And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, at the set time of the year of release, at the feast of tabernacles,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
when all Israel cometh to appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which he will choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their ears.
Moses hands Israel the law and fixes the moment when the whole nation must hear it read aloud. The command sets a time, a place, and a listening people. Commentators ask why each one mattered so much to God.
Before anything is read, something is written. One survey of the chapter sets the public reading inside Moses' wider arrangements for a people about to cross Jordan without him:
He orders that the law be read to everyone every seventh year, so that all would take notice of it. It came at a solemn moment. They were enjoying afresh the blessing that the law secured for them, and they submitted to it as a testimony that the land, and everything else, belonged to Jehovah.
One writer looks at what surrounded the people at that season:
Moses therefore now gives them the law, and orders a solemn public reading of it to all the people every seventh year at the feast of booths. They were surrounded by reminders that their wilderness journey was over and the land was theirs by the favour of God. That made it the most persuasive moment to press obedience on them.
The choice of festival also guaranteed an audience:
The seventh year was the year of release from bondage or debt. Every male in Israel had to attend the feast of booths, one of the three feasts of this kind. So in the seventh year all would hear the law read.
One writer follows the thread from that single place to where believers gather now:
Only God's choice was to be allowed as a place of worship for Israel. We know from later history that Jerusalem was that centre. Its name means "the foundation of peace." In the New Testament the centre for the Church of God is not a physical location. Christ in resurrection is the Centre, as He Himself declares, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."
The verse does not say the law was to be available. It was to be read out, into people's ears. That detail is what makes the arrangement so thorough:
This was an admirable arrangement. Unless rebellious wickedness got in the way, every Israelite — men, women, and children, yes, and the foreigner living among them — should hear and be careful to do all the words of this law.
One writer weighs how much importance God placed on the gathering itself:
Jehovah attached the most solemn importance to the public assembly of His people for the purpose of hearing His word… Each member of the assembly, from the eldest to the youngest, was to be brought into direct personal contact with the revealed will of Jehovah. In that way each one would know his solemn responsibility.
The same writer applies this to what draws people together now:
We sadly neglect assembling ourselves together for the simple reading of the holy Scriptures. There does not seem to be enough attraction in the word of God itself to bring us together. There is an unhealthy craving for other things. Polished speaking, music, or religious excitement of some kind seems needed to bring people together — anything and everything except the precious word of God.
Centuries later, returned exiles keeping the feast of booths read the law daily through it. One writer notes that they had searched out this very command:
These men were gaining in wisdom. They not only discovered from Leviticus 23 that they should hold this feast, they also saw from Deuteronomy 31 that the law was to be read during it. They have reached a very high point at the end of Nehemiah 8, but they still need the law of the Lord… However great our privileges and our enjoyment of them, let us not think that we ever reach a point where we no longer need instruction in the things of God. Indeed, in the enjoyment of privilege we should be better able to receive divine instruction than at any other moment.
- Given — Moses gives Israel the law and orders a solemn public reading of it, so the whole nation hears God's will from the book itself.
- Timed — the reading falls in the seventh year, when debts are released, and at the feast of booths. The wilderness is behind them, the land is theirs by God's favour, and obedience is urged on people already enjoying blessing.
- Placed — the reading happens only at the place God chooses, which later history shows to be Jerusalem. For believers now, one writer points to Christ Himself as the centre.
- Heard — the reading reaches men, women, children and the foreigner living among them. Every person comes into direct contact with God's revealed will.
- Obeyed — a later generation searched out this command and kept it. No level of privilege outgrows the need to hear the Scriptures read.