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Deuteronomy 31-34 Skeptics Annotated Bible
The final chapters of Deuteronomy are here. We've made it thru the Pentateuch!
Moses does a little reminiscing and basically tells the Israelites that they're screw ups and will fall apart when he's gone.
God tells how he will punish the Israelites and the enemies of the Israelites. It all kind of runs together and I had a hard time figuring out who he was mad at in any given sentence. :-/
God and Moses write a song. Does anyone know the melody?
From 32:39-43 we get some Charlie Sheen quality ranting (I'm trying to make this blog topical and hip for the kids.).
Moses gives us a final review of the tribes and says something nice about them before God tells him to climb up the mountain and die.
The deceased Moses then writes some nice things about himself afterwards.
I hope to have a review of the first five books this weekend. I also hope to have some guest posts up to give a different perspective as well.
We'll start the book of Joshua on Monday.
Did anyone catch the "apple of his eye" in 32:10. Or is that an old saying not used any more?
ReplyDelete@Bruce,
"God and Moses write a song. Does anyone know the melody?"
I have no idea.
32:15-21 sounds like Americans & Britains. I hear over in UK they are preparing for some heftier patients and Christianity has been exterminated. I doubt that judge knows that multiculturalism does not work! However the Germans could have done it wrong? :-D
Did Dwayne Johnson take one of the names of God? 32:30-31
Did anyone else notice the nick name for Joshua in 32:44. Those silly redactors, if they would just check their work. UGH!!!! Rookies!
34:6 You know there was a fight over the body of Moses. I guess it could be missing, that is why nobody knows where that sepulchre is. And that was not a fight between men over that there body. ;-)
@ Edward,
ReplyDeleteHoshea in the highest. I believe that is something we repeated often in Catholic mass.
I'm guessing that God buried Moses in parts unknown so that the Israelites would bring him into the promised land. This act would be acting against God's orders.
@Bruce: We sang "Hosanna in the highest." At least I did.
ReplyDeleteSome scholars suggest that the merging of Joshua and Hoshea is an example of later editors attributing something done by an unknown dude to a well known hero. This practice was common before the advent of the modern discipline of history and a prominent example is the attribution of the slaying of Goliath to King David. The Egyptians took this to the extreme; When one Pharaoh died and was succeeded by a new one, all acts performed by all previous Pharaohs were attributed to the new one.
@Edward: Interesting that the fact that one conservative Christian leader doesn't like the foreigners in her country (shocking! An intolerant German leader? Not possible!) proves that "multiculturalism does not work."
Moses sure is obsessed with Sihon and Og. Given the amount of press, you think that story would be better known.
ReplyDelete31:14, God's smoke-monster standing at the tent sounds very much like E. (Some think D is a later incarnation of the E school, exiled south after the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel.)
My bible (and the NIV) annoyingly replace "he" with "the LORD" in 31:23, where the Hebrew (and KJV) infer Moses spoke the command. I want a new translation that doesn't randomly alter the text to "fix" it.
Old poems! I love old poems.
32:6 is a rare early mention of the creation mythology, although pretty vague.
The poem also states that he found "Jacob" in the wilderness, which contradicts, oh, the entire Bible.
"This may be part of a tradition that Israel became the LORD's people in the wilderness, against the dominant view."
It sounds like an early conception of the "wilderness wandering" mythology; the exodus seems like a later development.
"Jeshurun" is apparently an early name for Israel. In this conception, Israel and Jacob, (father and son, at least later) were wandering the desert when God found them. Jeshurun/Israel ate too much and went to the dark side.
Well, it's not really clear if there are two characters. Apparently "Jacob" symbolizes the people, because by v. 19 God is pissed off at a lot his "sons and daughters". Perhaps v. 15 is referring to the collective group by two different names.
The word "Rock", so ambiguous, is צוּר, tzur.
The same word appears as the name of a Midianite and in a few place-names. I can only find five uses in the Torah where it apparently refers to a rock.
This includes the Exodus account of the waters of Massah/Meribah. The Numbers version of the story uses a completely different word!
Oh, and that 2nd word is used here in 32:13 to actually mean "rock".
The song of Moses!
v. 5 refers to Israel and Jeshurun in the same sentence.
Simeon isn't mentioned.
In Levi's bit, Massah and Meribah seem to be separate incidents, but both are conflated in the Exodus account. And neither account mentions Levites!
Joseph gets big props. Judah? four scant lines. That tells you where this author's sympathies lie: northernwards.
Bizarre that neglected Asher is mentioned as the "most blest of sons".
Oh, and Dan is placed in Bashan, to the north, which means that this post-dates Dan's migration from the border of Philistine (see Judges). In case you're keeping track.
So that's the Torah. Funtimes.
I noticed that it seems like Moses didn't have any children, or at least he didn't have sons. I wonder why he didn't impregnate his wife's slave like his forefathers had done. It does seem a little odd that God wouldn't bless his highest prophet with a son, when he had made such a big stink about doing it for several of Moses's ancestors.
ReplyDelete@bananacat1,
ReplyDelete"I noticed that it seems like Moses didn't have any children, or at least he didn't have sons."
Moses did have sons. This is how he got a title bloody husband. (Exodus 4:25). His father-in-law also mentions his sons in Exodus 18:5,6. I don't think he had any daughters.
Just thinking out loud, but maybe the sons of Moses are of no consequence because of Gods command that Moses would not enter the promised land. Including his seed.
ReplyDelete@BHitt,
ReplyDelete"An intolerant German leader? Not possible!) proves that "multiculturalism does not work."
Brian are you saying it does work? Because from what i am learning multiculturalism does not work when the foundational laws of the one violates the others.
Please explain how and where it has worked.