Daily Bible Reflection 11/21

Continuing a plan to get through the entire Bible in a year, follow as I journal through the reading. I have chosen a straightforward approach that begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation. This will not be an in-depth study or a comprehensive commentary. There are plenty of sources for such material. This is stage one Bible reading, taking the text at face value and sharing impressions.

Today’s reading comes from the book of Deuteronomy, chapters 32 through 34, chronologically the death of Moses. Some impressions from the text:

The Song of Moses brings to mind the sequence of democracy’s rise and fall attributed to Henning Webb Prentis: “From bondage to spiritual faith, From spiritual faith to great courage, From courage to liberty, From liberty to abundance, From abundance to selfishness, From selfishness to complacency, From complacency to apathy, From apathy to dependency, From dependency back again to bondage.” Moses’ message to the Israelites draws out a similar sequence regarding their relationship with God. Their need drives them to call out. Their witness of God’s works fosters faith and obedience, which leads to relative success and prosperity, which enables self-centeredness and disobedience, ending in ruin.
Moses seems to deal gracefully with the foretelling of his death. How would most of us react if told to go up on top of a mountain to die? Moses responds with words of blessing for Israel, despite the way he has been treated throughout his tenure as their leader and prophet.
Moses is held to be the author of Deuteronomy. Yet the book chronicles the details of his death, and details which follow his death. Perhaps these were prophetic in nature or added by Joshua afterward.
“And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face…” While this distinguished Moses in life, all believers aspire to a promised face to face liaison with Christ once we meet him in heaven.

Return soon as we continue our year-long journey through the text of the Bible.

Catch up on the previous entries:

Archived Genesis posts (scroll down in link).

Archived Exodus posts (scroll down in link) .

Archived Leviticus posts (scroll down in link).

Archived Numbers posts (scroll down in link).

Moses recounts Israel’s journey through the wilderness. – Deuteronomy 1 and 2

Moses emphasizes obedience to, and glorification of, God. – Deuteronomy 3 and 4

God’s commandments serve a holy purpose. – Deuteronomy 5 through 7

Moses implores Israel to know, trust, and obey God. – Deuteronomy 8 through 10

Focused wholly on God. – Deuteronomy 11 through 13

Holiness requires us to be intentionally different. – Deuteronomy 14 through 16