From the Lectionary for Saturday, July 11, Proper 9
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar. The Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.” Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command. He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day. Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated. The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended. Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the Lord had commanded Moses. Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.
The Old Testament reading today is the final chapter of Deuteronomy, which is the fifth and final book of the Torah/Pentateuch. What is the origin of this book, the title of which is a Greek word meaning “second law?” According to 2 Kings, when the Temple in Jerusalem was being repaired in 622 BCE, a scroll was found and taken to King Josiah. He declared it to be “the book of the covenant” and read it to the people, who made a covenant with the Lord to follow the law. The scroll which they found is now thought to be the book of Deuteronomy, written during the time of exile from their home. Inspired by it, Josiah instituted a reform of worship including prohibiting the worship of deities other than Yahweh, destroying all “high places” of worship, removing all non-Jews from worship, and banning all sacrificial worship outside Jerusalem. Passover became a national celebration to take place in Jerusalem. Although Moses did not write it, the book is basically a series of his speeches, together making up his farewell address to the Israelites. While in it he covers the history of Israel including the promises God made to the ancestors and the escape from Egypt, most of it is another collection of laws which would govern Israel henceforward. This law differed in some ways from the law given by God at Mount Sinai (Horeb) earlier in the books of the Torah, and is called the “second law,” and also known as “the law of Moses.” This new law and Josiah’s reforms were an attempt to re-establish Jewish cultural and religious autonomy and identity after a century of domination by Assyria, following the fall of Israel to the Assyrians in 722 BCE. The law required that the Jews take an oath of unconditional loyalty and to uphold their covenant with God.
From a broader perspective, the theme of Deuteronomy is that of exile and return. After Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden in Genesis, the other four books of the Pentateuch are essentially one of a long journey home, this time from Egypt to their home in Canaan, and from the perspective of the writers of the Deuteronomistic History the return from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem (metaphorically Eden?). So, the book is the long-awaited climax—almost—of the promise made by God to provide them with the Promised Land “of milk and honey” in Canaan. In the end of the book the Israelites, after forty years of wandering in the desert, have reached Moab, east of the Dead Sea and the Jordan River. Their wandering, however, is not yet over, as the crossing of the Jordan into Canaan won’t happen until the book of Joshua, which is a continuation of the Deuteronomistic history and the first of the “Historical Books” of the Jewish Bible. Unfortunately for Moses, God forbade him too from entering into the Promised Land. Why? Good question, but some scholars say it was because Moses disobeyed God when in anger he struck a rock twice with his staff when God told him to tell the rock to provide water. Apparently Moses should either have just told the rock to provide water, or if using his staff to strike it should have only hit it once. It has also been suggested that Moses was being punished vicariously for other sins the Israelites had committed. At any rate, Moses was allowed to see the land by climbing Mount Nebo, 2600 feet above sea level, a few miles east of where the Jordan River enters the Dead Sea, but he could not enter it. Yet the view must have been beautiful and expansive, for Moses could see all the way to the snow-covered Mount Hermon to the north, across the Dead Sea to Zoar in the south, and to the west across the valley of Jericho all of Judah to the Western (Mediterranean) Sea. Imagine standing on a mountain with that kind of view! Then “at the Lord’s command” Moses dies, old in age yet full of “vigor.” Yahweh himself is regarded as the one who digs the grave in a valley in Moab, “but no one knows his burial place to this day.”
The “Law of Moses” is comprised of over 613 commandments found in the Torah, given by God through Moses. While the story of Israel does not end here, the book of Deuteronomy does end what is called the “primary divine instructions.” In other words, the Law was complete, and following the teaching of Moses or the Way of Torah was necessary for survival for Israel. One such law has special significance. Known as the Shema (Hebrew for “hear”), it is one of the most important texts in Judaism: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might… (Deuteronomy 6: 4-9). Let’s move ahead now into the New Testament. When asked by a Sadducee lawyer which commandment in the law was the greatest, Jesus replies by quoting the Shema: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matt 22:37-38; see also Mark 12:28-31 and Luke 10:25-28). With this brief summation and new perspective on the law, Jesus is unmistakably getting at the heart of it all. Of course his new understanding of the law, while not destroying it but in his words “fulfilling” it, changed everything for the Jews and especially for the Jewish Christians, as it has changed everything for us today. St. Paul continued this line of thinking while building the Church among the Gentiles, with his assertion that it was following Christ rather than the law which leads to salvation, or the realization of our union with God. It sounds easy enough, that is to love God and each other, doesn’t it? But of course it is not easy, and throughout history we have not kept these commandments. If there is a lesson for us in this reading from Deuteronomy, perhaps it is that we can prayerfully reconsider the Shema and Jesus’ interpretation of it, and re-commit to that ancient covenant in our own lives today. Love of neighbor is love of ourselves, because we are united as one with each other, and with all of creation.
Bob Donnell
July 11, 2020
Collect for Proper 9 (BCP p. 230)
O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
