#זDeuteronomy 32:48-52

The beginning of Moses’s death

It’s gonna take a couple of chapters, but this is the beginning of the end. All the law-giving is over - time now for Moses to move toward his last act, which is to die as predicted. That’s the situation canonically, but it’s also the situation in P, which is where we find ourselves here. The identification is easy: we’ve got explicit reference to Aaron’s death and burial on Mt Hor, which only P has narrated. (Among other indications.)

#Deuteronomy 32:44-47

The end of D

Just as there are two introductions to the law, and two transitions from law to song, so too there are to conclusions to the song: 32:44, and 32:45-47. And with these words - “it is your life” - the D source comes to an end. As a wrap-up, 32:46-47 are pretty good - picking up themes from throughout D, and finishing in high rhetorical style, with language that’s both familiar and even somewhat moving, if you think about it as Moses’s last words (which, for D, they are).

#Deuteronomy 32:1-43

The song of Israel’s future disobedience

The song of Deut 32 is in places a bit complicated in terms of language, but in its basic content is straightforward: it tells the story of how Israel spurned YHWH, and what will result from that. Just like D. The song’s first task is to lay out YHWH’s faithfulness and Israel’s lack thereof. This is done with epithets and descriptive opposites: YHWH is the Rock: perfect while Israel is blemished, straight while Israel is twisted, righteous while Israel is crooked.

#Deuteronomy 31:24-30

Is there an echo in here?

This section contains the following elements: the writing of the Torah; the giving of it to the Levites; a job for the Levites; the announcement of the song that will witness against Israel; and the introduction to that song. If that all feels, well, familiar, it’s because we’ve seen it all before, just earlier in this same chapter, in 31:9-13 and 16-22. It’s not verbatim, but it’s structurally basically identical. Which makes sense of what we have in D is a mix of two editions of the same work.

#Deuteronomy 31:16-22

A few predictions

It’s a pretty pessimistic outlook, to give all those laws, and all those speeches exhorting obedience, and to get to the end and say yeah, but I know it’s all for nothing because these Israelites can’t get their shit together. YHWH is so certain of Israel’s future disobedience that he’s willing to put it in writing. These verses introduce the song of Deut 32, which describes Israel having rejected YHWH, in the past tense - as a fait accompli. That song, written down, is YHWH’s “I told you so.”

#Deuteronomy 31:14-15, 23

Maybe the only time I’m doing verses not in consecutive order, but it’ll make sense (and make my life easier next time). In 31:14-15 we break from the D story into something different, even as the topic is the same. Can you spot the issue(s)? First, YHWH here tells Moses he’s about to die. But Moses already knew that - even already told the Israelites that. Second, and perhaps most strikingly, we get the Tent of Meeting here for the first and only time in Deuteronomy. And this for sure ain’t P’s tent.

#Deuteronomy 31:9-13

Every seventh year

Pretty convenient that the entire Israelite people is supposed to convene at the sanctuary occasionally - what better time to read them the laws of D? And let’s catch them in a good mood, when all their debts have just been forgiven. As a practice, this is both in line with D’s general concern for its own promulgation and repetition (recite it, write it, teach it, etc.), and also a standard part of the ancient Near Eastern treaty, the requirement of a periodic public reading.

#Deuteronomy 31:1-8

Preparations for succession

Here, as we come to the end, D calls back to the beginning. We have the denial of Moses’s entry, the selection of Joshua, the encouragement of Joshua, the mention of Sihon and Og - it’s all just like Deut 1-3. I’ll make two quick points about the first couple of verses here, and one quick point about the last couple. In 31:1, we’ve got what looks like a relatively simply textual error. It reads “Moses went and said,” but…went where? He’s been standing and talking the whole time.

#Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Choices, choices

As rhetoric, this section is terrific. “Choose life, that you and your descendants may live.” Great stuff.

As an actual choice? Not so great. Also not so much of a choice. Read this in the voice of the Godfather. This is a threat. Again, as so often, it’s helpful to read this as if it were a treaty between a conquering emperor and a small vassal state, and the emperor’s armies are massed at the border. Here’s the choice: submit to the requirements of this treaty, and I’ll be nice to you, or don’t, and die.

#Deuteronomy 30:1-10

For the exiles

The curses of Deut 28 culminate in exile; the punishment for apostasy in Deut 29 is exile. On the heels of those two passages, someone felt the need to go to the next step: what happens to those actually in exile? Is D then irrelevant? And so we get here a relatively standard vision: those in exile will turn back to YHWH, and YHWH will restore them, and bless them. Actually, YHWH will bless them extra, even more than before, and those curses? They’ll be placed on Israel’s enemies.

