03/26/10

Deuteronomy 27-30

As Deuteronomy moves into chapter 27, there's a change in voice, as Moses is now joined by "the elders of Israel" in commanding the people. Together, they tell them to keep all of the commands that they are giving them, and they tell them that, when they cross the Jordan, they are to set up some large stones on Mount Ebal, plaster them and write the words of the law on them. They should also build an altar there and "offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God." Moses then told them that the tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin were to stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, and the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali were to stand on Mount Ebal and pronounce curses on the people. And there were a list of curses for the Levites to recite, after each of which "all the people shall say, 'Amen!'" This is followed, in chapter 28, with a list of more blessings which would accrue to them for obedience to God's law, and a list of more curses which would befall them for failure to obey God's law.

In chapter 29, the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites, "in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb." Moses reminds them of the things that they have seen, the way that the LORD brought them out of Egypt. He reminds them of their victory over Sihon and Og, and how they took their land and vave it to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh. He tells them to "carefully follow the terms of the covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do." He makes it clear that the covenant is generational so that "I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God but also with those who are not here today." They must be careful not worship the pagan gods of other nations. A person who does "invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, 'I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way.' This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. The LORD will never be willing to forgive him." Disaster will come if they do not obey and they will be made an example of "because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers." And, in chapter 30, he continues to bless them with properity if they obey the covenant, and to curse them if they turn away. "I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• Not content commentary, but this is, I think, the longest single reading thus far. Four chapters, one of which covers 68 verses, this is a total of nearly 4000 words in the NIV.
• The list of curses in chapter 28 is significantly longer than the list of blessings. Most of them ended up coming true.

Psalms 46

A praise psalm, with apocalyptic imagery to emphasize the faith that the psalmist has in the LORD. we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging...he LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress."

Psalm 46
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A song.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

8 Come and see the works of the LORD,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.

9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields [b] with fire.

10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah