Deuteronomy 31-34

Deuteronomy ends with the final words, and then the death and burial, of Moses. How fitting that the Pentateuch's bookends are Adam and Moses. One was responsible for man being cast out of Paradise. The other responsible for leading God's people to the Promised Land. At God's command, Moses teaches the people a song that they are to sing and to teach to the generations that follow. It is a song of God's anger and the consequences of the Israelites' eventual turning away from God, which God has foretold. It is a song of bitterness and regret. He commissions and consecrates Joshua as his successor, at God's command. Then, in a poignant moment, Moses ascends Mt. Nebo in order to view the Promised Land, which he is forbidden from entering. Moses gives a final blessing to the tribes, except the tribe of Simeon. (Why that tribe is omitted, I cannot tell.)  And then he dies and is buried and is mourned.  Thereafter, his successor, Joshua, "is filled with the spirit of wisdom" and the Israelites give him their obedience. 

The book ends with a short, yet powerful, statement of praise for Moses, which in part reads: Since then no prophet has arisen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. None until Jesus.

Deuteronomy 1-6

The introduction to Deuteronomy in my New American Bible (New Catholic Translation) explains that Deuteronomy is "a partial repetition, completion and explanation" of the law given by the Lord at Mt. Sinai. As I read the first six chapters, a number of the themes that permeated the first four books of the Pentateuch jump out.  

First, fruitfulness:

The Lord, our God, has so multiplied you that you are now as numerous as the stars in the sky. May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times over, and bless you as He promised!

Second, trust in the Lord:

Do not fear or lose heart.

. . . and again

Fear [your enemies] not, for the Lord, your God, will fight for you.

Third, God's tender caring and the Israelites' lack of trust:

The Lord, your God, who goes before you, will himself fight for you, just as he took your part before your very eyes in Egypt, as well as in the desert, where you saw how the Lord, your God, carried you as a man carries his child, all along your journey until you arrived at this place. Despite this, you would not trust the Lord, your God.

Fourth, the Israelites are a special people, and a light to the nations:

Observe [the Lord's commands] carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence for the nations, who will hear of all these statutes and say, "This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people."

Fifth, that there is only one god, the Lord our God, who is a jealous God:

For the Lord, your God, is a consuming fire, a jealous God . . . . This is why you must now know, and fix in your heart, that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on the earth below, and that there is no other.

Having sounded these themes, Moses discusses again the Ten Commandments, and focuses especially on the greatest commandment:

The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, our God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.

The Lord asks of me only that I believe this and embrace this; that I trust in Him; that I hear His commands and follow them; and that I not "put Him to the test."  Why is this so hard for me?

Numbers 1-3:32

Numbers is the fourth book of the Pentateuch.  It describes the 38 years covering the end of the encampment at Mt. Sinai through the journey in the desert to their arrival at the border of  the Promised Land. It begins with a census of the Chosen People commands by the Lord. Thus, the journey of the law, from Sinai to the Promised Land begins with a census. Similarly, the story of the birth of the New Law, the fulfillment of the law, Jesus Christ, also begins with a census.  The census ordered by the Romans is the reason Joseph and Mary journeyed to Bethlehem, of course. 

Genesis 1-3

Is there any Bible story--any story at all--more often told, dissected, and interpreted than this one? Or better, these stories, as there are really several embedded in this opening of the Pentateuch. I am struck by the themes of abundance and fertility: The water "teems with an abundance of living creatures." The plants and trees across the earth are "seed-bearing." The animals, and the man and the woman, are exhorted to "be fruitful, multiply." Even as the man and woman are being cast out of Paradise, the talk is of child-bearing, the fruit of the trees, and the tilling of the land. They are cast out, but not cast away. God provides them "leather garments" to clothe and protect them as they are led east of Eden. To them, and to us, God has given a teeming creation, an Earth abundant with gifts, opportunities, talents, friends, family. It is for us, as for Adam and Eve, to till this creation, and co-create this world and ourselves with him.