JOSHUA: Chapter 6

Chapter 6
Summary:	Because of the Israelites, the gates to the city of Jericho were secured so that no one could get in or go out. God said to Joshua, "I have delivered the city of Jericho, along with its king and his soldiers, into your hands." He then commands Joshua to lead a march of the his soldiers around the city for six days. On the seventh* day, God adds that seven* priests blowing ram's horn trumpets are to join the soldiers as they march around the city seven* times. God instructs that when Joshua hears a long blast from the trumpets, he is to command his entire army to give a loud shout, and subsequently the walls of the city will fall to allow Joshua's army to invade. Joshua commanded the priests to pick up and carry the ark of the covenant with the seven priests carrying trumpets in front of the ark. He then ordered the army to begin marching around the city, and placed an armed guard to march ahead of the ark. The trumpets began to blare as an armed guard marched in front of the ark, and another guard followed behind the ark. Joshua however commanded the army to not shout or make any noise with their voices until the day comes when he will command them to issue a war cry. The army marched once around the city and camped for the night. Joshua awoke early in the morning and the priests picked up the ark of the covenant, while the seven priests blew their seven trumpets, accompanied by the armed men leading and flanking their procession. For six straight days they repeated this procession, circling the city once, and returning to camp On the seventh day, the Israelites again rose early, but this time they encircled the camp seven times instead of just once. During the seventh pass, when the priests blew their trumpets, Joshua told the people, "Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. "The city shall be cursed," Joshua continued, "it and everything it contains shall be sacrificed to the Lord - only Rahab the harlot, and all those residing in her house, shall live, for she hid the messengers that we sent. You should be wise to avoid any of the accursed things in the city, lest you make yourselves accursed by taking any accursed thing and thereby bring upon a curse to the camp of Israel. But all the silver and gold, as well as items made of brass and iron, are to be consecrated to the Lord and shall be given to his treasury." So the people shouted as the priests blew their trumpets and the city wall fell down flat allowing the Israelites to take the city. They utterly destroyed all that was in the city - man and woman, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, all by the edge of their swords. Joshua had the two men who had spied out the city go to the Rahab's house and bring out the harlot and her family that they had promised to spare. The spies did as they were commanded and brought Rahab, her parents, her siblings, and all of her relatives to a spot outside the camp of Israel. They then burnt the city to the ground along with everything in it, taking only the gold, silver, and objects made of brass and iron for God's treasury. Rahab and her family were spared and lived amongst the Israelites through their generations, their lives spared because Rahab hid the men sent to spy out the city of Jericho. Joshua proclaimed to the people, "Cursed be the man before God who attempts to rebuild the city of Jericho. He shall pay the price of building its foundation with his firstborn, and pay the price of building its gates with his youngest son." God was with Joshua and his fame spread throughout the country.
Notes:	1.) Yet more occurrences of the mystical number seven.
Thoughts:	The sixth chapter of the book of Joshua centers itself around the complete annihilation of the city of Jericho and its inhabitants. Recognizing the impending assault from the Israelites, the city secured its gates so that none could enter or exit the city. God then gives Joshua his attack plan, revolving heavily around yet another several mystical occurrences of the number seven: Joshua's army is to march around the city for seven days; in the procession, seven priests carrying seven ram's horn trumpets are to join the soldiers, and on the seventh day are to blow their horns seven times. After which, and not a moment before, the entire army is to let out a loud battle cry, and the walls of Jericho will collapse. Obviously, while there isn't any practical reason for having such a heavy reliance upon the number seven (seven priests with seven trumpets, marching and blowing their horns for seven days, blowing them seven times on the seventh day) it's yet another example of the bible's borrowing from, and perhaps in some cases inspiring, numerological mysticism. Joshua then sets his battle plan in motion, starting with the priests tasked with carrying the ark of the covenant with the seven trumpeted priests marching in front of them, and flanking both the head and rear of the procession with armed soldiers. Joshua then commanded his army not to make a war cry or any noise with their voices until the day comes that Joshua will command it. After marching around the city, the Israelites camped for the night. The following morning they marched around the city again a single time, trumpets blaring, and repeated this ritual for six consecutive days. On the seventh day, they encircled the camp seven times, the trumpeters blew their horns seven times, before Joshua gave the order to his army to shout, stating that God had "given" them the city. Before they let out their war cry and invade the city however, Joshua tells them to destroy every living being within the city walls - except for Rahab the prostitute from chapter 2 along with her family - and warns the soldiers not to take any items or property in the city because doing so would bring a curse upon Israel. However, Joshua adds that they are to take all of the gold, silver, and objects made of brass and iron, to be given to "God's treasury". Once again we're presented with another example of the bible attempting to justify the genocide of non-combatants (women, infants, children, and the elderly), however this time the bible introduces a new spin to its tactic. Beginning with Abraham's questioning of God's ethics and morality concerning the possibility of innocent casualties in the destruction of Sodom and Gommorah, the bible justifies massacre, destruction, and genocide by presenting their targets in terms of absolutes. With God promising Abraham that he wouldn't destroy the city of Sodom if there were as few as 10 "righteous" people living there, we're to assume that the city was entirely "wicked" in strict absolute terms, and that the children and infants of the city who were incapable of distinguishing right from wrong were deserving of their violent and horrific deaths right along with the "wicked". The bible further reinforces this stance with the horrific extermination of the Midianites in Numbers: Chaper 31, in which after the Israelites slaughter the adult male Midianites, Moses chastises them for sparing the lives of the women and children that they took prisoner, and orders that they too be slaughtered - except for the young virgin girls, whom the soldiers can "keep for themselves". In this new variant presented here in the book of Joshua it's important to analyze several key aspects about Rahab: She is a Canaanite, of whom God expressly commands are not to make any covenant nor show any mercy towards She is a prostitute She is a woman She lied to, deceived, and betrayed her own people and did so for the goal - at least in part - of seeking self preservation Virtually every aspect of Rahab's character is viewed negatively by the Israelites, and quite often biblical apologists spin this off as if this demonstrates that even a "sinner" can earn God's grace. What they fail to address however, is that it may in fact simply be a justification to side-step their own rules in order to protect the non-Hebrew members of their society while maintaining their racial oppression against others in the camp. For example, if we were to build a society upon a lineage of Caucasian descent and wanted a piece of land occupied by a society comprised of black people, the most simple and thorough means of conquering a society and preventing them from possible revenge in the future would be to order genocide against their entire race. If we establish a law binds us by duty to commit genocide against all black people, it would be viewed as a hypocritical law if there happened to already be some black people living amongst us that we made exception to. Perhaps we were reliant upon the skills or services that these black families provided to our society, and that slaughtering them would put us at some sort of disadvantage. This puts us in a dilemma where we either risk a possible retaliation by any survivors should we avoid commanding genocide against a particular race, or requires us to invent a justification to explain why there are black families living amongst us that are exempt from the law. The story and depiction of Rahab presents her in a mostly unfavorable light (she's a Canaanite, a prostitute, a liar, a traitor, and being a woman, she's viewed as less than a man in the context of the times) which makes it easier to villainize the inhabitants of the city of Jericho by not making Rahab out to be a noble righteous hero (such as how Lot is intended to be viewed - despite offering his daughters up for ransom to a pack of rapists, and later on getting drunk and having sex with them). It provides a justification for why there may be a Canaanite living amongst the Israelites claiming that he's descended from Rahab and her family that were spared, without painting Canaanites in too sympathetic of a light. The chapter continues with the priests blowing their trumpets and the soldiers shouting a war cry, causing the city wall to come down - which seems odd in light that Rahab's house is apparently built into the city wall (Joshua 2:15). The soldiers proceeded to massacre every living being - man, woman, infants, young and old, oxen, sheep, donkeys - all by sword point. Joshua sends the two spies that Rahab had helped in Joshua: Chapter 2 to go to Rahab's house (built into the city wall that just fell over) and to bring out Rahab and her family. Rahab and her parents, siblings, and relatives were brought to spot outside of the Israelite's camp while the soldiers burned the city of Jericho, along with everything in it - except for the gold, silver, and brass and iron object that they looted - to the ground. The bible states that Rahab and her family lived among the Israelites for generations. Joshua proclaims a curse that anyone who attempts to rebuild Jericho will pay the price of their firstborn for building it's foundation, and will pay the price of his youngest son for building its gates. It's not clear if this curse applies only to the youngest son at the time of building or applies to all subsequent sons as well. The chapter closes out by stating that Joshua's fame (or perhaps infamy) spread throughout the country.

