And it came to pass, when Moses had ended writing the words of this law in a book, until their conclusion,
Deuteronomy 31 records the last acts of a leader who knows he is about to die: Moses names his successor, receives a song, and finishes writing the law in a book. Once his pen stops, a book guides Israel in place of a living voice — so what was that book for?
The words "to the very end" mark a finished work, not a pause. One writer sees all of Moses' writing close here, and treats the five books as one whole:
Moses was the author of all these books, the single author. At their close we see him laying down his life with his pen, as a sign of a completed work. As we go on studying Scripture, we find that this Pentateuch (the word means five volumes) gives us the model on which the whole word of God is written. It is a key to understanding something of His purpose in giving us such a full revelation. I have said that they are one whole. You could not take one of them away without damaging the rest.
This verse is one of the Bible's plainest statements about who wrote the first five books. It also records where Moses had them placed:
When the Pentateuch was completed Moses directed it to be placed in the side of the Ark (Deut. 31:24, 26)… That Moses was the writer of these five inspired records is evident from the testimony of the books themselves (Deut. 31:9, 24), by Joshua (Joshua 1:7), by Samuel (1 Sam. 12:6-8), by David (1 Kings 2:3)… by Daniel (Dan. 9:11-13), by Malachi (Mal. 4:4), by Christ (John 5:45-47), by Peter (Acts 3:22-26), by Stephen (Acts 7), by Paul (1 Cor. 9:9).
The book was not given so that Israel could earn life by keeping it. Moses gives a startling reason for storing it:
Moses said to them, "Take this Book of the Law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God." Why? That they might choose life, and live by keeping it? No — but "that it may be there for a witness against you." "For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are," he goes on. "Even today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after my death!"
The book is not the only witness Moses leaves:
Sadly, the book at the side of the ark and the words of the song are alike witnesses against the people of His choice.
Moses wrote the law down for a people he would no longer be there to guide. One writer sets this beside Paul's farewell to the elders of the church at Ephesus:
The apostle, taught by God, made full provision for the elders' future difficulties in the words, "And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace." In the same way Moses, on the eve of his departure, gave the Levites the book of the law, in this case to be a testimony against them when, after his death, they should have corrupted themselves… These witnesses together establish an all-important principle: God Himself, and the word of His grace, are fully sufficient for His people in the darkest days of their history.
Moses finished writing knowing the nation would fail. The book he left is not only a warning; it is also a comfort:
Man is the same always and everywhere. His history is a blotted one, from beginning to end. But oh, it is such a relief and comfort to the heart to know and remember that God is ever the same. His word abides, firmly fixed forever in the heavens. It was hidden in the side of the ark of the covenant and kept there intact, despite all the grievous sin and folly of the people.
Centuries later Hilkiah the high priest found a book of the law in the temple, in the days of King Josiah. Moses' instruction explains where it turned up:
We learn from this that the book of the law was preserved in the house of God, in the Most Holy place. So Hilkiah found the sacred book just where it might be expected to be found. But it was clearly very little known for many years before the reign of Josiah. It seems to have been lost, covered over with rubbish in the very house of God, and so little valued that no search was made for it!
- Finished. Moses ends his writing with a completed work. The five books form one whole; take one away and you damage the rest.
- Written. The verse states plainly that Moses wrote the law. Joshua, David, Daniel, Christ, Peter and Paul all say the same.
- Witnessed. The book went beside the ark, not as a way to gain life by keeping it, but as a witness against a people Moses knew would rebel.
- Left behind. A dying leader leaves his people a book, not a successor's voice. Paul did the same, commending the Ephesian elders to God and to the word of His grace.
- Enduring. People fail, but the written word stays intact. Even so, a stored book can be buried under rubbish and forgotten, until someone finds it again as Hilkiah did.
that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, saying,
Moses has just finished writing the law in a book. His final act as Israel's leader is not another sermon but a handover. He gives the book to the Levites who carry the ark. Why does God's finished word belong at the very heart of Israel's worship?
Moses' writing was finished. This verse is about where the book went next.
Moses had now finished writing the words of the law — the first five books of Scripture. Then he commanded the Levites to put the Book of the Law beside the ark of the covenant. This was a plain witness for God. It was also a witness against the evils the people would soon embrace, and so against them.
Moses does not speak to the whole nation. He speaks to the tribe that carried the ark, and that duty was itself a mercy.
And then they were to remember the Lord's dealings with Levi, in which grace shines with such marvellous brightness. God took the fierce, cruel, self-willed Levi out of the depths of his moral ruin. He brought him near to Himself, "to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister to him and to bless in his name."
Moses hands the book to the men who carried the ark on their shoulders. Carrying God's testimony is not something to improvise.
It was the Levites' privilege, that of the sons of Kohath, to carry the ark on their shoulders... The testimony of God is to be carried on the shoulders of His saints, borne in the lives of those who are near to Him. Sadly, many today have their own way of carrying God's testimony. Instead of following the divine instructions of the Holy Scriptures with care, they have their own ideas. They think that the end justifies the means.
The stone tablets went inside the ark. Moses' book went beside it, in the most guarded room in Israel.
