So I've made it through the wilderness and to the end of the Pentateuch, having read the first five books of the Bible in the first two months of the year. Reading at this pace feels about right so far, any slower and I'd start to lose any sense of narrative, but much faster and I wouldn't have time to reflect on the passages properly. Putting aside a whole year to read the Bible also means I can spend time reading other things too, like Plato's Republic, which I've just finished after a 2-month read with my Goodreads group. Plato's formulation of the four cardinal virtues made me realise how important moral instruction was in the ancient world, and the last half of Deuteronomy is full of commands.
In chapter 22, for example, we're told there should be no cross-dressing (22:5) and that adultery should be punishable by death for both parties (22:22). However, there's a caveat in the latter case, with the Bible making a distinction between whether damsels have sex with men (other than their betrothed) in the city or the field; if it's the latter case, then the woman escapes death as she's deemed sinless, as nobody would have heard her screams for help (22:23-25). A son who "discovers his father's skirt" (KJV language for sleeping with his father's wife) also commits a transgression.
Chapter 23 starts with some odd commands, such as men who are "wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off" (presumably eunuchs) must not be allowed into the congregation, and their children should be barred for 10 generations (not sure how that applies to eunuchs?). The same applies to bastards, Ammonites or Moabites, as the latter two were inhospitable to the Israelites. At 23:18, the people are told not to talk about hiring whores or the price of a dog when making vows, and there's some confusing advice about usury being OK when applied to a stranger, but if it's to your "brother" then lending money and gaining interest is not allowed.
From reading 24:1, it seems that men can write a "bill of divorcement", but that women are stuck in bad relationships. There was a rare heart-lifting command at 24:5, with the instruction that, after marriage, a man should be free of any business or work to live at home for a year, in order to "cheer up his wife". I travelled round the world for a year after I got married, and I know that cheered up my wife, and me, no end. At 24:10, there's a stipulation against bailiffs (interesting to see how religious conservatives focus on the passages in the Old Testament that confirm their prejudices about sexual relations, but ignore the parts that go against neoliberal capitalism). We're also told at 24:20 that every farmer's surplus of crops, olives and grapes should be left aside for "the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow". This group of people are provided for often in these chapters.
Just a couple of notes on the rather uneventful chapters 25 and 26. We're told in chapter 25 that, if a man dies and has no son, his brother shall marry his widow (men who refuse to do so are described at 25:10 as belonging to "the house of him that has his shoe loosed"). In chapter 26, the Israelites are told to bring the first fruits of the land to God, and to tithe every third year. There's also a quote, at 26:5, about "a Syrian ready to perish was my father" – thinking about the war in Syria now, and how many Christian countries like the UK and US have decided against real charity to refugees, it seems that many have forgotten their faith's Syrian heritage.
In chapter 27, verses 15-26, there are 12 "cursed be" commandments with 27:19 again focusing on the "stranger, fatherless and widow". The Israelites are also told to write down all these new laws on large stones in their new land. Chapter 28 is one of the most intense passages in the whole of the Bible so far, with God describing in great detail the misery and torture he will inflict on his people if they disobey him. The tone of this section harks back to the chaos and calamity that befell Egypt before the Exodus, and at at 28:53 the cursed are told they will eat the "flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters". There are other more poetic, but no less sinister, warnings too:
Chapter 29 emphasises the covenant between the people of Israel and God and closes with the prophetic words, "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law" (29:29). My understanding of this passage is its message that it will never serve the people of Israel to question God's judgement and motivations. God then says to his people that he has set before them "life and death, blessing and curse" and implores them to "choose life" (30:18).
At the start of chapter 31, we're told that Moses is now 120 years old, and barely able to cross into the promised land in any case. Moses is now passing on the mantle to Joshua and, at 31:19, says he will write a song for his people, despite feeling fatalistic about their "stiff-necked" ways, which he believes will lead to them becoming "corrupt" again (31:29). The song of Moses in chapter 32 is a beautiful passage, especially the early sections that don't focus on punishment, and Moses notably refers to god as the Rock of his people four times in the song. As I recall, the Bible's first mention of hell comes at 32:22, but it doesn't appear to be the underworld realm of conventional imagination.
