This week’s Torah Portion covers Deuteronomy 32:1–52. This is our second-to-last reading in Deuteronomy, which means we are almost to the finish line in our goal to read the first five books of the Bible in one year.
The portions are getting shorter each week because we are also in the middle of the High Holidays on the Jewish calendar. In addition to reading through Deuteronomy in sequence, Jews are reading various holiday texts as part of their liturgical services for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot.
Rosh Hashanah has passed; Yom Kippur begins Sunday evening. After that, we are heading towards Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles. Sukkot begins September 25 and ends October 2.
Song of Moses
Deuteronomy 32 breaks in style and format with the rest of the covenant book. The chapter is a seventy-line poem that tradition holds Moses sang to the people on his last day. The song begins as a reminder to the Israelites of this generation to pass their story on to the next generation. They must tell their children and grandchildren about the miracles they witnessed in their deliverance from Egypt and their wanderings in the desert. Moses sings:
Remember the days of old; consider the years long past; ask your father, and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you. (32:7)
Moses reminds them of their chosenness and the responsibility that accompanies that gift:
When the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods; the Lord’s own portion was his people, Jacob his allotted share. (32:8–9)
Moses goes on to assure them of their victory in battle as they ready their armies to conquer the land. When they settle the land, they must continue to follow God’s ways and stay faithful to him and not go after other gods. Moses warns them that after the wanderings and battles, they will settle in the land and enjoy the comforts that land possession affords: milk, meat, wine, cheese, oil, and wheat (32:13–14). The poem is a cautionary tale about how a full stomach can dull the desire for a relationship with their protector, God (32:15). Living in relative abundance of food, work, and shelter puts all of us at risk of forgetting God.
Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, is a sacred assembly built around the idea that the Jewish people are to strip themselves of material comforts each year so we may rely only on God. On Sukkot, the people are commanded each generation to take seven days and dwell in booths, the same temporary structures the Israelites called home during their forty years of wandering.
When Jews celebrate Sukkot, they build sukkahs in lots of different ways. The sukkah walls can be made from canvas, tarp, or any material that will not blow away. For the roof, they lay branches and sticks across the top. Families often like to decorate their sukkah. During the seven days of Sukkot, Jews eat all their meals and spend most of their time inside the sukkahs. Some families even sleep in them.
Sukkot is one of the most important Jewish holidays during the year, meant to be a celebration, not a fast or a time of mourning like some Biblical holidays. When I lived in Israel, I used to love taking night walks in my neighborhood and seeing all the sukkot built on the tops of buildings, squeezed onto apartment terraces, and taking over every inch of common green space.
I imagine it was like when Jesus went to Jerusalem during Sukkot to visit the Temple and taught in the Temple courts (John 7:2, 14). The Bible says, in the book of Zechariah, that when the Messiah reigns, the whole world will go to Jerusalem to celebrate Sukkot (Zech 14:16). As many of you know, more Christians from all over the world are going to the Feast of Tabernacles celebrations in Jerusalem.
Death of Moses and His Successor
After Moses recites the song, God instructs him to go up on the mountain so he can look out on all the land (Deut 32:48–52; Num 27:12–14). Then the Bible states, in a few words, that Moses was gathered to his people. He was 120 (Deut 31:2; Deut 34:5–7). This moment is the most desperate in the entire Torah. It makes the reader who has followed Moses from the burning bush to the rebellion of Korah scream out and beg God to reconsider. However, Moses, as a prophet, knew that it was time for a transition of authority.
The people needed a different leader for the next chapter in their long story. Moses had a particular vision for what kind of prophet they required. He asked the Lord:
Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint someone over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep without a shepherd. (Num 27:16–17)
God was unequivocal. Joshua, son of Nun, was a man who had the spirit of God (Num 27:18). Moses was commanded to lay hands upon him in a public ceremony and transfer his authority so that the people would see him as their commissioned commander (Num 27:19–23; Deut 34:9).
