Deuteronomy - Lesson 4

We've spent three sessions on how to interpret the book of Deuteronomy as a whole, as a prophetic text and a preaching text on the one hand, a covenantal text on the other, and as scripture. 

Now, let's get into the book by going to Moses’ first address. I'm not going to work through this in detail. I want to deal with one particular topic which is a curious topic for me, and I hope it is for you as well. And that is the characterization of Moses in his first address. 

What triggers this discussion is the common approach in scholarship to interpret the Book of Deuteronomy as a pseudepigraph. It's written by somebody else, but then, for rhetorical reasons, the speeches here are cast as if they were Moses’ speeches; they're not really. People who go this route, many of them don't even accept that Moses ever lived. He's a fictional character or a legendary character. And of course, once you make that move, then the speeches are all made up anyhow. 

But in any case, I am responding to the notion that the book of Deuteronomy is a pseudepigraph written by a hero from Israel's distant past and ascribed to him so that people will take it seriously. The authors of the book were doing this intentionally so that people would take them seriously. 

So, I'm going to be asking the question, is that possible in this first address? What I'm going to say about the first address doesn't apply to the other speeches because the characterization of Moses changes dramatically after chapter four. But we'll see what happens to Moses here. 

I put on the screen my outline of the book. We are in the first address of Moses here, chapters 1:6-40. This section divides into two or three main parts. The boundaries of it are set by 1:1-5, which is an introduction, “Moses undertook to put into force this whole Torah by saying,” that's in the front. And the conclusion, 4:44 (the chapter division here is out of place) “This is the Torah that Moses set before the Israelites.” I think that's a retrospective statement about what has been happening; we call it a colophon.

Well, between these two frames, we've got two major sections, which is why on my screen I drew the line there, that green line. The bulk of it, the first three chapters, are Moses’ recollections of Israel’s past, recent history. And then chapter four starts out with və atâ, and now, or in the light of all that we've said about what God has done for you in the past, how then should we live? But he goes on to talk about more past events. That divides into two sections: historical recollections 1:6 to 3:29, and then pastoral recollections. If you still think that Deuteronomy is a law book, tonight you need to go home and read chapter four aloud, read it aloud, and let it talk to you. See if you find any laws in there at all. So, that's pastoral recollections. 

So, let's quickly hop, skip, and jump through the first part. We're going to spend three sessions on chapter four. It's the core of the book; it’s theology. But we'll spend one session on the other three chapters. It's not fair, I know, but you have to cut out some things, don't you? 

What happens here is Moses begins with recollections of the Lord's grace to the Exodus Generation, 1:6 to 2:1. And then it moves to his grace to the post-Exodus Generation, more recent history after they buried all those people in the desert. 

This first part divides into Recollections at Horeb. So, the first 18 verses, we're still at Mt. Sinai and Moses recalls some things that happened there. 

Then we have Recollections of the Journey from Horeb to Kadesh-Barnea. One verse for that whole journey, probably three months. We don't know how long. 

Then we've got Recollections of Kadesh-Barnea 1:20-46.

Then Recollections of the Desert, 40 years, one verse. And of course, I mentioned before, the point of that whole 40 years is to get rid of them. And when the last ones have died, then the Lord said, “Alright, now it's time to move on.” One verse. 

Then we have the second major part. Moses’ Recollections of the Lord's Grace to the New Generation. After that period in the desert, we can start over again. And now, The Lord says to Moses, “It's time to move on.” 

So, you've got Recollections of Israel's Encounters with their Transjordanian Relatives. I don't know exactly why, but God is saying this time, we're not going to come from the south. We're going to come from the east across the Jordan. But to get there, we have to go through Edomite territory, and then Moabite territory, and then Ammonite territory, and we have to ask for permission to pass through their lands. You have these thousands and thousands of people coming through. They're certainly going to pillage and threaten your people, whatever else. So, you've got instructions on that. And they made it through there. 

Then you have Recollections of Israel's Encounters with the Amorite Kings, east of the Jordan Sihon of Heshbon and Og of Bashan. From when Moses is speaking, this is a matter of a couple of weeks ago. These memories are fresh because we have just made this move and we're headed now to the plains of Moab, where Moses is giving these addresses. 

Then we have Preparing for the Conquest of Canaan after they've defeated the Amorite kings on the east of the Jordan, then two and a half tribes come and Moses gives them title to that land, says, you've got to cross over with us. He commissions Joshua as his successor. And then you've got a frustrating text right at the end of chapter three, his prayer, begging God to let him cross the Jordan River. And the Lord said, “You ain't going, stop talking.” Does God ever say, shut up? What you have in the Hebrew here is as close as you get to shut up already. Speak to me no more about this matter. Enough of this. You're not crossing the Jordan. 

