Deuteronomy 31:14

14 ADONAI said to Moshe, "The time is coming for you to die. Summon Y'hoshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, so that I can commission him." Moshe and Y'hoshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting.

Deuteronomy 31:14 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 31:14

And the Lord said unto Moses
Either at the same time, or quickly after; rather, perhaps, the same day:

behold, thy days approach that thou must die;
which does not necessarily imply that he had some days to live, though but few; but that the time of his death drew nigh, his last moments were approaching; the time of his death being, as every man's is, fixed by the Lord, with whom is the number of his years, months, days, and moments, beyond which he cannot pass, ( Job 14:5 ) ;

call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the
congregation, that I may give him a charge;
this looks as if the people had been dismissed after the above exhortations given; and now Joshua was called, and Moses with him, to have a charge given him:

and Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tabernacle
of the congregation;
before the Lord. Aben Ezra says, Moses went from the camp of Israel where he was, to the camp of the Shechinah; the Jews pretend to know in what form they walked thither. Moses, they say F1, went on the left hand of Joshua; and they went to the tabernacle, and the pillar of cloud descended and separated between them.


FOOTNOTES:

F1 Debarim Rabba, sect. 9. fol. 244. 2.

Deuteronomy 31:14 In-Context

12 Assemble the people-the men, the women, the little ones and the foreigners you have in your towns -so that they can hear, learn, fear ADONAI your God and take care to obey all the words of this Torah;
13 and so that their children, who have not known, can hear and learn to fear ADONAI your God, for as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Yarden to possess."
14 ADONAI said to Moshe, "The time is coming for you to die. Summon Y'hoshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, so that I can commission him." Moshe and Y'hoshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting.
15 ADONAI appeared in the tent in a column of cloud; the column of cloud stood above the entrance to the tent.
16 ADONAI said to Moshe, "You are about to sleep with your ancestors. But this people will get up and offer themselves as prostitutes to the foreign gods of the land where they are going. When they are with those gods, they will abandon me and break my covenant which I have made with them.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.