DEUTERONOMY: A Recap

Like the book of Numbers, it took me quite a few months to get through the book of Deuteronomy, some of which can be attributed to the busyness of the holiday season back when I started this book, as well as events in my personal life, but also partially because commenting on the book of Deuteronomy required a lot of comparing and contrasting to chapters in past books of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the bible), considering that Moses references and repeats a lot of things and events we've already encountered, and often embellishes upon his retelling of them.

The book of Deuteronomy mainly is about Moses laying down the laws (and the extreme punishments) for the Israelites, but can also be looked at as Moses' parting words to them as well. There's not a lot of narrative story in the book of Deuteronomy, and most of it is simply direct quotations of Moses addressing the Israelites, so it can also get rather tedious to read at times as well.

Moses begins his speech to the Israelites in Mid-February forty years after the exodus from Egypt. He primarily repeats to them events covered in Exodus: Chapter 17, Numbers: Chapter 13, and Numbers: Chapter 14. Moses retells various stories from these chapters and changes or embellishes many of the details - from minor details such as who ordered the spies to be sent to search out the land of Canaan, to major discrepancies such as blaming the people of Israel for his own fatal mistake of striking a rock instead of talking to it.

Moses then recounts another story where he insists that the Edomites did in fact allow them to pass through their land on their journey - which directly contradicts the story originally told in Numbers: Chapter 20 where the Edomites mobilized their army preventing them from passing through their land. Moses also insists that they passed through the land of Moab peacefully, which will be contradicted by a passage in the book of Judges. He then starts telling the people about the races of giants that used to live in the land of Moab and Mount Seir until the Edomites and Moabites destroyed them, Moses comparing this to what the Israelites will do to the giants living in Canaan.

Moses then states that it took 38 years to wait for the previous generation of Israelites - who were not allowed to enter the "promised land" - to die off before they could continue on their journey to the land of the Ammonites - who are the incestuous offspring of Lot and his youngest daughter. God tells them not to disturb the Ammonites, because he will not allow the Israelites to take their land since the Ammonites are descendants of Lot, and the land was "given" to them by God. This land too was also originally inhabited by giants before the Ammonites destroyed them and took their land.

He then recounts the story of slaughtering King Sihon and his kingdom with a major difference from the account in Numbers: Chapter 21. Instead of Sihon's destruction being retaliation as it was described in the book of Numbers, Moses now insists it was God's plan to attack and destroy them to instill fear into the surrounding nations.

Moses next describes the massacre against King Og, who was apparently the last of a race of giants in Bashan, and that his bed was apparently 13 feet long by 6 feet wide. He also recounts the story of the tribes of Gad and Reuben, as well as Manasseh, getting their land outside the "promised land" in Gilead; and the appointment of Joshua as his successor, both with different key details from their original treatments in Numbers: Chapter 32 and Numbers: Chapter 27 respectively.

Next Moses tells the Israelites that God's laws are unchangeable - they are not to be added to or subtracted from. He also posits that other nations will be impressed by God's laws, but warns them against creating idols like those "heathen nations" do. He then picks out three "cities of refuge" in the lands that he's given to Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh outside of the "promised land".

Moses retells the "ten commandments" to the people of Israel, and again reminds them that they're not to be added to or subtracted from.

Moses then stresses the importance of obedience and tells the Israelites that they are to love God and his laws, and are to teach them to their children and repeated adnauseum - including by writing them down and tying them to your hand, and writing them on the posts of their houses. He also tells them to fear God and not to tempt him again, like they did when they whined about not having any water in Exodus:Chapter 17.

Moses then turns his attention to how the Israelites are to deal with the seven nations (the Hitites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites) currently living in the "promised land", telling the Israelites to utterly destroy them and to show them no mercy. He adds that they are not to intermarry with the women of these nations, because those women would corrupt the Israelites and cause them to worship other gods. He furthers that they should destroy their religious idols, break their altars, and set fire to their graven images. He again reminds them not to leave any survivors, and that God himself would deliver any last "heathen" to the Israelites should they attempt to flee or hide. Moses explains that God will destroy the "heathen nations" little by little so that the land doesn't become "infested with wild animals".

Moses now tells the Israelites that God making them wander around the desert for forty years wasn't so much a punishment as it was a "test", adding that God deliberately let them go hungry so that he could feed them "manna" - the magical food that God created in Exodus: Chapter 16 (which some theorize might actually be referring to hallucinogenic mushrooms). Moses then boasts about how wonderful the "promised land" will be once they commit genocide against its inhabitants, but warns them not to get too cocky and take credit for anything that they acquire because not giving God credit for their acquisitions will cause them to worship other gods, which in turn will "force" God to destroy them.

While Moses prepares the Israelites to cross the Jordan River and defeat the race of giants living in Canaan, he stresses that God is not helping them win their battles because they are a "righteous" people, but only because the Anakites (the "giants") are instead a "wicked" people. Moses continues to recount every "stubborn" and "unruly" act they've committed against God - worshiping Aaron's golden calf, complaining about the food, complaining about being thirsty, gluttonously dining on quails that God had sent them, and being afraid of the giants living in the "promised land". Basically, Moses is telling them that they're not "righteous" because they whine and complain a lot, and also reminds them that he had to talk God out of committing genocide against them, because he reasons, that it "would have looked bad to the Egyptians".

Moses next retells the story of receiving the stone tablets containing the "ten commandments", and then takes credit for having built the ark of the covenant (as opposed to Bezaleel) while stating that he had to talk God out of killing them all while he stayed atop a mountain for 40 days. He tells the Israelites to fear God and to stop being such a stubborn group of people. He adds that God cannot be reasoned with or bribed, and that he favors the "underdogs" such as orphans, widows, and foreigners - reminding them that they are to be loving towards foreigners, since they themselves were foreigners in Egypt - of course, barring perhaps these foreigners, of whom are better impaled with a spear.

Next Moses tells the Israelites that they should obey God because of all the "great acts" that they've witnessed - despite also acknowledging that so few of them were actually alive and old enough to have witnessed the events forty years prior. He then brags to them about how they won't even need to irrigate their crops once they inhabit the "promised land", and that God himself will tend to the land - but only if they remain obedient, otherwise he'll halt all the rain and let the Israelites starve to death. Moses repeats that the Israelites should write the commandments down on a card and tie the card to their wrists, adding that God will drive out all of the "heathen nations' before them - regardless of their might or size - as long as they remain obedient.

After telling the Israelites that they are to ransack and destroy every last religious remnant belonging to the previous inhabitants of the lands they are invading, Moses then states that once they must build a "sanctuary" for God (in an area of land that God himself will pick out) to pay tithes and perform animal sacrifices at. He adds that if the "promised land" expands to a point where a trip to the "sanctuary" is too far away to travel to, then the Israelites may slaughter animals on their farms, but they are to drain the animal's blood first, as they are not permitted to consume the "life" of an animal. However, Moses adds that any tithes or sacrifices made to God must still be made at the "sanctuary", because sacrificing animals to God elsewhere would be a behavior akin to the "abominable heathen nations" who Moses claims "sacrifice their children by fire".

