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people of Israel. To see how this operated during the great period from Moses to Ezra,
justifies the expectation that He Who watched over His Word, and provided for its
preservation at the beginning, did so because He purposed that it should remain intact
until the end.
When Moses had reached the age of one hundred and twenty years, and knew that he
would not pass over Jordan with Israel, he appointed Joshua as his successor, and then
made arrangements for the safeguarding of the five books of the law, written by himself
at the command of the Lord.
"And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which
bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel" (Deut. 31: 9).
The priests were instructed that at the end of every seven years, when all Israel
gathered before God, "this law" should be read "before all Israel in their hearing"
(Deut. 31: 11). Here were the two initial enactments that went far to preserve the
sacred writings. First, they were entrusted to the priests, and secondly they were publicly
read every seven years. We learn moreover that the book was deposited in Israel's most
sacred depository, the Ark.
"And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in
a book, until they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark
of the covenant of the Lord, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the
ark of the covenant of the Lord your God" (Deut. 31: 24-26).
Earlier in Deuteronomy a further safeguard is recorded, in that it was incumbent upon
any king that should reign over Israel, to carry out the following injunction:
"And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write
him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites; and it
shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his live" (Deut. 17: 18, 19).
Turning now to the book of Joshua, we follow Israel across the Jordan and to the
overthrow of Jericho. After the victory at Ai we read the Joshua built an altar, and there
he wrote a copy of the law of Moses in the presence of the children of Israel, and
afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, "there was not
a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation
of Israel" (Joshua 8: 30-35).
Here, then, is the record that the command given by Moses was carried out by his
successor.
At the close of the book of Joshua, we come to the first recorded addition to the five
books of Moses.
"And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God and took a great stone
and set it up . . . . . by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said . . . . . this stone shall
be a witness" (Joshua 24: 26, 27).