Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it.
7 And Moses called unto Joshua. It hence appears that those, upon whom a public charge is conferred, have need of a twofold confirmation: for, after having addressed a general instruction to the whole people, he directs his discourse peculiarly to Joshua himself, as to one whose business it was to set an example of bravery to others, and whom severe contests awaited.
Moses could not cross Jordan himself, yet he would not abandon Israel without a word of encouragement. Though Joshua would lead them in battle, they would miss Moses interceding for them on the hill. But God had set His limit: his time to serve was finished, and he acquiesced, for what man should desire to live longer than God has work for him to do?
AI summary
Commenting on Deuteronomy 31:1-8
And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee,.... The Word of the Lord, his Shechinah, according to the above Targum, and so in the next clause; the same that brought Israel out of Egypt, had gone before them in the wilderness, and now would go before Joshua and them into the land of Canaan: he will be with thee; to guide and...