Moses then turns the discussion to more violent matters when he states that any prophet or "dreamer of dreams" that tries to coax the Israelites into worshiping other gods must be put to death by stoning, adding that if perchance that whatever they're predicting comes true, that it is just God allowing this to "test" the Israelites. Furthermore, anyone regardless of whether they're your brother, or even your children, who tries to tempt you into worshiping other gods must be stoned to death, and you must not show them any pity or mercy while you are mandated to strike the first blow against them. Finally Moses states that if an entire city has been coaxed into worshiping other gods, then every living thing in that city - people and livestock alike - are to be killed by the sword and the city is to be burned to the ground and is never to be rebuilt again.

Moses then tells the Israelites that they are forbidden from "cutting themselves" or shaving their eyebrows in regards to funeral customs, because these apparently are things that the "heathen" nations do, and that the Israelites being a "holy people" should not lower themselves to emulate people that are apparently below them. After recounting again which animals are deemed "clean" and "unclean", Moses tells them that they will have to bring their tithes and firstborn animal sacrifices to the "sanctuary" and to eat them there. If they happen to live too far away to carry the full amount of their tithes to the sanctuary, Moses says that they will be allowed to sell their tithes and to use the money crops and/or animals to sacrifice nearby the "sanctuary" when they arrive there. He also reminds them that they will have to share their feasts with the Levites, of whom own no property, and also that every third year they are to divide up their tithes to give to the poor, the orphaned, the widowed, and the strangers in town.

Next Moses tells the Israelites that every seven years that they are to cancel all debts owed by fellow Hebrews (debts owed by foreigners are still valid). He also warns them that they are never to refuse to lend to an Israelite in need, for it would be a "sin" to refuse. He then recounts the laws of Hebrew slavery from Exodus: Chapter 21 and states that when a Hebrew slave is released from his enslavement, that his master must supply him with a generous helping of crops, wine, and livestock upon his release. Although if the Hebrew slave decides he prefers to remain enslaved, Moses reminds them that the slave can have his ear bored with an awl, branding him a permanent slave for life. He then adds that firstborn animals are to be sacrificed, slaughtered, and eaten at the "sanctuary", unless the animal is defective - then it is be eaten at home, but the animals blood is not to be consumed.

Moses then goes over the rules for celebrating "passover", the "Festival of Weeks", and the "Festival of Tabernacles". He then instructs the people that the tribes must appoint a judge to rule over each city, and also that they are not to plant any trees near "God's altar", nor construct an image that God "hates".

After once again stating that all animal sacrifices need to be free of defects (for they are "abominations",) Moses reminds the Israelites yet again the punishment for anyone worshiping other gods is death by stoning. However, Moses adds that there must be two witnesses to the persons guilt, and that these two shall be the ones to cast the first stones. Moses next states that any case too difficult for a judge must be brought to the priests to decide, and that anyone who won't abide by their verdict is to be put to death, which Moses posits will cause people to keep in line out of fear. Moses then states that kings must be "selected by God", must be an Israelite and not a foreigner, and must not amass excessive amount of wealth or wives.

Moses then notes that because the Levites do not inherit property, that choice parts of the animal sacrifices and the first harvest sacrifices will be given to the Levites to eat. Yet again, Moses warns the Israelites not to worship other gods, nor to sacrifice their children by fire, use divination, become a fortune teller, an enchanter, a witch, a charmer, a spiritual medium, a wizard, or a necromancer. Anyone who does such a thing is an "abomination" to God, and must be put to death. He adds that God will speak to them through prophets, but that anyone falsely claiming to be a prophet must be put to death. Moses states that in order to verify if a prophet is genuine or not is dependent on whether his prophecy comes true.

Moses tells the people that when they arrive in the "promised land" they are to pick out three "cities of refuge" - in addition to the three he already picked out outside of the "promised land" in chapter 4. Moses makes a rather dumb analogy about how to assess a person's guilt on whether they committed murder based upon their past animosities toward another. He adds that if someone ambushes their neighbor and attempts to flee to a "city of refuge", then the city's elders are to deliver the person to the victim's "avenger of blood" for a revenge killing. After briefly commanding that the Israelites are not to cheat their neighbors out of land by moving their boundary markers, he states that there must be a minimum of 2 or 3 witnesses to bring a case against a person's "sin". In addition, Moses also states that anyone who falsely brings a case against another, will receive the punishment of the "sin" they accused the innocent person of - adding that they should not be pitied, and the punishment shall be an "eye for an eye".

After Moses states that any soldier that is engaged but not married, built a house but hasn't lived in it, planted a vineyard but haven't eaten from it, or is simply afraid, is excused from having to enter battle, he lays out his plans for conquering cities outside of the "promised land". First the Israelites are to offer a "peace treaty" - which consists of enslaving the inhabitants of the city - which failing that, they are to kill every male within the city, but the women and young girls may be "kept for themselves"; however when conquering cities within the "promised land", every single breathing thing is to be killed. They are also not allowed to harm any fruit trees.

Moses then states that if the body of a murdered man is found in the fields and his killer is unknown, then taking a heifer that's never been worked in a field, and breaking its neck will somehow absolve the land of Israel from the guilt of the victim's murder. Next, Moses states that if there's a pretty woman amongst the prisoners of war, that after she's grieved for a month, you can have sex with her, making her your wife. However, if you come to find out that later that you don't actually like your new wife, then you can kick her out of your home, but you mustn't sell her into slavery. Next, Moses says that if a man has two wives and favors one over the other, he can't give his birthright to one of his oldest son from his favored wife if his firstborn belongs to the wife he doesn't like. Next, if you have an unruly son, you are to drag him out to the elders of the city, stating that he is a "drunk and a glutton", and then all the males of the city are to stone him to death. If you hang a person, you are not to let the body stay up overnight, as this will "defile" the "promised land".

Moses next states that if a person loses an item - whether it be livestock, donkeys, or clothing - that it is to be returned to its owner. If the owner is not known, the item is to be kept until the owner comes looking for it. Moses then calls transvestites "abominations"; states that if you find a bird's nest that you can keep the eggs and the young, but must leave the mother bird; when building a house you must put up a guardrail on the roof so that no one falls off; forbids sowing a vineyards with other seeds, lest both the fruit and the grapes become "defiled" from doing so; forbids plowing a field with both a donkey and an ox at the same time; forbids wearing a garment with mixed fibers; and commands that the Israelites must make fringes upon their clothes.

Moses then dishes up a bunch of misogynistic laws:

• If a man suspects that his bride was not a virgin on their wedding night, it's up to the bride's father to provide "tokens of [her] virginity" (blood stained bedsheets) to prove her innocence.
  • If the husband has falsely accused his wife, he is flogged with a whip, must pay his wife's father 100 shekels of silver, and may not divorce his wife.
  • If the father cannot prove his daughter's innocence, she gets dragged out to her father's house, and is stoned to death for "being a whore" and shaming her father's family.
• If a man (regardless of his own marital status) sleeps with a married woman, they are both to be stoned to death.
• When a woman is a virgin and engaged, and is raped by a man in the city, they are both to be stoned to death. The man for depriving the husband-to-be of consummating his marriage, and the woman for not screaming loud enough to prevent her own rape.
• When a woman is a virgin and engaged, and is raped by a man out in the country, then only the rapist is to be stoned to death. Moses reasons that being out in the countryside it would be difficult to determine whether the woman screamed out or not during the rape, so that it must be assumed that she did scream, but that no one had heard her.
• If a woman is a virgin, yet isn't engaged to be married, and is raped, then the rapist must pay the woman's father 50 shekels of silver, the rapist must marry his victim(!), and he is not allowed to divorce her for he has "devalued" her.

Moses also states that a man is not to marry his father's wife, nor "dishonor his father's bed".

