Deuteronomy 31:16

16 And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.

Deuteronomy 31:16 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 31:16

And the Lord said unto Moses
Out of the pillar of cloud:

behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers;
a phrase expressive of death, frequently used both of good and bad men, which serves to render death easy and familiar, and less formidable; and to assure and lead into an expectation of an awaking out of it, or a resurrection from it:

and this people will rise up;
in their posterity; for not till after Joshua's death, and the death of the elders of Israel, did they revolt to idolatry, ( Joshua 24:31 ) ;

and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither
they go [to be] amongst them;
that is, after the gods of the Canaanites, who though at this time the inhabitants of the land, yet when the children of Israel became possessors of it, they were the strangers of it; and being suffered to continue contrary to the directions God had given to destroy them, would be a means of drawing them into the worship of their idols, expressed here by going a whoring after them, or committing whoredom with them. Idolatry in Scripture is frequently signified by fornication and adultery; and, as foretold, this was the case; see ( Psalms 106:35-39 ) ;

and will forsake me:
their husband, departing from his worship and service:

and break my covenant which I have made with them at Sinai;
and now again in the plains of Moab, and which had the nature of a matrimonial contract; see ( Jeremiah 31:32 ) .

Deuteronomy 31:16 In-Context

14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, the time of your death is near. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, so that I may commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tent of Meeting.

15 Then the LORD appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent.

16 And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.

17 On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’

18 And on that day I will surely hide My face because of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods.