31:10–13 Moses provides for regular instruction of the people and their children in the covenant law by the priests, at a point in the year when the people had ample time to learn. The Feast of Booths came in the fall and lasted a week (16:13–17 note). During the sabbatical year the land was to lie fallow, and the people would not have been burdened with agricultural duties (15:1 note). This practice of reading the law at regular intervals was characteristic of the suzerainty treaties among nations of Moses’ time, which typically provided for the regular publication of the covenantal terms of agreement (Introduction: Date and Occasion).