"The Big One"

Well, here it is.  "This is it!"  We have reached the end of Deuteronomy.  I feel a little like Fred Sanford - out of breath, stumbling and staggering about, holding my heart for full affect and hopefully some attention.  Because what we have done as a group, is a great accomplishment.  We should pause to take a look back at the first 5 books of the bible - the Pentateuch, also known as the Torah with pride.  We ought to retrace our steps, our commitment and due diligence in completing this very crucial, at times incredibly boring, repetitive, and undeniably disjointed telling of Israel's humble beginnings.

Approaching the final chapters, which include the "Song of Moses" and the "Blessing of Moses," it is hard not to realize that something quirky has happened along the way.  We have gone from reading about a people that were brought out of Egypt with the mighty hand of the Lord, a people Moses gives the rules and ordinances to live by when they enter into the Promised Land - along with admonishments of what will happen if they fail to remain faithful to the One true God - YHWH, and finally, to the "prophetic" encouragement that even if the people did disobey his instructions, the law, and worship other Gods, all they would need to do is "repent."  Although God would first punish and disperse them from the land into "strange and unfamiliar lands," S/HE would show them mercy and compassion and bring them back again.  Moving forward into the rest of the Deuteronomic History, it would seem as if this is a perfect example of the adage, "Hindsight is 20/20."  For we'll see in the upcoming books that Israel did all that Moses warned them about and God's response to it was exactly as Moses said it would be.  How neat and perfect is that?  Surely you too know that it is a little too neat and a little too perfect.

We have read these books and we have heard the stories from our preachers, parents, teachers and the like.  We, Christians have been led to believe the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament is all prophecy.  That it is a foretelling of the coming Messiah, Jesus.  But it isn't.  As I stated in previous posts, Deuteronomy, in its final form, was the work of scribes, and Jerusalemite priests under the direction and instruction of King Josiah during the Babylonian Exile, in 586 BCE (Before the Common Era).  Thus, the latter chapters of Deuteronomy, like the first 4 chapters are added separately and are independent.  I know it's a bit confusing, but let me put it this way; The story is written after the fact.  The editors, King Josiah and his minions redacted earlier texts to fit the circumstances under which the exiled Jews were living in an effort to establish a nation that worshiped the one true God - YHWH.  Trust me, it will all make sense later when we begin our reading Joshua, and on into 1 and 2 Kings.

Throughout the book of Deuteronomy, I was struck by how many times we read of Moses' impending death.  If I didn't know better, it seemed like every time we entered a new chapter, we were going to be reading of one of the most anticipated, yet mysterious deaths in the bible.  It was so frequent, that I couldn't help but reflect back on my younger days watching one of my favorite characters, and junk men, Fred Sanford, played by the late comedic genius, Redd Foxx.  At every turn when time and chance proved unfavorable to Fred, he would act as if he was having a heart attack.  He did it so often that it was one of the funniest and most familiar scenes of the hit TV show, Sanford and Son.  And if you know like I know, it never happened.  In this instance, however, he is our Moses - stumbling, staggering about, holding his heart, warning any and all in Israel that would listen, "Uh, oh...  This is it...  It's the big one!"  The Black Woman's Cotton Patch Version of the bible would record Moses' frequent scares this way;  "If you don't do it the way I say do it, I'm gonna die and the Lord is gonna get you!"  Well, in chapter 34, Moses, supposedly, still a strong man, "Goes up to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah," to gaze once more upon a land he would not enter, and promptly died (Deuteronomy 34:1-7).  I suppose the reality of that was finally too much for what Moses' heart could take.  So he grabbed his chest, looked toward the sky, and stumbled his @$$ right off that mountain.  I'm jes sayn...  :)
© Dorinda G. Henry, 2011

THEOLOGIA HABITUS EST!