And then in chapter four, we've got pastoral recollection, and you can tell this from the book. So, watch yourselves, watch yourselves. Be careful, over and over. But now he's got three parts: Recollections of the Grace of Torah, verses 1 to 8; Recollections of the Grace of Covenant, 9 to 31; and Recollections of the Grace of Salvation, 32 to 40. But of course, you recognize that they're in backwards order. Of those three, salvation happened first, and then covenant, and then the Torah was revealed. I think he wants them to go home that evening after he's been speaking to them all day, he wants them to go home with a song of Hallelujah, we've been saved. That's what's on their lips as they go home. 

Well, if you do the calculation and the math, you can tell how much time he devotes to particular events. For instance, from Horeb to Kadesh probably took 42 weeks and one verse is all it gets. Or most dramatically here, 38 years in the desert,38 years, 96% of the people's time, gets one verse. But of course, location, location, location. Everything is about, where are we in this story? All of this is reviewing what God has been doing since they left Sinai. So, it's fascinating. 

But what I want to talk about is how does Moses come across in this text? It’s fascinating to watch. And we have to begin by looking at how critical scholars deal with this as a pseudepigraph. There are some who argue that Deuteronomy comes actually from about the time of Josiah because of Assyrian influence and whatever. But presumably the author of these addresses formulated his composition as the speeches of Moses so his audience would take the word seriously and adopt his point of view regarding what remained of the original population of Israelites, and the constitution. But can this work? 

Well, this interpretation must explain one huge problem that rises to the top in the first address and then goes underground but resurfaces right at the end. And that is the flawed character of Moses. This is a very transparent section of the book where you get to see Moses as he really is. And my conclusion is he's a tired old pastor, angry with God, angry with his congregation, and angry with having failed to achieve the goal to get across the Jordan River. So, he's a very bitter man in this passage; feet of clay, for sure. And so, the image of Moses, especially in this first address, contrasts drastically with the idealized image of the man that we find later when others write about him.

Ben Sira, this is Ecclesiasticus, early second century: To Isaac also he gave the same assurance for the sake of his father Abraham. The blessing of all people and the covenant he made to rest on the head of Jacob; he acknowledged him; he divided his portions among his descendants. The Lord brought forth a godly man who found favor in the sight of all and was beloved by God and the people, Moses, whose memory is blessed. He made him equal in glory to the holy ones, and made him great, to the terror of his enemies. By his words, he performed swift miracles; the Lord glorified him in the presence of kings. He gave him commandments for his people and revealed to him his glory.” I mean, it is goes on and on. He the man. This is Moses. “For his faithfulness and meekness, he consecrated him, choosing him out of all humankind. He allowed him to hear his voice and led him into the dark cloud, and gave him the commandments face to face, the law of life and knowledge so that he might teach Jacob the covenant, and Israel his decrees.” 

But you have the same sort of thing in the New Testament, Stephen. “This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, “Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?” – this one God sent as ruler and redeemer by means of the angel who appeared to him. This man led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and the desert for 40 years. This is the Moses who said to the Sons of Israel, God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your brothers. He is the one who was in the congregation in the desert with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our forefathers. He received living oracles to give to us.” 

Or Hebrews. “By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because he was no ordinary child. By faith Moses, when he had grown, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as a greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.” 

Where do you find this in any of the narratives of Moses? I mean, this is a very idealized picture. 

“By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on the dry land.” Well, this is Hebrews. 

But the most dramatic is Philo of Alexandria. “What more shall I say? Has he [Moses] not also enjoyed an even greater communion with the Father and Creator of the universe, being thought unworthy of being called by the same appellation? For he also was called the god and king of the whole nation, and he is said to have entered into the darkness where God was; that is to say, into the invisible, and shapeless, and incorporeal world, the essence, which is the model of all existing things where he beheld things invisible to mortal nature.” I mean, this guy's a god. It's American Idol. Yes, he is. “For having brought himself and his own life into the middle as an excellently wrought picture, he established himself as a most beautiful and Godlike work, to be a model for all those who are inclined to imitate him.” 

And this not only in Philo, the Samaritans have the same thing in their texts. “The faithful one of the Godhead has come! The Man of God (or you could translate Divine Man) has come whom God chose and sent. The rock of salvation has come! He who frees captives from captivity has come! The savior of his people from all affliction has come! Moses, whose name is connected with the Lord's name, has come!” 

