Deuteronomy: Chapters 11 to 15

Last time, Moses got into his second big speech in this book.  Today, it keeps going - and it's of these seemingly more forgettable parts of the Bible that helps explain where the religion of the Hebrew came from, what it was like back in the day, and why it's survived.  That's my take anyway.

CHAPTER 11

Again, much of this speech recaps what has already happened in the Bible.  There is a reason why the back half (or really, back two-thirds) of the Torah makes people’s eyes glaze over. 

Some notes – as always, there is emphasis placed on making sure the Hebrew adhere to all of God’s laws. Clearly, this was a problem at the time.  The Israelis will be blessed for following God’s law and – foreshadowing – cursed if they don’t.  This book keeps talking of God’s “strong hand” and “outstretched arm.”  These phrases don’t appear until Deuteronomy, but are all over the place now. 

When Moses talks about the parting of the Red Sea, the footnote says that in ancient Hebrew the wording is really “sea of reeds” or “reedy sea.”  So even though we know Red Sea is a mistranslation, it’s still translated wrongly (though traditionally) with the correction in the footnote.  It’s too iconic to fix in the text itself.  It’s the Liberty Valence approach – when the myth becomes truth, print the myth. At least this Bible puts the correct translation in the footnotes.

Also, Moses again tells them that the Promised Land goes all the way to the Euphrates River.  That’s twice now Deuteronomy has said this and never before. 

CHAPTER 12

Now for a big moment in centralization of religion.  This chapter makes really clear that the Hebrew should do all of their sacrifices and services at one central temple.  No other place should be allowed.  This is a big deal for Moses.  And whatever you do, don’t go sacrificing at the altars used by the people we drove out of Canaan.  They did terrible things there, so avoid those places accursed by God. 

This rather inadvertently let’s us in on a window of religious practice by the Hebrew at the time this book was written (in the late seventh century, during the time of King Josiah – the evidence is pretty good for that).  The Hebrew were doing sacrifices at other altars.  They were flirting with other gods.  They were even sacrificing at altars to other gods.

Seems odd, doesn’t it?  Keep in mind, Jews have been much, much better about observing proper practices AFTER the Babylonian Captivity.  They stayed together as a cohesive unit despite losing their Promised Land, and becoming a scattered people.  Yet at the time when whey had their own kings on their own Promised Land, when they had prophets (post-Moses, but they still had prophets) and were much closer to the really miraculous stuff – despite all that, they weren’t very good at being observant.  What gives?

Well, this is where it helps being a non-believer.  The religion evolved and was created over time.  Sure there was likely a Moses figure and even and Abraham figure, but it wasn’t quite the story it evolved into.  For example, why are the people worshipping at the old altars?  Well, despite the bloodshed that Moses is calling for here and that Joshua will deliver in the next chapter, they really don’t commit genocide. They move in, live alongside some of the people already there, and some of them start worshipping this God Yahweh while still keeping some of their old gods. 

But the Hebrew priests will write down their version of religion.  That’ll give their version staying power while the folk religions fade.  That’s why the Hebrew will be more observant after the fact – once folk practices fade, the written practices can become folk practices and have the full run of things.

Oh, the chapter ends by noting some other people of the region practice human sacrifice – even infant sacrifice.  Yeah, God’s against that, so don’t do it.  I gotta side with God on that one.

CHAPTER 13

Speaking of how the religion evolved rather than being a result of divine creation - (see what I did there? Evolve versus creation?) – this chapter warns against using idols.  This is a background theme throughout the Old Testament. Heck, David has one in his house – and uses it to escape Saul at one point.  Again, Jews are much better at observing this stuff only after Babylonian Captivity, after God has largely moved on from their lives. 

Moses begins by saying you must do all of this, not pick and choose.  More importantly, he bewares against false prophets.  What’s a false prophet (called a “dreamer” here)?  It’s someone who will lead you to old gods of other people.  Again, the appeal of the alternate gods makes more sense if the Hebrew moved in alongside the Canaanites instead of killing them all.  (In other words, the Canaanites are Hebrew, too).

I’m reminded a little of what I know of Native American religion.  They had a belief in protector spirits, and you’d pray to a spirit to look after you.  They had special ceremonies and rituals to appeal to the spirit(s) of choose and try to gain access to the spirit’s sacred power.  If calamity befalls you, then someone has a dream of a vision for a new ceremony.  Maybe you stay with the old spirit, or maybe you move on to a new one.  There were plenty of spirits after all.  They called the spirits Manitou. 

The Christian missionaries found it easy to convert the Indians – but only on a surface level.  The missionaries would tell the Indians about Jesus Christ and his wonder and glory and the power of God and all that.  Sounds good, and they’d pray to him.  But for the Indians, Christ was just a new Manitou.  So if things went well, they’d keep praying. But when things inevitably hit a detour, time for a new ceremony and a new spirit to appeal to for sacred power. 

Anyhow, it sounds like Moses is warning against that – and he’s doing so because it’s a real problem around the time that Deuteronomy is being written. 

And it’s a real problem for the author.  He flatly calls on these false prophets to be killed – “show no pity or compassion and do not shield such a one.”  And if a city, goes under the spell of such a false prophet, “put the inhabitants of the city to the sword.”  Yeah, he’s playing for high stakes here. 

While it’s easy to be horrified by the bloodthirstiness of this chapter, here’s a question: without this, does the Hebrew religion survive?  Does monotheism make it out of this time period otherwise?  Clearly, the people of Judea (where this is being written) are going away from what the priests thing should be done.  Keep in mind, when Israel to the north ceased to exist, the Hebrew people ceased to exist.  The “lost tribes” of Israel weren’t wiped out.  They just kept drifting away from their religion, and ceased to be a people, even if the persons survived. 

Maybe Deuteronomy and the ferocity of belief expressed within it explain why there are still Hebrew/Jews when the likes of Moab and Edom are long gone.

CHAPTER 14

This is a more minor chapter. Now we’re just rehashing things from Leviticus, like mourning rites, and clean/unclean animals.  Again, I assume the desire to restate it is because people weren’t following the dang rules.  We get that “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk” line for the third time.  That’s the line that been interpreted to mean Jews shouldn’t eat cheeseburgers.

Oh, and make sure you tithe, because otherwise the Levites have nothing. 

CHAPTER 15

Now we’ll rehash the financial rules previously stated in Leviticus and elsewhere.  You get remission of debts to other Hebrew every seven years, and you’re told specifically be generous.  Don’t withhold funds for the poor just because the year of debt remission is approaching and you’re afraid of not getting your money back.  This is new.  Last time we were just told how it works, but this new detail let’s us know there was a problem with people not wanting to give debts with the remission year approaching.  Really, human nature being what it is this is not at all surprising that people would try to avoid giving out loans when they know it soon won’t be paid back – and with legal/religious sanction not to pay it back.

Rules on slaveholding and sacrificing animals are again restated.

Oh, and you get the birth of a stereotype here, too.  Moses tells the Hebrew, “Since the Lord, your God, will bless you as he promised you will lend to many nations, and borrow from none.”  Oh, here’s the Bible calling the Jews moneylenders.  Yeah, that image will be around for quite some time – though it typically isn’t meant as a positive thing as Moses intends it as.

Actually, Moses really has a very different vision before him as immediately after saying they’ll lend money he says, “you will rule over many nations, and none will rule over you.”  Yeah, this goes the other way.  They lack their own nation for a good 2,500 years and are ruled over by all. With Moses, financial and political power go hand-in-hand.  That’s his vision. 

EDITED to add: here's a link to the next part: Deuteronomy Chapters 16 to 20.