At the end of his song, Moses is commanded by God to ascend mount Nebo and behold the land of Canaan, before dying at the top like his brother Aaron. The ending felt a little cruel to me, with God reminding Moses of his petty reason for not letting Moses enter the promised land. In chapter 33, all the tribes of Israel, including Reuben, Levi and Joseph, are blessed before enjoining battle. We're told at 34:6 that nobody knows where Moses is buried, and that his people wept for him for 30 days after his death. One of the closing verses (34:10) reads: "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face". Of all the Pentateuch books, Deuteronomy seems to me the most Jewish in spirit.
In chapter 22, for example, we're told there should be no cross-dressing (22:5) and that adultery should be punishable by death for both parties (22:22). However, there's a caveat in the latter case, with the Bible making a distinction between whether damsels have sex with men (other than their betrothed) in the city or the field; if it's the latter case, then the woman escapes death as she's deemed sinless, as nobody would have heard her screams for help (22:23-25). A son who "discovers his father's skirt" (KJV language for sleeping with his father's wife) also commits a transgression.
Chapter 23 starts with some odd commands, such as men who are "wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off" (presumably eunuchs) must not be allowed into the congregation, and their children should be barred for 10 generations (not sure how that applies to eunuchs?). The same applies to bastards, Ammonites or Moabites, as the latter two were inhospitable to the Israelites. At 23:18, the people are told not to talk about hiring whores or the price of a dog when making vows, and there's some confusing advice about usury being OK when applied to a stranger, but if it's to your "brother" then lending money and gaining interest is not allowed.
From reading 24:1, it seems that men can write a "bill of divorcement", but that women are stuck in bad relationships. There was a rare heart-lifting command at 24:5, with the instruction that, after marriage, a man should be free of any business or work to live at home for a year, in order to "cheer up his wife". I travelled round the world for a year after I got married, and I know that cheered up my wife, and me, no end. At 24:10, there's a stipulation against bailiffs (interesting to see how religious conservatives focus on the passages in the Old Testament that confirm their prejudices about sexual relations, but ignore the parts that go against neoliberal capitalism). We're also told at 24:20 that every farmer's surplus of crops, olives and grapes should be left aside for "the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow". This group of people are provided for often in these chapters.
Just a couple of notes on the rather uneventful chapters 25 and 26. We're told in chapter 25 that, if a man dies and has no son, his brother shall marry his widow (men who refuse to do so are described at 25:10 as belonging to "the house of him that has his shoe loosed"). In chapter 26, the Israelites are told to bring the first fruits of the land to God, and to tithe every third year. There's also a quote, at 26:5, about "a Syrian ready to perish was my father" – thinking about the war in Syria now, and how many Christian countries like the UK and US have decided against real charity to refugees, it seems that many have forgotten their faith's Syrian heritage.
And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass,
and the earth that is under thee shall be iron (28:23)
Chapter 29 emphasises the covenant between the people of Israel and God and closes with the prophetic words, "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law" (29:29). My understanding of this passage is its message that it will never serve the people of Israel to question God's judgement and motivations. God then says to his people that he has set before them "life and death, blessing and curse" and implores them to "choose life" (30:18).
At the start of chapter 31, we're told that Moses is now 120 years old, and barely able to cross into the promised land in any case. Moses is now passing on the mantle to Joshua and, at 31:19, says he will write a song for his people, despite feeling fatalistic about their "stiff-necked" ways, which he believes will lead to them becoming "corrupt" again (31:29). The song of Moses in chapter 32 is a beautiful passage, especially the early sections that don't focus on punishment, and Moses notably refers to god as the Rock of his people four times in the song. As I recall, the Bible's first mention of hell comes at 32:22, but it doesn't appear to be the underworld realm of conventional imagination.
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| Moses and Joshua |
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