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!

Moses' objections overruled. (What's my excuse?)

Where have I been this month!  Only at chapter 4!

O dear! All the killing and spoiling that went on! No wonder people give up on reading the Bible, especially if they start at the beginning.

As I read the beginning of Chapter 4, I thought about Moses’ ability as a public speaker at that stage of his experience. This is the man who asked God why he should be called by Him to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt when he was slow of speech. He said, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither theretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue” (Ex. 4:10)*. God had an answer for him at every stage. Which reminds me of the Devil’s temptation of Jesus; there is always an answer from God, either directly from God or from the Scriptures or Mrs. Eddy’s writings, or the writings of those who have proved God’s power and shared in the Christian Science periodicals.

I actually thought of Moses’ upbringing at court in Egypt. Would he have been so great if he didn’t have that 40-year experience? And then there were the next 40 years in the wilderness….

Next I am reminded of Joshua whose task it was to take over from Moses in leading the people over the Jordan and into the promised land. What a responsibility!

Verse 35 of chapter 4 gives us a theme which is repeated throughout the Bible and in Christian Science literature, “...the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him.” What a theme for Joshua to live with! We too can make it our theme for living and demonstrating God’s allness.

Chapter 5 has a repetition of The Ten Commandments, and chapter 6 tells us how important those Commandments are and how they must be obeyed.

I like the promise of verse 7 of chapter 7: “The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people.” And the people will be blessed. There were warnings though – Beware of graven images, etc.

Joyce Voysey

Ed. The Message Bible (Eugene Peterson) says: Moses raised another objection to God: "Master, please, I don't talk well. I've never been good with words, neither before nor after you spoke to me. I stutter and stammer."

Wilderness journey

Deuteronomy Chapter 2

Moses was of the line of Jacob. His brother Esau had possession of the land around Mount Seir by God’s proclamation. The people, at Moses’ direction, were careful not to “meddle” with Esau’s descendants, though they were glad to buy food and water from them – part of the blessing that ensured they lacked nothing on their 40 years in the wilderness.

Buying water! How many cattle did they have? They need so much water. Maybe sheep would survive better in the desolate country.

Likewise the Moabites, “children of Lot” and other peoples, were respected in their right to the land that the Israelites skirted.

40 years was a very long time to travel the route they took! I read that if they had gone the short way which God told them to take it would have taken 11 days!

I find the number of people on this wilderness journey hard to believe. So I went on a hunt. The following satisfied me – see https://www.jstor.org/stable/1585502

The number of people in the Exodus from Egypt: Decoding mathematically the very large numbers in Numbers I & XXVI

By Colin J. Humphreys

Cambridge, 1998

Published in Vetus Testamentum vol 48(2): 196-213

A mathematical analysis is given of the very large numbers of people at the Exodus from Egypt recorded in the book of Numbers. It is shown that if there were “273 first born Israelites who exceed the number of Levites” (Numbers iii.43), then the total number of Israelite men aged over 20 in the census following the Exodus was about 5,000, not 603,550 as apparently recorded in Numbers. The apparent error in Numbers arises because the ancient Hebrew word ‘lp can mean “thousand’, ‘troop’, or ‘leader’, according to the context. On our interpretation, all the figures in Numbers are internally consistent including the numbers at both censuses, the encampment numbers, etc. In addition we deduce that the number of males in the average Israelite family at the time of the Exodus was 8 or 9, consistent with the concern of the Egyptians that the Israelites had “multiplied greatly” whilst in Egypt (Exodus 1.7). The total number of men, women and children at the Exodus was about 20,000 rather than the figure of over 2 million apparently suggested by the book of Numbers.

 

Joyce Voysey

Obedience

The story of Deuteronomy seems to begin after Moses received the Ten Commandments at Horeb. In chapter 1, Moses is outlining the steps that got the Israelites to the point of crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land.

From verse 19 to the end of the chapter we have “Israel’s refusal to enter the land,” as a subheading in the New King James Version, a bit more than half of chapter 1.

When the people were required to actually do something and make a decision, they quaked. They had the opportunity to take the Promised Land at that early stage, but, after a scouting expedition to check out the place and the people who lived there, they chickened out and wouldn’t make the move. After all the signs Moses had shown them on the way of how God would be with them! He promised, “The Lord you God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes” (KJV 1: 30).

They were already out of favour with God and were told that none of them would see the Promised Land save Caleb and Joshua. Their children would be the ones to enter the land. As we saw earlier in this blog, even Moses didn’t enter the Promised Land.

But. In previous thinking about this experience, I had not taken into account the people’s trying to get right with God. So, after being told that only Joshua and Caleb would go and take the land, we find the people eventually saying, “…we will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us” (NKJV 1: 41). At this point, God instructs Moses to tell them not to go, but they took no notice. They “… rebelled against the command of the Lord... And the Amorites who dwelt in that mountain came out against you and chased you, as bees do, and drove you back...” (NKJV 1: 43, 44).

