Today’s PBJ reading is the last two chapters of Deuteronomy. Moses blesses the people then goes up to a mountain to die. In many ways, this blessing of each tribe continues Jacob’s blessing of his sons at the end of Genesis.
I found Deut 33: 2 very intriguing. Moses reminds the people of there they came from. One of those places is Mount Paran. The Hebrew word is ‘paw-rawn.’ That is a desert in Arabia. Bob Cornuke has an amazing video (and a movie?) about sneaking into Saudi Arabia and finding the Archeology that points at Israel crossing the Red Sea at the tip of the Sanai Peninsula into Saudi Arabia. It’s worth a good study. The point is that in spite of people naming things in the Sanai peninsula in the days of Catherine the Byzentine empress, even Moses thinks the people of Israel wandered in the deserts of Arabia.
That points at the prophecy spoken to Moses and repeated to Joshua – ‘every place that your feet touch will be yours.’ Placing Israel in Arabia for the events at Jabl el Laws (Mountain of Laws) places forty years of wandering in an amazing context. How far can two million people walk in forty years? It gives fascinating substance to God’s land grant to Israel – A promise not yet fulfilled.
Then Moses goes up to Mount Nebo to die. By this point, we see that Moses was in the penalty box for disobeying God. He leaves an amazing legacy. The book of the law sitting next to the Ark of the Covenant, to be read to the children of Israel every seven years. That law included Genesis through Deut. In these last four chapters, we have the song of Moses to be sung to the Children of every generation, blessing, curses for disobedience, blessings on each tribe and passing of the mantel of Leadership to Joshua.
In my opinion, Moses will be one of the two witnesses in Revelation. He and Elijah stood with Jesus at the Mountain of transfiguration. You see, Moses and Elijah landed in God’s penalty box and get re-dos on dying. As I think on my life, Jan and I count at least fifteen major re-dos where I had to complete something important. That includes asking Jan to marry me twice, marrying her twice, Calculus, German language… I know a little about Re-Dos. Our God is an awesome God of Grace and Re-Dos. I am humbled and thankful of the story of Moses, his Re-dos, and his courage to stand between God’s wrath and the children of Israel as a type of Christ.
Inman
Contemplative on a cloudy Colorado Day