Moses states that the following undesirables are not to enter the "sanctuary": anyone with testicular damage; anyone whose penis has been cut off; a bastard, including his descendants ten generations later; or the Ammonites or Moabites, because they were the races that hired Balaam and his talking donkey to curse the Israelites. He adds that they are not to discriminate against the Edomites or the Egyptians, however. A soldier that has a "wet dream", is to leave camp, wash himself, and not return until sundown. Also a "toilet area" must be set aside outside of camp, and all waste must be buried, for God will not tolerate anything "unclean" in his camp. Moses then states that a runaway slave is not to be returned, nor oppressed. Next Moses states that there are to be no prostitutes among the Israeli women, nor "sodomites" among the men, nor are the proceeds from prostitution - male or female - to be brought into the "sanctuary", for such proceeds are an "abomination" to God. Then Moses states that interest is not to be tacked onto any loans made to am Israelite, but is okay for loans made to foreigners. Moses then warns that if one makes a vow to God, then they are compelled to fulfill it, or they have committed a "sin". Next he tells the Israelites that if they pass by a neighbors vineyard or crops, that they may eat all they want until they are full, but they are not to collect any to bring home with them.

Moses next states that if I man doesn't care for his wife, he can kick her out of his home, but if she remarries and later becomes single again - either by divorce or being widowed - that her former husband is not to remarry her because she has been "defiled", and God considers this an "abomination". He adds that a newly-wed husband is not to be sent out to battle, nor given any major responsibilities in his first year of marriage, since it is his duty to "cheer up" his new bride. Moses then states that a person is not to take as collateral the tools which a man uses to earn his living, and condemns kidnapping. Moses next tells the Israelites to heed the laws concerning leprosy and wrongly brings up his sister Miriam as an example - Miriam was stricken with leprosy not because she failed to heed the laws concerning leprosy, but instead as a punishment from God for pointing out Moses' marriage to an Egyptian woman violates God's law. Next, Moses states that when giving out a loan that the recipient and not the person giving the loan is to pick out an item for collateral. Moses next states that it is a "sin" for an employer not to pay his workers promptly, especially if he is poor and in need of the money. Next Moses states that a man is not to be put to death for the "sin" of his ancestors. Moses then states that judgment is not to be skewed against foreigners, orphans, or widows - nor may a person take a widow's garment for collateral - and that people are to leave some surplus crops for them.

Moses next states that if a person has been judged "worthy" of a beating, he is to lie down and be beaten in front of the judge who orders his beating - the amount of lashes he receives is to be in accordance to the severity of his crime and is not to exceed forty lashes. He then states that an ox working in a cornfield is not to be muzzled. Moses then states that when a man's brother leaves behind a widow without any children, the man is to marry his brother's widow and appoint the firstborn child as his dead brother's heir. When a man refuses to marry his brother's widow, the widow is to complain about the man to the elders of the city, who in turn have to try and talk him into marrying her; if he still refuses, the widow gets to remove one of the man's shoes and spit in his face - which from that point on the man's house will be known as 'The house of him that had his shoe removed'. Next he adds that if two men get into a fight, the wife of either man may not grab the testicles of the other man - if she does then she should be shown no pity while her hand is chopped off. After telling the Israelites that they are to be fair in their use of weights and measures, he states that as soon as they are finished fighting the enemies surrounding the promised land, that they are then to commit genocide against the Amalekites as revenge for them attacking the slow, sick, weak, and injured amongst the Israelites - and for not "fearing God".

After telling the Israelites to bring the first of their crops down to the sanctuary in a basket and give them to the priest on duty, Moses gives a long rambling speech about how the Israelites grew into a great nation while being enslaved and mistreated by the Egyptians. He then declares another ceremony, the "Year of Tithing" - where the Israelites are to give their tithes of crops every third year to the Levites, foreigners, widows, and orphans. Yet again, he also reminds the Israelites to be obedient because God has deemed them his chosen people, better than any other nation upon the face of the earth.

Moses then commands the Israelites to construct a monument out of uncut stones, which they are to write God's laws upon once the arrive in the "promised land", adding that no iron tools are to be used in shaping the stones. The monument is to be set upon Mount Ebal along with an altar for the people to sacrifice animals upon. Next Moses then commands that the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali are to stand upon Mount Ebal proclaiming curses. Among those he wants to be "cursed": anyone who makes a graven or molten image and tries to hide it; anyone who dishonors his mother or father; anyone who moves his neighbor's property marker, anyone who leads the blind in the wrong direction; anyone who twists judgment against a stranger, orphan, or widow; any man who sleeps with his father's wife; any man who commits bestiality; any man who sleeps with his sister; any man who sleeps with his mother-in-law; anyone who secretly kills his neighbor; anyone who becomes hitman; and anyone who does not obey these laws.

After briefly telling them the nice things that God will bestow upon them if they obey, Moses then states a long list of all the horrific things that God will do to the Israelites if they do not obey him.

Moses then addresses the entire congregation of Israel and tells them that although they witnessed all of the "miracles" and plagues that God unleashed upon the Egyptian people, God apparently has not given them the ability to understand the significance until this day. However only a small fraction of Moses' audience could have possibly been old enough to recall any of the "miracles" in Egypt after God killed off most of the older generation by making them wander around the desert for forty years - which laughably Moses notes that none of their clothes or shoes had worn out during. He adds that the reason the Israelites were not given any wine or hard liquor during their forty year excursion was so that they would know that Yahweh was their god, and that every single one of them - men, wives, children, slaves, servants, and even the stranger in town - must enter a covenant with God, which will establish them as "God's people". Next, Moses once again forbids them from worshiping other gods, stating that in addition to all the curses laid out in the previous chapter, that their names will be "blotted out from under heaven", and that their children and descendants will rise up against them while foreigners will marvel at the punishments God dishes out against the Israelites - that the whole land will be covered in brimstone, similar to the fates of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He then states that "prophecy" belongs only to God, and that those that have been revealed belong to the Israelites - which justifies the condemning and execution of "fortune tellers", "diviners", and "mediums".

Moses states that should God curse the Israelites for worshiping other gods, should the Israelites "return to God" and obey him, then he will again show them compassion and turn the curses around upon their enemies. Moses then tries to state that this coerced obedience is somehow a "choice".

Moses next tells the Israelites that he is 120 years old(!) and that he is forbidden from entering the "promised land", so that soon Joshua will succeed him as their leader. He tells the people that they will soon cross the Jordan River and begin committing genocide against the "heathen nations" living there. Next, he tells the Israelites to be strong and courageous because God will accompany them in battle as he addresses Joshua in front of the congregation. Moses then writes down God's laws and instructs that they should be read every seven years during the "feast of tabernacles" to the entire population of Israel - including strangers that are in town - for as long as they live within the "promised land". God then tells Moses that he shall die soon, and predicts that the Israelites will go "a whoring" after other gods and provoke his anger, so he has Moses write down some song lyrics. After giving the Levites the "book of laws" that he wrote down, he tells them to place them beside the "ark of the covenant", then proceeds to chastise them for being rebellious, stating that they will become even worse after he has died.

Moses teaches the song lyrics to the Israelites and tells them to teach them to their children. God then tells Moses to climb Mount Nebo and gaze upon the land of Canaan, and states that it will be atop the mountain that Moses will die because Moses didn't follow God's directions and therefore "didn't sanctify God" to the Israelites.

Finally, Moses gives his blessings to each of the twelve tribes of Israel, and then ascends Mount Nebo and dies at the age of 120(!). The Israelites wept for thirty days, and it is noted that there "has never been a prophet in Israel since then like Moses, whom God knew face to face".

DEUTERONOMY: Chapter 32

Chapter 32
Summary:	(Note: Because of the way this chapter is written - with the majority of the verses being song lyrics - I'm going to change up my approach to summarizing this chapter by leaving the verses in their original King James translation, and then commenting every so often between them, with my comments written in italics.) Moses recites the lyrics to God's song:  1Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.  2My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:  3Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. These first three verses basically see Moses setting up metaphors implying that these lyrics will hit the listener like rain and dew hits the grass, and that they are intended to explain how "great" God is.  4He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. Moses is claiming here that both God and all of his works are "perfect", that he is a god of truth, and that he is without "sin".  5They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.  6Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee? Moses is implying here that the Israelites have corrupted themselves and are no longer "God's children", but instead have corrupted themselves. Moses calls them foolish and unwise for doing so, considering that God brought them here from out of their Egyptian slavery and made them into the mighty nation that they became.  7Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.  8When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. Moses tells people to "remember" the stories of the "days of old", by asking their elders to recount the stories to them. Moses claims that when God (the Most High) divided up the people of the world (the sons of Adam) into their separate nations (presumably after the Tower of Babel incident) that he set the borders of these nation in accordance to the population of the people of Israel. This seems suspect considering that the entire population of "Israel" at the time of their migration to Egypt - an already well established nation - was 70.  9For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.  10He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. It is important that a distinction should be made between Jacob/Israel the person and Jacob/Israel the people. While Jacob/Israel himself found favor with God, God wanted to destroy the people of Israel not just once, not just twice, not just three times, but distinctly four times so far in our story so far alone - which Moses had to talk God out of each time. Although perhaps Jacob himself, along with Moses, may have been, the people of Israel were hardly the "apple of [God's] eye".  11As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:  12So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. Although it may be arguable that outside of the various mass killings, plagues, and violent anger towards the Israelites that God did take care of them somewhat, it would be impossible for the Israelites to be certain that God alone - without the aid of other "strange gods" - lead them, aside from taking Moses' word for it. According to the story found in Exodus: Chapter 20, the Israelites begged Moses to not have God speak to them directly, fearing that the voice of God would kill them.  13He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;  14Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.  15But Jeshurun* waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. These three verses are prophetic, where Moses tells how God will provide the Israelites with all a wealth of good food, meats, and wines, but that the Israelites (referred to by an unusual poetic variant, "Jeshurun") would simply become gluttonous and forsake God's generosity and their own "salvation". It's unclear whether this might be a case of self-fulfilling prophecy; whether God is simply stating predestination, which is not alterable, and thereby negating what many believers claim as people having free-will; or whether God might be manipulating the Israelites into behaving this way.  16They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.  17They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. Moses again places heavy emphasis on the "sin" of worshiping other gods being a justification out of jealousy for the extremities of God's violence against the Israelites. Curiously this also marks the second occurrence of the term "devil", this time in reference to the "other gods" the Israelites have turned to. Moses also adds that these will be gods that the Israelites have never encountered before, and ones that have been newly invented.  18Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.  19And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. Moses states here that the Israelites (by worshiping other gods) will become ungrateful to the god that supposedly "created them", and that they in turn will provoke God into detesting them.  20And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.  21They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. Moses states that God's punishment to the Israelites for making him jealous of their new gods will be to take away his blessings to the Israelites, and will make the Israelites themselves jealous by giving those blessings to other nations who are not "God's people", which will provoke their own anger. When we examine what's being said in these verses a lot closer, we realize that what is most likely really going on here is psychological manipulation to further vilify the religions of other cultures. Broken down, we see that in order for the Israelites to receive God's blessings they have to jump through all sorts of hoops: they have to meticulously follow and obey numerous and complex commandments, rules, animal sacrifices, and laws to appease God or else they will be killed or excommunicated. Whereas the only thing that the enemies of the Israelites have to do to receive these same blessings are to get the Israelites to worship "idols" - whether they are their own or they encourage the Israelites to create their own. The enemy nations don't have to follow any of God's complex rules and regulations to benefit from God's blessings, all they have to do is lead the Israelites to worship other gods - ANY gods. Imagine you were given a mansion to live in rent free, but in order to live there you had to do all sorts of complex tasks, follow strict rules, and follow your landlord's religion. If you fail at these tasks your landlord will give your mansion away to your neighbors, who can live there without having to follow all of the strict rules that you have to abide by. When your neighbor stops by with his copy of the "Book of Mormon" - even if he might have no idea about your landlord's rules - you're apt to act out even more defensively, angrily, and perhaps violently, out of fear of your neighbor's motives. Clearly you're being psychologically manipulated regardless of whether whether your landlord's or your neighbor's intentions are meant in good will or not.  22For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.  23I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.  24They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.  25The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs. Now God also dishes out the nasty stuff. Not only will he give his blessings to your enemies, but his anger will be so intense, that he will consume the "promised land" with fire, shoot the people with arrows, starve them, burn them, have wild animals tear them apart, and have poisonous snakes bite them. He will not spare any children (neither male nor young virgin girls), babies who are still nursing, or the elderly; despite the fact they're probably not able to properly convince the able adults not to worship other gods, leaving them helpless to their own destruction - not to mention that babies have no protection against their own destruction at God's hands. Also interesting of note is that this is the first mention of "hell" in the bible.  26I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:  27Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this. God now appears to have second thoughts about scattering the Israelites all over to distant lands, thinking that the enemy nations might believe that they destroyed Israel by their own might, and denying that God had anything to do with it. 28For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.  29O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!  30How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?  31For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.  32For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:  33Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. God "reasons" that the enemies of Israel are "unwise" for thinking that they themselves could drive out an army of 1,000 Israelites with a single one of their soldiers, or that an army of 10,000 Israelites with two of their soldiers, without realizing that God was punishing the Israelites; positing that even they know that their gods aren't genuine like Yahweh, the god of the Israelites. God reasons that this should be evident because their vineyards are the "vine of Sodom" and that their "fields of Gomorrah" produce sour and poisonous grapes, their wine is the "poison of dragons" and the "venom of [snakes]". Therefore, apparently if you can't harvest edible grapes, it serves to reason that your gods are false. 34Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?  35To me belongeth vengeance and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. God now states that the people of Israel will always be "among [his] treasures", and that he will have vengeance and retribution against the enemies of Israel, and that their good fortune will run out in due time. 36For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left. Once God sees that the Israelites have been "beaten up" enough, he'll repent himself. 37And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,  38Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection. In these two verses God taunts the enemies of Israel by asking them "where are your gods now?" 39See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.  40For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.  41If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.  42I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.  43Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people. God claims that he is the only "real god", that he is the arbiter of life and death, and the one who wounds and heals, and that none can do what he can do. God continues, saying that he is eternal, and lifts his "sword" in judgment, delivering vengeance to his enemies and repaying those who oppose him. God says that his arrows with be bloodthirsty, his sword will devour flesh, fueled by the blood of the slain and captive Israelites becoming the beginning of God's revenge upon their enemies. God finishes out by stating that he will avenge the Israelites and have revenge on their enemies - showing mercy to the "promised land" and the Israelites. Moses and "Hoshea"*, the son of Nun, recited these lyrics to the people of Israel. Moses finished speaking to the people of Israel telling them: "Take these words that I testify to you today to heart, and teach them to your children, for them to obey all the words of these laws. It is not vain for you to do this, because it will prolong your days in the land when you cross the Jordan River to possess it." God spoke to Moses that same day telling him: Go up into the mountain of Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab across from Jericho; and gaze upon the land of Canaan which I gave to the people of Israel as a possession. You will die up in the mountain and will be join your ancestors, just as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor. Because you trespassed against me in front of the people of Israel, at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin. Because you didn't sanctify me in the midst of the people of Israel, you will be allowed to see the land spread out before you, but you will not enter the land which I give to the people of Israel."
Notes:	1.) "Jeshurun" is an alternate poetic equivalent for "Israel". It can mean the people of Israel (as it is used here), the land of Israel, or as an alternate name for Jacob/Israel. 2.) "Hoshea" is yet another spelling of "Joshua", similar to "Oshea" as seen in Numbers: Chapter 13 prior to Moses renaming him "Jehoshua", or Joshua. It's unclear why this form of Joshua's name is used here, but it might possibly be further evidence for the documentary hypothesis.
Thoughts:	After Moses (and Joshua, or is it Hoshea?) recite the song lyrics to God's #1 hit single to the Israelites, he tells the people to take the lyrics to heart, and to ensure that they teach them to their children - adding that it's not "vain" for them to do so, since it will prolong their lives in the "promised land" Next God tells Moses to climb Mount Nebo and to take a good look at the land of Canaan - the "promised land" - since he won't be allowed to enter it. He tells Moses that he will die upon the mountain, in a similar fashion to his brother Aaron, due to both of them messing up that whole striking a rock instead of speaking to it that somehow didn't "sanctify" God in the presence of the people of Israel.