The Israelite community was designed to have both priests and prophets. The priestly role was dynastic, passed from father to son. The prophetic role was spontaneous, driven by divine selection. The priestly line provided continuity. The prophetic line was discontinuous and ad hoc. The system of checks and balances among the priests, prophets, and judges was the key. We see that principle again after Joshua is appointed leader, when he is instructed to stand before the priests before making decisions (Num 27:21).
Moses and his wife Tziporrah had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer (Exod 18:3–4; 1 Chr 23:14–17). Given their father’s fame, we know little about the sons other than that they were not chosen as his successor.
However, we have many points on Joshua’s resume. Joshua was Moses’ faithful security chief from his youth (Num 11:28). According to Exodus 32:17, when Moses was on Mt. Sinai, Joshua waited at the foot of the mountain like a bodyguard. As Moses descended, Joshua reported to him about the golden calf. In Numbers 11:28, when God allowed the prophetic spirit to disseminate among the seventy elders, Joshua asked Moses to restrain them. He wanted to protect his authority. When the twelve spies were sent into the land, Joshua and Caleb were the only ones who did not cower (Num 13:1–14:9). They believed the land was exceedingly good and worth the fight.
As the book of Joshua attests, Joshua was the Bible’s first General-Prophet. While Moses was tasked with delivering God’s people, Joshua was appointed to conquer God’s land. Deliverance and conquest are distinct tasks that require different leadership styles. This was exemplified at Rephidim when the Amalekites launched a surprise attack (Exod 17:8–13). Aaron and Moses stood on a hilltop with their arms raised to Heaven. Joshua battled it out with a sword alongside his rough-shod army and led them to an unlikely victory. Through the power of God, Moses performed signs and wonders that defied the laws of nature. The miracles God performed through Joshua were not going to be as obviously supernatural, but considering the long odds of the many military campaigns in the book of Joshua, they were no less miraculous.
Extra Sukkot Readings
In Jewish tradition, each High Holiday has a set of readings that fit its spirit and theme. Rosh Hashanah leans into stories of divine remembrance and unexpected births, like Sarah and Hannah. Because it is the Jewish New Year, all the readings are about a fresh start. Yom Kippur draws on the high priest’s sanctuary rituals in Leviticus and Jonah’s reluctant repentance. For Sukkot, the core liturgy starts with Leviticus 22 and 23, which spell out the practical ground rules for the feast: leave your home, move into a temporary leafy hut for seven days to remember the trek through the Sinai wilderness, and rejoice before God with the four species. Alongside that, Numbers 29 covers the massive roster of daily temple sacrifices. My personal favorite is that they read the entire book of Ecclesiastes—the book that takes a hard look at genuine joy and determines it is not about stacking up material security, but about receiving everyday life as a gift from God.
The prophetic Haftarah portions push that perspective even further. On the first day, the community reads Zechariah 14, a sweeping vision of the end of days in which every nation travels to Jerusalem year after year to keep the Feast of Tabernacles and pray for the winter rains. The following day turns back to history with 1 Kings 8, detailing Solomon’s dedication of the First Temple during this exact autumn festival. So, if you are feeling extra studious, feel free to add all of those readings to your weekly devotionals and get the full Sukkot effect!
Study Questions
The Song as a Witness: In Deuteronomy 31:19–21, God commands Moses to teach this poem to Israel because a spoken song endures in cultural memory longer than written prose. Why is a musical or poetic form particularly suited to function as a legal witness against future spiritual amnesia?
The Recurring Call to Joy: Despite its sharp assessment of life’s injustices, Ecclesiastes repeatedly pauses to urge the reader to eat, drink, and take pleasure in their daily labor (Eccl 2:24, 3:12–13, 5:18–20, 9:7–10). How does Ecclesiastes define true, godly joy in a world where lasting security is unattainable?
Redemption: How does the Feast of Sukkot trace the arc of God’s redemptive plan—moving from a memorial of Israel’s dependence in temporary wilderness shelters (Leviticus 23:42–43), to the dwelling of God’s presence in the Jerusalem Temple (1 Kings 8), to an eschatological gathering of all nations under divine sovereignty (Zechariah 14:16–19)? In what ways does the festival foreshadow the ultimate fulfillment of God “tabernacling” permanently among humanity?