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 29

Chapter 29
Summary:	These are the words that God commanded Moses to give to the people of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant made in Horeb. Moses called upon all of Israel and said to them: "You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, unto the Pharaoh, his servants, and his land. The great temptations which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles; yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive, eyes to see, or the ears to hear until this day. "I have led you forty years through the wilderness, yet your clothes have not worn out upon you, nor have your shoes worn out upon your feet. You have not eaten bread, nor drank wine or strong drink, that you might know that I am the Lord your God. "When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us in battle, and we smote them. We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Rebuenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh. Therefore, keep the words of this covenant and obey them, so that you may prosper in all that you do. "All of you shall stand before the Lord your God - including the captains of your tribes, your elders, your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the strangers living amongst you, from the one who chops your wood, to the one that draws your water - that you should enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into his oath, which the Lord your God will make with you this day. That he may establish you on this day as his people, and that he may be your god, as he has said to you, and sworn to your forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not only with you do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him that stands here with us on this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day. "For you know how we had dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the nations we passed by. You have seen their abominations, and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold which were among them. Lest there be among you man or woman, family or tribe, whose heart turn away this day from the Lord your God, to go serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that bears gall and wormwood; it shall come to pass when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, 'I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my own heart,' to add drunkenness to thirst. The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger and jealousy of the Lord shall smoke against that man, and all of the curses written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven. The Lord shall separate him as evil out of the tribes of Israel, according to the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law; so that the generation to come of your children shall rise up after you, and the stranger that comes from far away lands shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sickness which the Lord has laid upon it. That the whole land thereof is brimstone, salt, and burning, that cannot bear crops or fruit trees, nor will the grass grow therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath. Other nations shall ask why the Lord has done this to the land, and what provoked his great anger? The men shall answer that it is because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt. For they went and served and worshiped other gods - gods whom they knew not, and whom were not given to them - and the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book; and the Lord rooted them out of their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, casting them into another land, as it is this day. "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."
Notes:	1.) It is unclear whether this is an error of attributing to Moses what seems more likely to be a quote from God, or whether Moses is quoting God himself.
Thoughts:	This chapter begins with Moses addressing the entire congregation of Israel (supposedly around two million people or more) and tells them that although they witnessed all the "miracles" and plagues that God unleashed upon the land of Egypt and the Pharaoh, that God has not given them the ability to understand its significance until this very day. Aside from Moses, Aaron's sons, Joshua, and Caleb, few of the Israelites present during this chapter of the story would have been alive during the Exodus, as Moses states himself in Numbers: Chapter 26, that no one counted in the previous census conducted in Mount Sinai remained alive when he made a new census. This means that the few possible eyewitnesses would have been teenagers at the oldest during the events in Egypt, and it would be very likely that quite a few of them would be killed in the various ensuing plagues that God sent upon the Israelites, or possibly in battle, thereby thinning the pool even greater. Moses claims that after the forty year excursion through the wilderness that neither the Israelites' clothes nor their shoes had worn out. I don't think I even need to bother commenting on how ridiculous that notion is. He also states that the reason the Israelites haven't eaten bread, nor drank wine or hard liquor, is so that they would know that God was their god(?) What this is trying to imply is that by God giving the Israelites the bare minimal means for survival - manna and water - instead of luxury foods and wine, that this somehow proves that God is their god. Like he's done throughout the book of Deuteronomy, Moses misrepresents the Israelite's slaughter of King Sihon and King Og, their kingdoms, as well as giving their land to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. Whether this is done for brevity or to bolster the appearance of "righteousness" is unclear. He next tells the Israelites that every single one of them - including wives, children, slaves, servants, and strangers in town - must stand before God and enter into a covenant with him. Doing so, Moses claims, will establish that they will be "God's people". Quickly Moses changes his speech into yet another tirade against worshiping other gods. He states that the Israelites have seen the "abominations" of idols crafted from wood, stone, silver, and gold, and if anyone - man, woman, or child - "turn their heart way from" God by serving these other gods, that God will not spare such a person, but instead visit upon them all of the curses laid out in the previous chapter, and that their name will be "blotted out from under heaven". He continues stating that the offender's children and future descendants wil rise up against them, and that foreigners will marvel at the curses God deals out as a punishment against the land of the offender. He notes that the whole land will be covered in brimstone, salt, and "burning", and that neither grass nor crops will grow there - similar to the fates of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Somehow Moses reasons that other nations will realize and equate the destruction of the land to the Israelites forsaking their covenant with God, and that God retaliated against them due to his anger. Moses ends the chapter by stating that "secret things" (meaning "prophecy") belong to God, but that those of which God reveals to the Israelites, belong to them so that they may obey God's laws. Basically what Moses is implying here is that God reveals prophecy as "evidence" for his existence and authority. Moses also implies that "prophecy" itself belongs only to God, which thereby justifies the condemning and subsequent killing of "fortune tellers", "diviners", and "mediums" - which laughably the criteria of determining whether a self-proclaimed prophet is speaking the word of God is whether the prophecy comes true or not.

