To The Reader

Moses blessing the tribes before he dies is the bookend of Jacob blessing his sons before he died. Some of the themes and phrasing are nearly identical. You may recall that Jacob prefaced his blessing with this: “Gather together so that I can tell you what will happen with you in days to come.”‭‭Genesis‬ ‭49‬:‭1‬…

This section is all about Yahweh vs. the other gods. Israel is literally only a month away from crossing the Jordan and beginning the conquest. Ever since leaving Egypt, they’ve been fairly isolated and on the move. There haven’t been many opportunities (like Peor) for other tribes to influence them into worshiping other gods. That…

Isn’t this such a beautiful chapter?! 🤩 “So it will be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have placed before you, and you call them to mind in all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you, and you return to the Lord…

This chapter is like Sinai 2.0. The LORD renews the covenant with this new generation. And Moses reminds them of the miracles that the elders among them (elders being those in their 50s and 60s) – the miracles they witnessed as children when God rescued them from Egypt. Then he says, “But to this day…

This is depressing. 😞 It’s like there’s a little sunshine then a storm rolls in and it gets super dark. I mean, Moses is talking cannibalism before it’s all over. 😳🫣 #blessed 🤩 vs. #thedonnerparty 💀 And the bad tragic horrific things listed as possible consequences for disobedience aren’t random. If you know your OT,…

Hello, Friends. I thought it might be nice to start with something pleasant, considering the rather negative content in chapter 27 – the curses. It starts with instructions for when Israel crosses the Jordan. They are to go to the area of Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. It’s where the town of Shechem was back…

Let the punishment fit the crime… ⚖️ Verses 1-3 are actually foundational to America’s justice system – or, at least in theory. Our justice system is pretty hit & miss these days. But the idea originally behind not having “cruel and unusual punishment” comes from this passage. “An eye for an eye” (way back in…

Laws and Latrines 🚽🧻 There is a TON of stuff in these 2 chapters. I’m going to only pick out a few couple of them the weirdest ones. Verse one makes ya realize that Moses isn’t beating around the bush. He just comes out and says what he says. But why? I’m not a professor…

Family Matters… (and also neighbors) 🏡🏡 This is another buffet of various laws but they seem to mostly involve matters of family and neighbors. The first is how to handle the victim of a homicide when there are no witnesses. ☠️ I don’t know about you, but the idea of “cleansing the land of innocent…

A Tale of Two Cities… 🌇🏙️ These chapters cover two kinds of cities – Cities of Refuge and the Cities of the inhabitants of the land. We’ve already encountered the cities of refuge once before. They are where the perpetrator of accidental manslaughter can go as a safe haven to avoid being killed by the…