DEUTERONOMY: Chapter 11

Chapter 11
Summary:	Moses' speech continues: "You shall love the Lord your God, obey him and his statutes, judgments, and commandments - always. You are aware that I'm not speaking now to your children, of whom haven't known or seen the chastisement of the Lord your God - his greatness, his mighty hand, and his out stretched arm; his miracles and his acts that he performed in the midst of Egypt unto the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt and all his land; what he had done to the Egyptian army, to their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red Sea overflow and drown them as they pursued after you - and how the Lord has destroyed them - rendering them powerless against you - to this day; what he had done to you in the wilderness until you arrived at this very place; and what he had done to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, in turn the son of Reuben, and how the earth swallowed them up, along with their households, tents, and all their possessions, in plain view of all of the people of Israel. "But you have seen all the great acts that the Lord did, and therefore you shall keep all of the commandments that I command to you this day, so that you may have be strong and possess the land you are about to enter; that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord swore unto your forefathers - a land that flows with milk and honey. The land you are about to possess is not like the land of Egypt from where you came from - where you needed to irrigate your crops - as the promised land is a land of hills and valleys, with drinkable water raining from the heaven. It is a land which the Lord your God cares for and watches over year round. "It shall come to pass, if you diligently heed the commandments which I command to you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and soul, that I shall give you the rain of your land in its due season; the first rain and the latter rain, that you might harvest your grain, grapes for your wine, and olive oil. I will also flourish your field with grass, so that your cattle may eat until they are full. "Take heed that your heart not be deceived, and you turn aside and serve and worship other gods. For the Lord's wrath will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that there shall be no rain, and the land will not yield her crops, and lest you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord has given you. Therefore you shall keep these commandments in your heart and in your soul, and write them upon a sign and tie them to your hand, that you may remember them. You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you are sitting at home, when you are out walking, when you are lying down to sleep, and when you rise in the morning. Write them upon the door posts of your house and upon your gates, so that your days may be multiplied, as will the days of your children, in the land which the Lord swore unto your forefathers, as the days of heaven upon the earth. "If you diligently obey all of these commandments, to love the Lord your God, to walk in in his ways, and to cling to him, then the Lord will drive out all of the nations before you, and you shall possess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. Every place where the soles of your feet tread shall be yours - from the wilderness and Lebanon, to the Euphrates River, and even unto the Mediterranean Sea. No one will be able to stand before you - for the Lord your God shall lay the fear and dread of you upon all the land that you shall tread upon, as he has promised. "Behold, I set before you on this day a blessing and a curse. A blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day; a curse if you will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but instead turn aside away from what I command you today, to go after other gods, which you have not known. "It shall come to pass when the Lord your God has brought you into the land that you are to possess, that you shall put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim, and the curse upon Mount Ebal - they are on the other side of the Jordan River to the west, in the land of the Canaanites, whom live in the wasteland near Gilgal, next to the plains of Moreh. You shall pass over the Jordan River and possess the land which the Lord your God has given you, and you shall live therein and observe and obey all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today."
Thoughts:	Moses' speech continues with him imploring the Israelites to obey all of God's laws and commandments - always. Next it becomes difficult to discern exactly who Moses begins to address, as he states: 11:2 "And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm..." following that up with: 11:7 "But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did." Moses begins by acknowledging that the "children" obviously wouldn't be old enough to recall all of the events of the Exodus - specifically, the plagues against Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea (however he also claims that they also wouldn't recall the plagues in the wilderness and Korah's rebellion, which both occur later on in the 40 year journey through the desert.) In Numbers: Chapter 14, God decrees that no-one over the age of 19 except for Caleb and Joshua would be allowed to enter the promised land. Then Moses specifically states in Numbers: Chapter 26 that Caleb and Joshua were the only two men alive from the counted in the previous census that were counted again in the census taken in Numbers: Chapter 26. Chronologically, this would make those young and spry 19 year olds that were exempt from God's punishment in Numbers: 14 now aged to 59. Obviously, this would only leave a small subset possibly aged as young as 8, but no older than 19 at the time of God's curse - now being aged 48 to 59 - that would be the only people reasonably able to recall these events in detail. In any event, Moses insists to the Israelites he's addressing, that because they've witnessed all the "great acts" that God did, that they're obliged to follow all of God's laws that Moses has given them. He tells the people that the "promised land" is unlike Egypt in the regards that the land doesn't have to be irrigated to grow crops, as it is rich with drinkable rain water. He also adds that God personally cares for and looks after the land year round. Moses then follows this up by either attempting to blackmail or bribe the Israelites into obeying God's commandments - basically, if the Israelites behave themselves, obey God, and show him love, then God will give plenty of rain for the Israelites crops to flourish; but if they don't step in line, and apparently especially if they begin worshiping other gods, then God will halt the rain and let everyone starve to death. Whether Moses (and by proxy, God) is attempting to blackmail or bribe the Israelites is dependent on the natural state of the land. Either: The land is naturally too dry for farming crops: Would seem most likely, considering that Moses states that God looks over the land personally and ensures that it gets enough rain. In this case, it would seem that God would be bribing the Israelites into obeying, by doing a service (by watering their crops with rain) in return for obedience. Without God's part of the bargain, the land would revert back to its natural state, and to which God would do nothing to prevent this leaving the Israelites with the choice to either step back in line or all die off. This would also have to mean that if God wasn't purposely preventing it from raining as a punishment, then God is either still carefully maintaining the rain in the land to this day, or that he dropped off maintaining it gradually, otherwise there would be some obvious geological evidence to support a drastic shift in climate - to which there is none to my knowledge. The land is naturally well suited for farming crops:This would have to imply that God is blackmailing the Israelites into obedience by threatening to tamper with the weather and withhold the rain needed for their crops if they apparently start worshiping other gods. This certainly has darker implications, but would explain as to why the land remains fertile regardless of who inhabits it - thereby negating having to provide evidence for a supernatural explanation regarding the climate of the region. The answer lies somewhere in between: The problem with this angle is that we have both of the ethical problems of God - as he would have to be both bribing (enticing the Israelites into obedience by providing plenty of rain) and by blackmailing (threatening not to simply stop aiding the weather, but actively preventing it from yielding crops) - as well as the problems with evidence that plague both scenarios. While it's possible for the apologist to skirt around the lack of evidence, the ethical dilemmas are only magnified in this scenario. Moses then goes on to further stress the importance of remembering God's commandments, repeating almost verbatim what he had said in Deuteronomy: Chapter 6 about tying a card containing the commandments to your hands. While Orthodox Jews have tended to observe this in a literal sense, I tend to believe that Moses was simply stressing how important it is to remember these laws in a metaphorical sense. Moses tells the Israelites that if they obey God's commandments, love him, and "walk in his ways", then God will drive out all of the heathen nations before them - regardless of whether they're greater in number, might, or strength than the Israelites. He tells them that everywhere they set foot - from Lebanon, to the Euphrates River, to the Mediterranean Sea will become their possession. God will make the inhabitants of these lands fear and dread the Israelites. Moses now tells the Israelites that this day he sets before them both a blessing and a curse - a blessing if they obey God's commandments, and a curse if they turn away from God and begin worshiping other gods. He further tells them that they are to put a blessing upon Mount Gerizim and a curse upon Mount Ebal - both mountains located on the west side of the Jordan River. While this seems rather confusing as to what this is supposed to mean, we'll find out later on in Deuteronomy: Chapter 27 that Moses is commanding that the Israelites give blessings and curses upon altars built upon the respective mountains. Moses ends the chapter with yet another reminder that the Israelites are to pass over the Jordan River into the "promised land" and are to observe and obey all of God's statutes and judgments that Moses is giving them on this day.

