Deuteronomy 3 Study Notes

3:21-29 These verses concern the commissioning of Joshua to take Moses’s place. But the actual commissioning does not occur until after Moses finishes these addresses. See 31:1-23.

3:24 Moses’s question was not implying that other gods existed. His point was that the Lord is superior to all gods, real or imaginary, in the polytheistic culture of the time (Is 44:6-20; 45:20-25; Jr 10:11-16).

3:25 The beautiful land is literally “the good land.” This phrase occurs eight times in Deuteronomy and only twice in the rest of the Bible (cp. Jos 23:16; 1Ch 28:8).

3:27 Pisgah is the name of a summit in the range of hills in Transjordan called Abarim overlooking the Arabah and the Dead Sea. It lies just north of Mount Nebo, the traditional setting of Moses’s vantage point from which he could see the land of Canaan (32:49). Pisgah (now identified as Ras Siyaghah) and Nebo were twin peaks of the same mountain, but it was from Pisgah that the great lawgiver viewed the land he was forbidden to enter (34:1).

Beriyth probably relates to an Akkadian word pointing to covenants (Gn 6:18) as bonds, a fundamental implication being obligation. Beriyth also denotes treaty (Jos 9:15) or agreement (Is 33:8). People confirmed covenants by oath (Gn 21:22-27); word, testimony, counsel, agreement, and law are associated terms. Covenants initiated relationships implying love, friendship, loyalty, goodness, peace, and brotherhood. People entered covenants by “cutting” (making) them, originally cutting apart animals (Gn 15:9-10; Jr 34:18). “Cut a covenant” appears as form an alliance (Ps 83:5) or made a covenant (Is 28:15). Other ceremonies were sacrifices (Ex 24:3-8), meals (Gn 26:26-31), sharing salt (Lv 2:13), and shaking hands (Ezk 17:18). Covenants were between men, with God, and figuratively with animals (Hs 2:18). God dealt with mankind through two important kinds of covenant, an obligatory one modeled after suzerain-vassal treaties (e.g., Mosaic), and a promissory one comparable to royal grants (e.g., Davidic).