DEUTERONOMY: Chapter 18

Chapter 18
Summary:	Moses' speech continues: "The priests and the rest of the Levites will receive no inheritance amongst the nation of Israel. They shall eat the sacrifices made by fire to the Lord, therefore they shall have no inheritance amongst their fellow Israelites, for the Lord is their inheritance, as he has said to them. When an ox or a sheep is sacrificed, the shoulder, the maw, and the two cheeks are to be given to the priests. The first of your grain, wine, and olive oil shall also be given to the priests, for the Lord your God has chosen the Levites out of all the tribes of Israel, to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, from generation to generation forever. "If a Levite comes to the sanctuary, no matter where he lives in the land of Israel, then he shall minister in the name of the Lord his God, as all his fellow Levites do, whom stand before the Lord. He shall be given his portion of animal sacrifices and offerings, which are his right. "When you arrive in the land which the Lord your God has given you, you shall not learn to follow after the abominations of the nations living there now. No one is to make his son or daughter pass through fire; nor is anyone to use divination; or become an observer of times, an enchanter, a witch, a charmer, a consulter with familiar spirits, a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do such things are an abomination unto the Lord, and because of these abominations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you. You are to be perfect with the Lord your God. For these nations you are about to possess hearken to observers of time, and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God does not permit you to do so. "The Lord your God will bring forth a prophet amongst you, an Israelite like myself, and unto him you shall hearken. According to your wishes to the Lord your God in Mount Horeb, you begged not to directly hear the voice of the Lord your God again, nor see his great fire, lest you die. The Lord said to me that he had heard what you had spoken and said, 'I will bring forth a prophet from amongst their brethren, and he shall speak my words, speaking to them all that I shall command. Whomsoever will not hearken to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of them. However, a prophet who presumes to speaks in my name, but which I have not commanded him to, or one that speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die.' "If you are to ask how you are to know if the prophet is speaking the word of the Lord or not, if his prophecy about fails to happen, it is not what the Lord has spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously and you shall not fear him."
Thoughts:	Moses begins the chapter reminding the Israelites because the Levites are God's special tribe and are allowed to eat the animal sacrifices made by everyone else, that they are not to own property themselves. When an ox or a sheep is sacrificed to God, the animal's shoulder, stomach, and cheeks will belong to the priests. The first harvest of grain, wine, and olive oil is also to be given to the priests as well. A Levite regardless of where he lives can enter the sanctuary and dine on these animal sacrifices and offerings whenever he wishes because it's part of his "birthright". Next up, Moses warns the Israelites yet again that when they arrive in the "promised land", they are not to follow the heathen customs of the nations living there - as those customs are "abominations". No one is to sacrifice his son or daughter by fire (apparently it's okay to use a knife to sacrifice your own child if God commands it though), nor is anyone allowed to use "divination" or to 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 God will "drive them out" - meaning that he will demand that the Israelites stone such a person to death. Moses claims that while the "heathen nations" seek after "diviners" and spiritual mediums, that God will bestow a prophet upon the Israelites - one that is an Israelite themselves - that they are to hearken to. Moses recalls the story from Exodus: Chapter 20 about how the Israelites begged and pleaded not to have to hear the actual voice of God again, fearing that they would die, and claims that God has instead chosen to speak to the people of Israel through prophets. God adds that anyone falsely claiming to be a prophet must die. How are we to determine who is a prophet speaking the word of God or not, you might ask? All one has to do is make a prophecy that comes true. So therefore if I'm a bit smarter than my fellow Israelites concerning meteorology and can tell by the clouds that it's going to rain very heavily, I could make a prophecy about that and subsequently be considered the "real deal". This is a really naive way to "prove" someone's authenticity, and you would think that the all powerful "creator of the universe" could think up a better test than "let's see if what he says will happen, happens".