Today, I am reading and commenting on  Deuteronomy 1-2.

As the Israelites prepared to cross the Jordan River, Moses summarized what they had gone through as a people from the time they left Mt Sinai until they arrived at this place.  The first portion of this review would have been very important since those to whom Moses was speaking would have been too young to understand what was going on when these events happened.  I find it interesting that Moses here recounts how they passed Edom and Moab differently from the account in Numbers.  I don’t see these differences as being contradictory.  I see them being a more about the meaning of God’s guidance rather than about what happened.  I note with interest that Moses leaves out of this account the incident with Baal Peor, while he covers the refusal of the previous generation to enter the Promised Land.  The final piece of the passage tells us that Moses knew that Sihon would attack the Israelites before he sent the message requesting  that Sihon allow them to peacefully cross his lands.  The passage ends by recounting how the Israelites completely defeated Sihon’s people without encroaching on the land of the Ammonites, Moabites, or Edomites, who descended from Terah, Abraham’s father.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Deuteronomy 1-2.

The Book of Deuteronomy declares itself to be what Moses told the Israelites as they camped on the eastern side of the Jordan.  There would be two reasons for repeating the Law which God had given Moses for the Israelites in this way.  First, except for Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, all of those who had been adults when God first gave them His Law had died and all of the remaining people had been too young to fully comprehend the Law when Moses first relayed it to them.  Second, over the course of their wandering in the wilderness, things had happened which led to clarifications on how to apply the Law.  So, Moses repeated the Law, with all of those clarifications included, to the Israelites.  There are scholars who believe that this book was composed at a much later time.  I believe that it was indeed initially composed before the Israelites entered the Promised Land (although I hold no opinion as to whether it was first written down then, or merely passed along orally for some time).  One thing which makes me believe that is what is written in chapter 1 verse 37.  There Moses says that it was because of the rebelliousness of the Israelites that God became angry with him and would not allow him to enter the Promised Land.  Yet, in Numbers 20 we are told that God said that Moses would not enter the Promised Land because he had struck the rock when God had told him just to speak to it.  What is written here sounds like something a person like Moses would say, while a third party writing later would have been more careful to align what they wrote with the earlier account.  I am not suggesting that Moses spoke deceptively here, merely shortening the account to keep from distracting from his primary message.  I also believe that some of the later scribes who transcribed this (either those who first wrote it down, or some of those who copied it for future generations) added editorial comments.  It seems to me unlikely that Moses would have bothered to make the comments about previous inhabitants of the land of the Moabites and the land of the Ammonites which we see in chapter two (and which the NIV puts in parenthesis).

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Deuteronomy 1-2.

Deuteronomy begins with Moses giving a recap of the travels which the Israelites had taken after leaving Mount Sinai until they were about to enter the land of Canaan after spending forty years in the desert.  None of those present, except for a couple of special cases, had been adults when the Israelites left Mount Sinai.  The accounts of these events from Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers were from the perspective of “as it happens”.  The difference between the perspectives from which the stories of what happened were told explains the differences between the details.  The accounts in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers were more detailed descriptions of what happened.  The account here in Deuteronomy is a summary of events.  Today’s passage also provides context for the Law of God which Moses was about to lay out for the Israelites.  The laws laid out here were not new.  God had given them to Moses to give to the Israelites as they issues arose while they traveled.  Now Moses is about to lay them out for the people all together.  The context is important because it reminds the people that God gave these laws as He was doing miraculous things for them and in the face of their repeated rebellion against Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Deuteronomy 1-2.being written

Many scholars believe that the Book of Deuteronomy was the “Book of the Law” found in the Temple under King Josiah and that it was written at that time. While I have my doubts about Deuteronomy being written by Moses, I think it was likely written close to the time of Moses than to the time of Josiah.  I also believe that it is an accurate portrayal of the events it describes (while it is possible that there are some transcription errors, everything of theological significance is accurate).  The Book of Deuteronomy describes what Moses told the Children of Israel as they prepared to enter the Promised Land, something they would be doing without his leadership.  The point of the book is that those Moses addressed had not lived through the Exodus and the giving of God’s Law.  There are a lot of things I would like to write about today’s passage, but I probably will not get to all of them.

Moses begins his recounting of how the Israelites had gotten to where they were at that moment with their departure from Mount Horeb.  The references to Mount Horeb (or often, just Horeb) throughout Deuteronomy, suggest that the camp being referred to was the one at Mount Sinai.  The Hebrew word Horeb derives in a way which suggests that Mount Horeb was “the mountain of the Sun”.  Sinai derives in a way which suggests that Mount Sinai was “the mountain of the Moon”.  Perhaps Horeb and Sinai are two different names for the same mountain.  Or, perhaps Horeb and Sinai were two mountains which were close enough together that the Israelite camp was at the base of both of them at the same time. I would also like to note that Moses’ encounter with the burning bush occurred at the base of Mount Horeb. For all it’s significance to the Exodus and the Israelites covenant with God, Mount Sinai and Mount Horeb never again became significant places for the Israelites to worship.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 1-2.

In today’s passage Moses begins a summary of what happened to the people of Israel from the time the left Mt Sinai until they arrived on the east side of the Jordan River.  None of what he said was news to those to whom he spoke.  They had heard this all before.  However, different ones of them would have heard different parts of this.  Some would have experienced some of it, but all were very young, or not yet born, when Israel left Mt Sinai.  Which brings us to an important lesson we can all learn.  It is important to reiterate the history of a group, especially the history which shapes what that group is today, regularly, because there will constantly be new members who never experienced many of those events.  We need to go over why we do things the way we do them time and again in order to not forget.  If we do not go over the stories that formed us as a group, new people will not understand why we do things the way that we do.  We must strive to give people to learn from the mistakes which we, or our predecessors, made so that they do not need to make those mistakes themselves.