, and contains besides elements not elsewhere found in the Hex. and speaks of Israel in the masc. sing. in a fashion confined to itself. The passage forms an introduction to the Song in ch. 32. Its source is uncertain.