NUMBERS: A Recap

The book of Numbers can easily be summed up as to what God does to you when you complain a lot. I started this book in late July and have only now finished it in early November. Some of that is attributed to events in my personal life, but a good portion of the delay was also brought upon by how insane the book of Numbers can be to read as well.

The book begins true to it's name with Moses conducting several censuses of the various tribes of Israel and where they are to camp as the Israelites wander through the desert. God also comes up with a convoluted scheme to "own" the tribe of Levi by arguing that the tribe will actually be a substitution for all the "firstborn males" that God feels he's entitled to, but also manages to scam out some money for the church by using bad math against the rest of the tribes of Israel.

God appoints the Levites to transport the tabernacle around the desert, but under the threat that if they mishandle the tabernacle in anyway that they will be killed, and that anyone else aside from the Levites performing their jobs is to be killed as well.

After having Moses and Aaron purge the camp of lepers, God establishes his "law of jealousies" enabling jealous husbands to put their wife through a humiliating test to "prove" their fidelity, and punishable by horrible disfigurement if they're deemed to have been unfaithful, and "blessed" with becoming pregnant if they pass the test. Regardless of how the test turns out, the husband is never guilty of "sin", as it's apparently his wife's fault for causing his jealousy in the first place - even if she's been faithful to him.

Next up in God's law books is his requirements for a person who wishes to become a Nazarite, which is a temporary vow to God where the person is to avoid cutting their hair, drinking alcohol, or going near a dead body (even if a person happens to die in your presence). At the end of the vow the person is to shave their head, set the hair on fire at the tabernacle, and sacrifice some animals and grains.

Chapter 7 deals with all of the leaders of each tribe of Israel donating collectively to the tabernacle: 36 pounds of silver, 3 pounds of gold, and sacrifice 256 animals over a twelve day period.

After instructing Moses in how to conduct a ceremony to consecrate the Levites - after shaving off all of their body hair and sacrificing a couple of bulls, he spells out some laws concerning what to do is someone defiles themselves or is on vacation during "Passover", and has the people of Israel build some silver trumpets for sounding alarms.

After a chapter where we either get yet another name for Moses' father-in-law, or we are introduced to Moses' brother-in-law, the Israelites finally leave their camp site at the base of Mount Sinai. Unfortunately, the Israelites started to whine shortly afterward so God got angry and set them on fire until Moses prayed for God to stop immolating people.

The people started complaining again (right after having been set on fire) about their diet of "manna", desiring to eat meat again, and God sends them an over-abundance of quails (enough quails, as God says, that the Israelites will vomit meat "out of their nostrils" (Numbers 11:20) and grew tired of eating quails. Once the people began eating the quails though, God gets mad at them for doing so and smites them with a plague.

Meanwhile Moses' siblings Aaron and Miriam complain about Moses' Ethiopian wife, so God infects Miriam with leprosy (while Aaron gets out of punishment freely since he is the head priest) and argues that Moses is the "meekest man on earth". When Moses and Aaron beg God to reverse Miriam's leprosy, he agrees but under the stipulation that he'll only cure her after she remains exiled for seven days.

God has Moses sends out some spies to check out the "promised land", but becomes enraged when the spies discourage the people from invading the land because the land is inhabited by giants (the spies also bring home giant clusters of grapes). Except for the two dissenting spies, Caleb and Joshua, God kills off the rest of the spies with a plague for "slandering" the "promised land". When the people began complaining again, God wants to kill them all until Moses talks him out of it. God decides instead that none of them except for Caleb and Joshua will live to enter the "promised land" and decides to make the people of Israel wander around in the desert for forty years until the current generation dies off. The next day the Israelites decide to attempt to invade Canaan instead of God's insistence that they simply wander around in the desert, but because God doesn't help them in battle, they are chased off by the Canaanites and Amalekites.

After laying out some more laws on sacrificing animals, the Israelites see a man gathering sticks on the sabbath and God commands that they stone him to death. Afterward God also tells the Israelites to make fringes upon their garments attached with blue ribbons.

A group of over 250 men led by a man named Korah, wage a rebellion against Aaron and Moses' leadership. Moses dares the 250 men to light some "holy incense", and when they do just that, God sets them all on fire and then causes an earthquake to swallow up the rest of the men in the rebellion - along with their families. The Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron leading these men to their deaths, so God tells Moses and Aaron to move out of the way so that he can kill them all. God sends a plague, Aaron rushes to light some incense to appease God and stop the plague, but not before God has killed 14,700 people with his plague.

Moses and Aaron devise a "test" to prove their divine right to leadership - Moses has eleven of the twelve tribes sign their names on a stick while Aaron signs the twelfth, Moses puts the sticks in the tabernacle overnight - which only he, Aaron, and Aaron's sons are allowed to enter, and tells the Israelites that whomever's stick blooms with buds, flowers, and almonds the following day is the rightful leader of the Israelites. Of course Aaron wins the contest, and Moses puts Aaron's blossomed stick in the tabernacle as a reminder to the people to not question God's choice in leadership again.

After laying out some more rules and regulations regarding the Levites, God sends Moses and Aaron out to procure a red calf, that after being slaughtered and burned, its ashes are to be mixed in with "holy water" to form a "purification water" to purify people who've touched a corpse.

Moses' sister Miriam dies out in the desert, and the Israelites again find themselves without water. Moses and Aaron botch God's instructions for getting water out of a rock - despite the fact that 1) It worked and 2) they used the same technique that they used prior - and that neither Moses or Aaron shall live to set foot in the "promised land". The Israelites try to get the king of Edom (who were descended from Esau) to let them pass through their land, but the king sends his army to chase them away. They wind up at Mount Hor, where God decides to kill Aaron and appoints Eleazar to take over as the high priest.

The Israelites are then attacked by the Canaanites and some are taken prisoner. The people bargain with God, promising to destroy King Arad's cities if God would deliver the captive people back to the congregation - so the Canaanites and their cities were utterly destroyed, and the region was renamed to reflect that. The Israelites however got discouraged again, so God gets angry and retaliates by unleashing "fiery serpents" upon them. When the Israelites turn to Moses pleading for their lives, Moses forges a statue of a "fiery serpent" out of bronze, puts it on a pole, and tells the people that if they get bit by a snake, all they have to do is to look at Moses' statue and they won't die from their snakebites.

The Israelites requested passage through King Sihon's kingdom, and when he refused and attacked them, the Israelites defeated his army and took all of his cities. When the Israelites approached King Og's army, God tells them to do the exact same thing to King Og as they had done to King Sihon - they defeated his army, killed all of his people, leaving no survivors, and took his land.

King Balak, the king of Moab, fearing that his kingdom would be invaded and conquered by the Israelites as well, summoned a prophet named Balaam to come help him and to curse the Israelites. God initially refuses to let Balaam go, but relents and tells Balaam that he can go, so long as he follows God's instructions to a tee. However, when Balaam leaves the next morning, God gets angry with Balaam and sends an angel to hinder his journey. Only his donkey seems to see the angel blocking the way and the donkey tries to navigate around the angel, but gives up and lays down when the angel blocks a narrow path between two walls. After Balaam beats the donkey for disobeying him, the donkey talks to him and ask him what it had done to deserve such a beating. The angel finally reveals himself to Balaam and also asks why he had beaten the donkey. Balaam sees his mistake and the angel lets him pass, but he gets chewed out by King Balak for delaying his visit.