#Deuteronomy 29:15-28

On private apostasy

This is a complicated little section compositionally, I think, and also one that is not usually very well understood. So my project here is to explain what I see going on, and to explain how I think it came to be. In brief! What is this section about? It’s about apostasy, but not the types we’ve seen already. We already saw an individual, or a community, trying to convince others to follow their lead, in Deut 13. We already saw rules against worshipping Canaanite deities, in Deut 7. This ain’t that.

#Deuteronomy 29:1-9

A refresher

With the laws all given, and the blessings and curses laid out, Moses returns to the rhetorical themes of the frame: YHWH did all these things for you, from Egypt until now, and thus you are obligated to do what he asks. Two major noteworthy elements of this section: first, the opening words, “you have seen all that Yahweh did before your eyes in Egypt.” This is one of the clearer texts showing that in D there was no generational change in the wilderness. These Israelites were in Egypt.

#Deuteronomy 28

Blessings and curses. Mostly curses.

It’s a standard feature of the ancient near eastern treaty: the blessings and curses for obedience or disobedience, respectively. The blessings are standard and boring: security, fertility, blah blah. The curses are fun. You get in here super broad curses (“you’ll be cursed in the city and in the field”) and curses so specifically enumerated they read like Shakespeare: “consumption and fever, inflammation, fiery heat and drought, blight and mildew.”

#Deuteronomy 27:11-26

Mountaintop curses

This section is so. weird.

First, there’s the introduction which sets up blessings on Gerizim and curses on Ebal, even though a second ago everyone was on Ebal building an altar and writing the law on stones. And even though it says blessings and curses, there aren’t any blessings. And even though half the tribes are supposed to be on Ebal for the curses, it’s the Levites, who are on Gerizim, who actually say the curses, and everyone responds, presumably on both mountains.

#Deuteronomy 27:1-10

Mount Ebal

Well, here’s a real tickler of a section. Something is decidedly screwy here, the question is just what, or how much. Go ahead, you tell me how many times the Israelites are supposed to write the laws on stones, and where. I’ll wait. I won’t wait. It opens fine enough: okay, you’ve got the law, now when you enter the land, first thing I want you to do is write it on stones as a monument to the fulfillment of YHWH’s promise to bring you into this very land. That’s 27:1-3, and it’s easy peasy. But then…

#Deuteronomy 26:16-19

A wrap-up

Here we come to what was, in all likelihood, the end of the laws of D. Not the end of D, or any layer of it, but in terms of the structure of the book, the end of the central legal code, which began in 12:1 and has continued unabated until now. As always in the framing elements of D, if we read it as a treaty we see somewhat more clearly how it’s all working. We’ve just gone through all these details - now we recap the big picture: you promise to obey, and YHWH promises to elevate you if you do so.

#Deuteronomy 26:1-11

History and thanksgiving

One of the more famous Deuteronomy passages - “my father was a wandering Aramean” - is part of a broader remembering of Israel’s history, itself embedded within a ritual context, all in the service of D’s big rhetorical aim. The context is the annual bringing of first fruits to the sanctuary. That’s when you are to recite your litany of all the things that Yahweh did for Israel, from the descent to Egypt through the return to Canaan. But why then, rather than any other sanctuary visit or festival?

#Deuteronomy 25:11-12

Handjob(?)

Canaanites, idolaters, murderers, false witnesses, and…the woman who grabs the junk of a guy who’s fighting with her husband. Those are all the people about whom D says you should “show no pity.” One of these things is not like the others… Actually I’m not entirely sure whose junk she grabs. Could be her husband’s assailant, as a means of stopping him from attacking; could be her husband’s, as a sign of submission (maybe?). Could also be no one’s, since the word here for “junk” is otherwise unattested.

#Deuteronomy 25:5-10

Levirate marriage

It’s all about lineage and inheritance. And it’s in contrast to the priestly legislation around the same issue. And it includes surely one of the funniest bits in the Bible. What’s not to love about levirate marriage? The problem at issue here is a man not having a son to leave his property to. Land belonged to families and clans, and not having a successor messes up the whole system. So what’s needed is essentially a surrogate father, and who better than the closest family member?

#Deuteronomy 25:1-3

Corporal punishment

It’s not that those found guilty always receive a flogging; it’s not that they even should. But they may, and if they do, they can’t get more than 40 lashes, or their dignity will be impaired before their peers. What a relief! Actually there’s a few interesting bits in here. One is that the flogging is to happen both before the judge who gives the sentence and before the public. There’s deterrence here obviously, but also responsibility: you have to see what you have done.

#Deuteronomy 24:17-22

Care for the vulnerable

You shall not deprive an immigrant of justice. Imagine that.

You don’t have to exact every last ounce of value from your property, but should rather make sure those in need have their needs met by your surplus. Imagine that. These laws - which push back with ethical force against the potential abuses of a capitalist and nationalist system - are so important (or perhaps so contrary to some human nature) that they are given justifications looking both forward and backward.