The stone tablets of the ten commandments were written with the "finger of God," and they were placed inside the ark of the covenant. When Moses completed his fifth book, he told the Levites to put the Book of the Law by the side of that same ark, "that it may be there for a witness against you." So the book of the law was preserved in the house of God, in the Most Holy Place. So Hilkiah found the sacred book just where it might be expected to be found. But apparently hardly anyone knew it for many years before the reign of Josiah. It seems to have been lost, covered with rubbish in the very house of God, and valued so little that no one even searched for it!
The purpose Moses gives is startling. The book is not stored so Israel can climb by it, but so it can testify.
So Moses said to them, "Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God." Why? So that they might choose life and live by keeping it? No, but "that it may be there for a witness against you." "For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are," he goes on. "Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD; how much more after my death!"
Moses is about to die, and the book he leaves is the provision for the days after him.
Moses, on the eve of his departure, gave the Levites the book of the law. Here it was to be a testimony against them, for the time after his death when they would have corrupted themselves and turned aside from the way he had commanded them... God Himself, and the word of His grace, are all-sufficient for His people in the darkest days of their history. God Himself — not any successor of the apostles — is able to sustain them at all times.
The book outlasted everyone it accused.
His word remains, "firmly fixed in the heavens." It lay hidden at the side of the ark of the covenant and stayed intact there, despite all the grievous sin and folly of the people. This gives sweet rest to the heart at all times, in the face of human failure and the wreck and ruin of everything committed to man's hand.
- Written — Moses' last official act is to finish the book and command its safekeeping; the words outlive the man who wrote them.
- Carried — the trust goes to the Levites, lifted from ruin and brought near to God. The testimony travels on the shoulders of those close to Him.
- Kept — the book lies beside the ark in the Most Holy Place. There Hilkiah later found it, buried under neglect in God's own house.
- Witnessing — its stated purpose is not a ladder to climb but a testimony against rebellion God already foresaw.
- Standing — everything trusted to man collapsed, but the word kept beside the ark stayed whole. That is where the heart finds rest.
Take this book of the law, and put it at the side of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee;
Moses has finished writing the law. His last act with it is to hand it to the Levites who carried the ark — and he leaves it there to testify against the people.
The command comes at the end of a chapter of last arrangements. One writer sets the book beside the song Moses wrote the same day, and gives both the same purpose.
Then Joshua receives his charge at the tent of meeting. As Jehovah directed, Moses wrote a prophetic song that day, His witness against the sons of Israel. Indeed "this book of the law" too was to go by the side of the ark for the same purpose. Moses knew their rebelliousness well, and the evil that would come on them at the end of days. But he rejoiced that Jehovah's purpose never fails and can never be reversed.
Why store a book of guidance as evidence against the people? Moses gives his own reason.
So Moses said to them, "Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God." Why? So that they might choose life, and live by keeping it? No, but "that it may be there for a witness against you." He goes on: "For I know your rebellion and your stiff neck; look, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?" … We need no further answer to those who use Moses' words to prove that salvation depends on human will. If it did, who could be saved?
The book does not only accuse. It faces two directions at once.
This was a plain witness for God and a witness against the evils that the people would soon embrace, therefore a witness against them.
"This Book of the Law" means the finished law of Moses — the five books he wrote. What became of that scroll?
When the Pentateuch was finished, Moses directed that it be placed at the side of the ark. Was this the very copy of the law that Hilkiah the high priest found seven hundred and fifty years later, among the rubbish in the Temple? Or was it a copy that one of the early kings had made from the original? We believe it was the very copy of the law or Pentateuch written by the hand of Moses.
The people would fail. Where is the comfort in a book stored as evidence against them?
Man is the same always and everywhere. His record is stained from beginning to end. But it is such a relief and comfort to the heart to know and remember that God is ever the same. His word abides and is "settled for ever in heaven." It lay hidden in the side of the ark of the covenant, kept whole there despite all the grievous sin and folly of the people… It bears a true and solemn testimony against man and his ways. It also brings home to the heart the most precious and calming assurance that God is above all man's sin and folly.
The ark held the law; the book lay at its side. One writer follows both to Christ.
So we have the purpose of the ark — a lasting home for the law, then also for the pot of manna and Aaron's rod that budded. Along with these, the book of the law was laid up, to be a witness against them on the day they turned away from God. God's word is nothing but the enlargement of His law, the one unchanging expression of His will… It was enshrined in the heart of our Lord. He always honoured the whole word of God, and said of it all, "Scripture cannot be broken."
The book beside the ark was not the only witness there.
It has been well suggested that each of the articles kept in the ark was a reminder and a witness of the people's failure. The tablets of the law recalled the sin of the golden calf, since the first tablets were broken then. The manna recalled their murmuring and unbelief. The rod that budded recalled Korah's rebellion against the priest of God. Yet these reminders of sin are closely and for ever linked with the blessed One who has secured pardon and blessing at the very time of all this evil.
- Written. Moses finished the law in a book and handed it to the Levites who carried the ark.
- Placed. It went beside the ark. One writer traces it to the scroll found in the temple centuries later, and holds it was the copy Moses wrote himself.
- Witness. It stood as a witness for God and, because of what the people would become, a witness against them.
- Kept. The people failed, but the book did not. It stayed whole beside the ark — the assurance that God is above man's sin and folly.
- Christ. The One who said Scripture cannot be broken kept that same law enshrined in His heart.