Naughty children and rising dough

Deuteronomy has so much repetition!

Parents may complain about the behaviour of the children. The Children of Israel were so naughty. The Levites are a different proposition. They had “...no part nor inheritance with thee” (Deut. 10: 9, 12: 12, 14: 27. 29, 18:1). This will be a blessing to all.

The feasts which were instigated at that time, we hear of in Jesus time. Do the Jewish people still keep these feasts? See Chapter 16. How could the people remember all these rules? Was it up to the Levites to know them all by heart and enforce them?

Chapter 28 seems to have a summing up:

1. And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

2. And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.

3. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

4. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

5. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store*.

6. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

Summing up I thought. It goes on for 6 more chapters! However, he sums up again in The Song of Moses – most of chapter 32.

Chapter 33 sets down what is in store for all the 12 tribes. It reiterates Jacob’s words recorded in Genesis 49. Interestingly, the only tribe I remember is that of Dan. In the Genesis version we have, “Dan shall be a serpent the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider fall backward” (Gen 49: 17). Here is an example of putting blame in the right place.

Moses was 120 years old when he died: “...his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” Scholars believe that he ascended, citing  Deut. 34:6: “...no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.”

Joyce Voysey

*Ed. When I opened up my Bible to read Deut. 28 today to read about those blessings Joyce has mentioned, a handwritten note fell out. It says: “Deut. 28:5. STORE is the bowl where the dough is allowed to rise.” How lovely!