Deuteronomy chapter 31

vs 11

So either they read it to their groups, or they took it in turns I suppose. The idea is to get them while they are all gathered in one spot. The problem being, of course, that as far as we know, they never celebrated this, not once.

vs 12

When the book of the law is actually found in Josiah's reign, its reading does cause a fear of the Lord, and it does cause them to follow it more carefully. I am still surprised it's only every seven years though. Perhaps other parts were read at other times, and this is the only time that the whole thing is read out.

vs 13

I suppose it becomes a bit of an epic thing, the reading of the Law, partly because it is meant to happen on the Sabbath year, which would be one of those years you measure time by. This festival would be one of the more memorable things happening in the year. And it goes together with the whole Sabbath being consecrated to God thing too.

I'm just trying to think of some things we learn as children that are simply taken for granted in this day and age, and that have this same sort of importance. Australia has no history.

vs 14

Things are coming to an end for Moses. Imagine being told that you're going to die soon, so get your stuff in order. He's actually probably okay with it - he's lived a long life, served God pretty faithfully, and he is remembered forever. Whether he knew of any sort of afterlife or not, I'm sure he trusted God to do right by him. And God is filling his position with a capable person of the middle guard, Joshua. Not the old guard (Moses), not the new guard (post-wilderness).

vs 15

What a cool effect.

vs 16

Who takes this harder, Moses or Joshua? Moses would be pained by it, surely - this people for whom he has given up so much to bring them to the place God gave them, in answer to their cries for help, are going to rebel against God again, and forsake him more. Although on the one hand he could expect it - it's happened so many times now - perhaps he thought that the promised land would change things.

As for Joshua, he's having the hard part of the job put right in front of him - you are taking over the leadership of a rebellious people. You will have the same problems Moses did.

vs 17

God never forsook the people in the wilderness. He threatened it, lots of times. But he never actually destroyed them. But now God is telling these leaders that this is what the people are destined for, because they just can't stop being wicked. Eventually, they will realise it. But only eventually.

vs 18

Even when they realise it, God will not answer them. He will leave them to the punishment due to them for their idolatry and turning away from him.

vs 19

God speaks in song as much as anything else. He understood that it was easy for them to memorise a song and sing it to themselves. He knew that would stay with them much more easily than the whole law, and that even when the Law was lost, a song would be passed on with mothers singing it to their children.

vs 20

Part of me thinks that the logical time to turn away from God is when things go bad, not when they are good, and especially not when God has so specifically promised how good they will be! But this is a quirk of human nature - we stick with what we know in tough times, hearken back to our roots, and in times of plenty, we get greedy and we look for something even better than what we've got, because things seem to only be getting better. Go figure.

Perhaps it is the sense of hopelessness and powerlessness we have when things are bad - we're weak, and we can't fix it ourselves, so we turn to God. But the thing is, these people are still turning to gods - but not to solve their problems, perhaps. Maybe they turn to them because their festivals of mass sex and food are more fun than God's food without sex festivals?