It's not in the Hebrew Bible. Moses is not the Savior. It's always Yahweh. But in this text, Moses is above everything. These are the Samaritans. That's what they're doing. In Samaritan theology, nothing was created except by or through Moses. There could have been no creation if he hadn't been created first. Well, that's what tradition does with this man. And he's the source of the world's light and whatever for his mercy and faith. 

Josephus has some as well. But I'm going to skip that. Josephus’ point in his writings is to convince the people that the Jewish traditions are reasonable, and he presents Moses to them as the embodiment of the great virtues valued by the Greeks and the Romans. He's a good guy. Look at this, “notably external qualities of good birth, handsome stature, precociousness in youth, and the four cardinal virtues of wisdom, courage, temperance, justice, supplemented by what was, in effect, a fifth cardinal virtue, piety.” He's the ideal ruler, “educator, legislator, poet, and above all else, a prophet.” This is Moses. 

Well, how about the First Testament tradition of Moses? I mean, this is all later, isn't it? It's all New Testament or New Testament times. What about the First Testament? What's amazing in the First Testament is how little it talks about Moses. How little it talks about Moses. His name occurs 60 times outside of the Hexateuch, by that we mean Genesis through Joshua. After Joshua, his name, which appears 765 times altogether, only 60 times in the rest of the Old Testament. And of these, more than half involve the phrase “the Torah of Moses”, so, it's not actually about Moses, it's about the scripture that is associated with him. So, it's fascinating what happens. And he is given titles like Servant of the Lord, Man of God, which the Samaritans interpret as Divine Man. And of course, he is the one who led the people out of Egypt and established Israel's religious system. 

But Moses is not, shall we say, divinized like that. But then nor is he critiqued. There are two places where it comes close. Judges 18:30-31, “The Danites set up a sculptured image for themselves and Jonathan, son of Gershom, son of Manasseh, and his descendants, served as priests to the Danite tribe.” This is in the Jewish translation of 1832. But that's a very interesting text. The transformation of Moses into Manasseh here. This is. This is the word Manasseh. M n s h Manasseh. They didn't write to the vowels as only consonants. But what's odd about that? The n is super scripted. Yeah, the n m s h; the nis up there. It's not normal. It's not normal. And so, the assumption, of course, and this is a picture straight off a Leningrad Codex, the assumption is some scribe put that in there. It's later; it's not the original text. Is it in the NIV? I don't even remember if it is in NIV. Some more recent translations now have “Moses” there. 

But what's happened here is that this guy, this Levite, who was engaged by Micah to be the household priest is a totally paganized guy. The Danites come along and say, which is better? to be the pastor of a little country church or a big suburban church? And of course, they always say the pastor of the big suburban church. You come be the pastor of a whole tribe rather than just this little clan here. And so, he goes along with them, and they get to where we finally learn his name. He is Jonathan, son of Gershom, Ben. Moshe. Who's Gershom? We know his name. That's Moses’ son, Gershom. This guy, the grandson of Moses, is already apostate in the Book of the Judges. And what they've done is they've protected Moses by changing the text, inserting an n so that you associate him not with Moses, but with Manasseh, the most wicked of Israelite kings. It's very deliberate where we are protecting Moses. You can’t imagine him doing this. 

Well, there's one more in Psalm 106: “They angered him– Yahweh – at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account, for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke rashly with his lips.” Well, what they're doing here is they recognized that Moses was bitter, and he spoke rashly, but it's the people's fault. So, they're protecting him again. That's as close as you get. The psalmist blames the people for Moses’ response, and the psalmist neutralizes the seriousness of his actions that the Lord will talk about.

And then, of course, Numbers 12, the narrator of Numbers, “W they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman… And they said, ‘Has Yahweh spoken only through Moses? Hasn't He spoken through us?’ And Yahweh heard it. Now, the man, Moses was very humble.” Moses would never say that about himself, but the narrator does. So even narrators are talking about that he is a very, very special kind of person, and humblest in all the earth. And then he goes on to talk about God speaks to Moses’ face-to- face, not in riddles, clearly. And so, this is a very, very special relationship. So, you do have these epithets for Moses, and you have these characterizations of Moses as this wonderful guy. 

And one more thing. In Deuteronomy, “This is the blessing that Moses, the man of God, pronounced on the Israelites.” That title, Man of God. Godly man, or is it a man, agent of God? And then, “Moses, the servant of Yahweh, died in Moab.” So, you have the author of Deuteronomy. The End. “Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyes weren't weak, nor strength gone. The Israelites grieve for Moses and the Plains of Moab and 30 days until the time of weeping and mourning was over. Now Joshua, son of Nun, was filled with the spirit because Moses had laid his hands on him. And so, the people listened. Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel, like Moses, whom the Lord knew face-to-face, who did all these signs and wonders.” Obviously, the author of the book has this elevated view of Moses. 