Trying to do the right thing at the wrong time. Not wise. Catastrophic in fact! (I spelt ‘catastrophic’ right at one go!)

Joyce Voysey

Valuable background to Deuteronomy

The Harper Collins Study Bible/New Revised Standard Version, which I think is the one Madelon Maupin* favours, has excellent notes. It has introductions to each book and notes on verses. The notes are at the bottom of the text so are very much to hand.

So, in the Introduction to Deuteronomy I found a definition of Torah or Pentateuch: “… the sense of comprehensive and divinely sanctioned instruction.” It carries on: “In the context of the book, it may be characterized as the authoritative, inspired “polity” (or, “political constitution”) that Moses, unable himself to lead Israel across the Jordan, enacts for the people as a normative guide to their corporate existence in the land they are about to occupy.”

A little further along I find: “...as Mosaic instruction par excellence Deuteronomy is the interpretative key to the Pentateuch understood as a whole to mediate the abiding revelation of God’s will for the ongoing life of the covenant people.”

And: “In its dual character of both remembering Israel’s past and anticipating its future, the book occupies a pivotal position, both literarily and theologically, in the canon of the Hebrew Bible.”

Maybe it could be called a textbook!

This brings to mind the fact that Moses was prohibited from crossing the Jordan into the promised land with the Exodus crowd because he had disobeyed God. –

From Classroom: “Moses’ sin is detailed in Numbers 20:2-12. While wandering in the desert lands of Zin, the Israelites needed water, so God instructed Moses to gather the people and then to speak to the rock. Instead, Moses struck the rock twice with his staff. God’s response to Moses was immediate: "Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them." It was both a literal act of disobedience, by disobeying God's instructions, and a symbolic one involving the rock (foundation of faith) and water (source of life).”

I thought he had been in trouble for breaking the Ten Commandment tablets.

This Introduction is very valuable for the scholar. I mustn’t quote the whole thing!

Joyce Voysey

* Bible Roads.com: Madelon’s goal is to help others unlock the Bible in a non-denominational way so that they can discover the Scriptures’ spiritual meaning and application to their lives. By delving into the history, politics, geography, customs, and culture of all the Biblical periods and books, she aims to enable readers and listeners to dive deep into these subjects themselves so they can find their own spiritual answers.

Go north?

 Deuteronomy 2: 3 says: "You have compassed this mountain long enough : go toward the north" (Douay-Rheims 1889 American Edition).

I am reminded of the passage in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy that says: "There is but one real attraction, that of Spirit. The pointing of the needle to the pole symbolizes this all-embracing power or the attraction of God, divine Mind" (p. 102: 9).

Was it now time for the children of Israel to get off the merry-go-round of fear, procrastination and grumbling, and enter the Promised Land, not so much a physical move so much as a mental shift towards obedience, gratitude, and grace? 

Peter Henniker-Heaton had a nice grasp on compass points:

We cannot turn away from God / Because, whichever way we face, / Spirit is there. In every place, / Every direction, everywhere, / Spirit is there.

Whether we turn to left or right, / To north or south or east or west, / We meet with Love—and we are blessed. / Upward or down, below, above, / We meet with Love.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 591:1, 2)

Julie Swannell

Why read Deuteronomy?

Thinking about this month's book, I asked myself: Why is the study of Deuteronomy a good idea in February 2022? My answer: I don't know. I had better start reading and find out.

Having chosen to read from the Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition, I am transported to the seventh century BCE where the children of Israel are about to enter the Promised Land after 40 years of trekking in the wilderness following their escape from slavery in Egypt. Moses has been their leader and encourager. God has directed, guided and fed them despite their grumbling.

The book is a recollection of events*, like when Moses recalls that he  "took ... men wise and honourable, and appointed them rulers, tribunes, and centurions and officers over fifties. and over tens, who might teach you all things" (Deut. 1: 15) when he needed help to carry out his mission.

There is a tender word-picture in verse 31 "And in the wilderness ... the Lord thy God hath carried thee, as a man is wont to carry his little son, all the way that you have come."

So, I am left wondering what further word-pictures await the reader!

Julie Swannell

*For some background I checked Britannica's article on Deuteronomy It begins: 

Deuteronomy, Hebrew Devarim, (“Words”), fifth book of the Old Testament, written in the form of a farewell address by Moses to the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land of Canaan. The speeches that constitute this address recall Israel’s past, reiterate laws that Moses had communicated to the people at Horeb (Sinai), and emphasize that observance of these laws is essential for the well-being of the people in the land they are about to possess. The title Deuteronomy, derived from Greek, thus means a “copy,” or a “repetition,” of the law rather than “second law,” as the word’s etymology seems to suggest.