Deuteronomy: Chapters 1 to 5

Well, Numbers is now done - time for the last book of the Torah - Deuteronomy: 

Here it is – the pious fraud!  Yeah, I remember reading the Bible about 15 years ago and came across something very funny in the historical section. Late in the history of Judea, there was a very funny entry, about how the priests discovered a lost and previously unknown holy writings.  When I read that, my bullshit detector went off and went off hard. Really?  They just happened to find this new book of lost writings? That sounded …. Convenient. 

Well, then I read some Biblical scholarship and learned that my BS detector works pretty well.  That new “lost” holy writing is believed to be this, the Book of Deuteronomy.  Biblical scholars are fairly certain that the writer(s) of this book had nothing to do with the previous books, and vice versa.  There is different language, different style, some modified theology, and even the words used are more typical of a later era of Hebrew than the previous books (this is known by looking at all surviving Hebrew writings from ancient times; not just the Bible).  In short, whereas J, E, and P. combined to write Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, a new guy showed up to write Deuteronomy – and hence is known as the D author. 

And when I say theological differences, here’s an example.  One of the main themes of this chapter is the need for centralized religious worship.  That wasn’t a big deal until now (though it came up on occasion), but it should be big throughout this last book of the Torah.  Well, a few things about that.  First, this book was “found” at a time when the priests finally had a king – King Josiah – who supported their program.  And what was central to their program?  Centralized religious worship.  So at the exact same time they finally had the juice to do what they wanted, they “found” this “lost” book of Moses saying the exact same things they were saying, written in ways that doesn’t fully fit with previous books. 

Oh, and Richard Elliot Friedman did a nice breakdown from the other end in his book, “Who Wrote the Bible?”  Friedman noted that given that the Hebrew were a nomadic group without much history and tradition of a fixed place, let alone fixed worship, this notion of centralized worship wouldn’t have made much sense to them.  This is the last thing they’d have wanted. 

All roads lead back to the same point – this is likely a book written during the reign of Josiah and passed off as something older in order to justify what the priests wanted to do.  Hence, it’s the pious fraud.

One final odd point – the entire book is written as a series of speeches by Moses on the eve of entering Canaan. That always struck me as odd and artificial – because it probably was odd and artificial. All the ground had already been covered.  Numbers ends with the Hebrew on the eve of taking the land promised to Abraham.  So you make a bunch of speeches at the last possible moment to stick in here.  So there is no actual action in this book.  It is just speeches.

CHAPTER 1

OK, enough generalities about the book – now for Deuteronomy (AKA, the Torah book whose spelling I have to look up every time I need to write it down). 

It starts off with a speech by Moses.  Get used to it people.  A few things – first, the big mountain in Sinai Peninsula is called Horeb here.  Previously it was usually Sinai.  I don’t know why it switches names, but it’s a sign there’s a different author.

Early on there’s a big surprise as the land promised to them is quite a bit bigger than it ever was before.  Previously, it was Canaan.  Now we’re told it goes “as far as the Great River, the Euphrates.”  Whoah – that’s way the hell out there, people.  But it belongs to the Israelites, because God says so.

Much of this chapter is just recapping previous action.  After all, this is a new author, and so he feels the need to recap everything from scratch.  Well, not literally everything.  There is no Genesis II and no plagues.  But it’s the story of the 40 years wandering.  So if you thought it was boring over the last two and a half chapters – lucky you, the Bible gives it to you again.  At least it’s greatly abridged this time. But you get the wandering, the complaining, the 12 scouts, and the Israelites denying that they can take the land, and the punishment of 40 years wandering until everyone dies.  Really, it’s mostly just reheating Numbers. 

Here’s a new wrinkle: Moses says he can’t go to the Promised Land because, “The LORD was angered against me also on your account, and said, You shall not enter [the Promised Land] either.”  Hey, that’s even worse than the last reason.  Numbers said Moses will be denied entry for tapping on a rock twice for water.  That was a really weak reason and two strong a punishment, but at least it was based on something Moses did.  Now?  Just guilt by association.  I guess the idea is Moses did a bad job leading the Hebrew, and you can make that argument.  Maybe a stronger leader would’ve had fewer revolts on him.  But the Bible didn’t make Moses appear weak, but the Israelites appear whiny.  (And if Moses is a bad leader, wouldn’t that reverberate back on God, the man who choose him? After all, Moses tried to talk his way out of the whole being-a-prophet thing).  Well, moving on. ..

CHAPTER 2

More recapping the journeys of the Israelites.  They went along Edom.  They went along Moab.  Yeah, we know. 

One difference in this book – there are some really long parenthetical asides here.  One lasts from verse 10 to verse 12.  Another consists of verses 20-23.  It’s just describing where the Hebrew went and who they were among.

Most is pretty dry, but then at the end of the chapter you wish it had stayed dry.  Now it gets flatly nasty.  They defeat Sihon, King of the Amorite kingdom of Heshbon.  This was discussed back in Chapter 21 of Numbers, but this account goes further.  Now we’re told all cities were captured and all cities “were put under the ban, men women, and children; we left no survivor.”  Oh, it was complete and utter genocide.  That’s lovely.