Balaam and King Balak sacrifice a bunch of animals, and Balaam receives a prophesy from God. However, God won't allow Balaam to curse the Israelites, and under God's instruction he blesses them instead much to the dismay of King Balak. King Balak tries again two more times before giving up in anger and disgust.

The Israelites are now seduced by the local Moabite women, and they coax them into worshiping their gods. God tells Moses to kill the leaders of the Israelites tribes and hang their corpses up in public view, as well as to kill everyone who worshiped any of the Moabite gods. An Israelite named Zimri however, snuck in a Midianite woman into the camp and Aaron's grandson Phinehas barged into their tent and impaled them both while they were copulating. Phinehas' handiwork apparently stopped one of God's plagues (which is never described, or is a reason given for it) which had killed 24,000 people. God rewards Phinehas with an "everlasting priesthood" for him and his descendants. He then tells Moses to "vex the Midianites" (despite the fact that his wife Zipporah and her family are Midianites), and blames them for the worshiping of other gods in Moab (even though the chapter specifies that it were Moabite women who led the Israelites astray).

Moses takes another census of all men fit to serve the military, and is told to divide up the "promised land" amongst the tribes, giving bigger pieces of land to the bigger tribes. However, a group of women demand property rights as their father had died and left behind no male heirs. God grants them property rights and allows for a man's daughter to inherit property (although she has to share it with her uncles) in the event of the man having no male heirs.

God then tells Moses that he will die once he has seen the "promised land" since he "rebelled" against God with the "striking the rock" incident. Moses asks God to pick a successor to lead the Israelites after his death, so God picks Joshua, and has Moses give Joshua a public ceremony to signify his leadership to the people.

God lays out even more demands for animal sacrifices, as well as establishing more animal sacrifices for various holidays. He also gives some rules about making vows, and how women's vows can be overruled by her father or her husband.

God now tells Moses to get revenge against the Midianites, and has him send the Israelites out to battle. The Israelites kill all of the men, but take the women and children prisoner, bringing them home along with all the valuables that they looted. Moses was furious that they had left anyone alive and ordered the troops to kill the women and male children, but stated that the soldiers could keep the female virgins for themselves. Moses exiles those soldiers who had come in contact with any dead bodies, or who were responsible for any killing, out of camp for seven days for "purification" and divides up the loot amongst the soldiers, the priests, the Levites, and the common people of Israel.

Upon their travels the tribes of Gad and Reuben convince a reluctant Moses that they'd rather take the nice cattle friendly land of Gilead than their inheritance in the "promised land". The tribes convince Moses to allow them to reside in Gilead providing they follow through on their military commitments to conquering Canaan and driving out the inhabitants currently residing in the "promised land" there. (The tribe of Manasseh also becomes allowed to reside in Gilead after they drive the inhabitants of Gilead out of the city.)

Moses has apparently been keeping a written record of the entire exodus, and is later told by God that every last Canaanite is to be driven out of the land, and that all of their images, statues, and altars are to be torn down and destroyed. Any Canaanite not driven out of the "promised land" will be a "thorn in the side" of the Israelites, and God will also do unto the Israelites what he "had thought to do" to the Canaanites.

God then sets the border lines for the "promised land" and appoints leaders from each tribe to assist in dividing up the land for each family. God also requires that the Levites are to be given a total of 48 cities (and surrounding suburb land) from the other tribes, and that six of these cities are to be "cities of refuge", where people who have accidentally killed someone can flee to safety away from their victim's family seeking revenge - but if the "revenger" finds them outside of the "city of refuge", then it's perfectly okay for them to kill the innocent person.

Finally, the book closes out with the clan of Gilead (from the tribe of Manasseh) complaining about a loophole in the property rights of the daughters from Chapter 27, and God amends his law to stipulate that if a man's daughters inherit land, they will only be allowed to marry within their own tribe - as otherwise the land would go to whichever tribe her husband belonged to.

NUMBERS: Chapter 34

Chapter 34
Summary:	God speaks to Moses, telling him to speak with the people of Israel concerning setting borders for the "promised land" in Canaan. The southern border will be the wilderness of Zin, along the coast of Edom, and the southern border will also lie among the outmost coast of the Dead Sea. The southern border will continue to the ascent of Akrabbim, pasing on to Zin, going forth from the south to Kadeshbarnea, on to Hazaraddar, and on to Azmon. From Azmon, it will follow the river of Egypt out to the Mediterranean Sea. The western border will be the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. The northern border will begin at the Mediterranean Sea and head eastward to Mount Hor, then to the entrance of Hamath, and through Zedad and Ziphron, to Hazarenan. The eastern border will begin from Hazarenan and follow south to Shepham, continuing to Riblah on the east side of Ain. The border shall then descend and reach unto the side of the sea of Chinnereth, following down to the Jordan River, and ending at the Dead Sea. Moses tells the people of Israel that the land within these borders God has specified is what they shall inherit by lot by the nine and a half tribes (the tribes of Gad and Reuben, along with the "half tribe" of Manasseh were allowed to take up land in Gilead outside of the "promised land"). God now tells Moses that in addition to Eleazar, and Joshua (the son of Nun), that he has appointed one leader from each tribe to assist with dividing up the land: Judah: Caleb the son of Jephunneh Simeon: Shemuel the son of Ammihud Benjamin: Elidad the son of Chislon Dan: Bukki the son of Jogli Manasseh: Hanniel the son of Jephunneh Ephraim: Kemuel the son of Shiphtan Zebulun: Elizaphan the son of Parnach Issachar: Paltiel the son of Azzan Asher: Ahihud the son of Shelomi Naphtali: Pedahel the son of Ammihud
Thoughts:	In this chapter God basically sets the borders for the "promised land" and has Moses tell the people of Israel that this portion of land is to be divided up amongst all of the Israelite families. In addition to Eleazar and Joshua, God appoints a representative from each tribe - making an exception for the tribes of Gad and Reuben, along with the "half tribe" of Manasseh who were allowed to take up land in Gilead outside of the "promised land" in Numbers: Chapter 32. God specifies that without these two and a half tribes, there will be representatives from the other nine and a half tribes, however when we look at the list God comes up with, somehow the "half tribe of Manasseh" is listed amongst them - which appears to be either a mathematical or logical error. If we look at the most basic mathematics, we have 12 tribes of Israel; technically the Levites are one of the twelve tribes, but in their absence due to their tabernacle duties, the "half tribes" of Joseph are split by his sons Ephraim and Manasseh so that the total equals twelve. The tribes of Gad and Reuben wanted the lands of Gilead instead of an inheritance in Canaan, so they're taken away from the total, as well as the "half tribe" of Manasseh who helped conquer the lands of Gilead. The logistical problem is whether to count the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh as either a full number or a half number. When we takes the Levites out of the equation, we have to count the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh as full numbers to equal twelve. However, here in Chapter 34 we're mistakenly assuming that each tribe (Ephraim and Manasseh) should be counted as a half number - and without the Levites, we'd have a total of 11 tribes. Taking away 2 and a half tribes (three individual tribes) away from a total of twelve, would leave 9 and a half tribes (ten individual tribes), but we would need thirteen individual tribes to begin with, meaning we would have had to include the Levites - which wouldn't make sense as the Levites were not allowed to be given an inheritance. If we're excluding the tribes of Gad and Reuben from representing themselves because they aren't inheriting land in the "promised land", then we also must exclude the tribes of Levi and Manasseh for the same reasons. Why the "half tribe" of Manasseh shows up in the list seems to simply be a mathematical and logistical error to simply preserve the illusion of there always needing to be "twelve tribes" of Israel. The reader sees 2 and a half tribes are ineligible, and therefore logically thinks that there must be 9 and a half tribes that are eligible, which simply isn't true unless we include the Levites amongst the numbers.