3:21–22 To close his opening historical survey, Moses looks forward to the future as entrusted into the hands of his successor, Joshua. The lessons of the past were especially for him, and the most important lesson of all was that God’s victories were infinitely repeatable. If God could defeat two kings, God could defeat many more. Yahweh was a God who was not coincidentally lucky, but consistently victorious. These words, placed here, are picked up again in 31:1–8, when Moses actually commissions Joshua. They thus reinforce the nature of Deuteronomy as the “last testament” of Moses and give the whole book a forward look toward life in the land. This is confirmed again when the book of Joshua opens with a repetition of Moses’ encouragement to Joshua, placed this time in the mouth of God (J…