But wait – the reason this happened is because Sihon wouldn’t let them pass through.  So he’s just a jerk, right?  Well, we’re told “the LORD, your God, made him stubborn in mind and obstinate in heart.”  Oh, so God made him refuse the Hebrew entry, and because they weren’t given passage, they felt justified in committing genocide. The implications of this are horrifying. This doesn’t reflect well on God at all.  Yes, it’s similar to the 10^th plague – where God also made the pharaoh’s heart hard – but at least there it wasn’t complete genocide.  “We left no survivor” this time.

Again, the good news is this book is a fraud written much after the fact, so there’s no reason to take this too seriously.  Still – it just justified genocide!

CHAPTER 3

God is really parochial.  He’s God of the universe, right?  Well he only cares about a small few people – the children of Abraham.  As I’ve noted already, you get hints of the religious milieu the ancient Hebrew religious grew out of.  Cities and peoples had their gods – a protector god that they prayed to.  It didn’t mean their god was the only god, but just their god.  That’s how God comes off here in much of the Old Testament.  He’s got his crowd and he’s going to fight for them.  But these people believe that their God is very powerful.  He later on emerges as The Only God.  But it’s not always clear that’s the case.

But since he’s such a parochial God in the early going, he’s fine with supporting the Hebrew no matter what.  It’s like supporting a college football team.  You just root for the laundry – it’s pure us vs. them, not any moral drama.  So once again, for the second straight chapter, we’re told the Hebrew committed genocide.  This time it’s beating King Og and all his people – “We defeated him so completely that we left him no survivor.”  Yes, again.  And again – we weren’t told this until Deuteronomy.  Previously, Og had been beaten, but not like this.  “As we had done to Sihon, king of Heshbon, so also here we put all the towns under the ban, men, women, and children; but all the livestock and the spoils of each city we took as plunder for ourselves.”   Oh, genocide and plunder.  Folks, it’s actually a little worse than with Sihon.  Also – there is some dark comedy here of killing all the people, but letting the cattle live. 

There is some boundary talk, and again we learn that Moses won’t be allowed to enter the Promised Land through no fault of his own. 

CHAPTER 4

Long chapter – 40 verses in all. Well, we’re past the recapping portion of the first speech and get into the laws. 

First thing, Moses makes 100% clear, that you must do everything that he says.  Every.  Little.  Thing.  Don’t abridge it, don’t minimize it, don’t half-step it.  Do it. OR ELSE!  And that OR ELSE ain’t no small thing when it comes to God.  Do it or God will destroy you, just as he destroyed Og and Sihon.  Oh, so the previous talk of genocide actually just helps set up this portion on why it’s so damn important to do what you’re told.  This makes sense in context.  First, this book is written to fake that Moses said what the priests during the time of Josiah wished he said.  Second, it slightly goes against previous Bible battle accounts, which had victory but no genocide.  They went further here to dramatize the need to listen to the priests.

Also, still giving opening remarks, Moses makes sure to tell everyone to pass on to their kids what they’ll here today.  Folks, this is the real deal, the big thing.  From a purely literary point of view, this is well done.  We’re building up to something here.

First thing – no idols!  God didn’t take form when he spoke to you, so don’t worship idols.  There is some nice mockery of others peoples who, “serve gods that are works of human hands, of wood and stone, gods which can neither see nor hear, neither eat nor smell.”  Those doofuses!

Also, this is the first time Deuteronomy refers to God speaking from a fire.  We’ve seen a little bit of that earlier, with talk of a pillar of fire, but it’s usually been a cloud or something like that.  He’s been more misty than fiery.  But in Deuteronomy, get used to fire talk people.  Plenty of that coming up. 

God is also called “a jealous God,” a phrase that harkens back to a point I made last chapter.  God came out of the polytheistic tradition and only gradually evolved into something monotheistic.  After all, if there are no other gods, what has he to be jealous of?  The notion of a jealous god implies a sense that there are other gods out there.  Again, this religion grew out of the context of the Near East.  You can expect monotheism to emerge perfectly formed all at once.

Oh, and just before the chapter ends, the first speech concludes and Moses is about to begin the second speech. Mighty odd place to do that, don’t you think?  Seems like the chapter should end with the speech, but nope.  This is part of the oddity of chapter creation in the Bible.

CHAPTER 5

We get the 10 Commandments, again.  This time we’re told it was at Mt. Horeb, not Sinai.  Yeah, I don’t get why they have two names for the same mountain, but never mind me. 

We’re told he’s a jealous God again, and will punish your children for four generations if you’re wicked, but will love for 1,000 generations those that uphold his word.  OK, so what happens if I uphold the commandments and my kid doesn’t?  Is he part of the 1,000 loved or the first punished? And then his kid?  Ah, never mind.  I think it’s mostly a rhetorical point Moses is making about God here anyway. 

At the end of the chapter, we’re told that you should follow God’s law and not move to the right or to the left, just follow along.  Hey – is that a reference to Lot’s late lamented wife?  It reads like a reference to me.  

EDITED to add link to the next part: Deuteronomy Chapters 6 to 10.