But now let's go to the speech that Moses gives and see what happens. The characterization of Moses. Well, in chapter 1:9-18, look at verse nine. “I spoke to you at that time saying I am unable to bear the burden of you alone. For the Lord has multiplied you and look, you today they say are like your numbers are like the stars and in the heavens may the Lord increase you a thousand-fold more.” But verse 12, “How can I alone bear the burden of you and your bickering?” or strife, or whatever? This is a very interesting text because Moses at this point, on the one he recognized, God has multiplied the people, fulfilled his promise. They become like the stars of the sky. There are lots here. But he says, I've been carrying this load all by myself. And he's tired. He feels isolated and abandoned. 

In chapter 22, he will talk about overloading a jackass, a beast of burden and he's down on the ground and he can't get up. And you're supposed to help a donkey like that. Well, now he is feeling, he talks about it, I can't carry this load by myself. If you see your fellow Israelites donkey or ox fall on the road, don't ignore it. Help. I honor the tone of his voice is that. 

Then when we come to verses 13 to 18, choose wise and discerning men for yourselves to help relieve my load. If you compare this with the Exodus text it is Jethro who gives him advice on restructuring the people. And it's God who inspires the thing in the end. Here, Moses talks as if it was my idea. Here, you guys go pick yourself some guys, God's out of the picture. What else? Moses This position toward himself that, you know, he's the overburdened donkey. Second, his disposition toward God. He blamed God for multiplying the Israelite population and then dumping them on his shoulder, verses 9 to 12. He completely marginalized the role of God in the administration of restructuring. He never talks about God in that. It sounds like it was his idea. But then his disposition toward his people, I cannot carry you alone, because the burden, verse 12, How can I bear alone the burden of you and your strife? This is a heavy word. It plays on the same root that Jethro had used in Exodus 18:22. “They will carry the burden of the people for you” when he proposed helpers for him. But Moses is here saying I can't carry it. 

And in the end, all your bickering, or my NAS here has strife. It's the word rîb, contentions, legal disputes, whatever else. Can you imagine? Moses is in charge of this whole messy lot, and there's constant bickering. You've invaded my personal space, and somebody has to intervene. I can’t handle it all by myself. Well, you have that. 

What else can we say about this? He marginalizes God in the next episode, verses 20-25. He marginalizes God when he talks about, we sent out the scouts, as if God is out of the picture with the scouts.

In verse 23, the thing pleased me, so I took 12 of your men. He's making the decisions. 

What else can we say? Verse 21. See the Lord, your God has placed the land before you. Go up and take possession and take as the Lord your God has taken you, and He is commanding them to take it, take charge, and it's as if it's all about him. 

Verse 26 he talks about the scouts’ rebellion, unbelief, and disobedience. 

But then in 3:12-17, this is jumping way ahead. When the Israelites, two and a half tribes come to Moses and say, “Can we keep the land?” I mean, what a shame. We've just wiped out the Amorites here. We got a vacuum here. We’d like this land. This is a good farming land. Let us stay here. And what does Moses do? Go ahead, take it. And without recognizing the implications that this will have. There's no hint in how he tells the story of him consulting with God. I mean, the people have come to me and they've asked for this land. What shall I do? Shall I give it to them? He doesn't talk about that. 

According to Numbers 34, after this was done, God comes back and says the Jordan River is the boundary of the promised land, which raises real questions. Should Moses have given that land to the two and a half tribes? I am absolutely convinced he shouldn't have. Because never does the boundary include the land east of the Jordan when you've got the definitions. Never. He's acceding to the people. And I think he has lost sight of what God has intended. 

But his intense bitterness – this is the clincher here – three times, he says, and he just breaks up whatever he is talking about in chapter 1:37. He's talking about what happened that Kadesh Barnea, “the Lord heard the sound of your words; He was angry; He took an oath. He says not one of his evil generation is going to cross the land except Caleb and Joshua. They will cross over,” and then he just inserts, “the Lord was angry with me on your account. Not even you shall enter there.” What's that got to do with anything? He just sticks it in there. It's your fault I can't go in. 

And he does this again. Chapter 3:26, where he prays to God, O, Lord, you're great and awesome. I've just begun to see all that You’re going to do. Can't I please go in the land and just touch it? “But the Lord was angry with me because of you, and He refused to listen to me. And Yahweh said to me, That's enough. Don't speak to Me about this matter anymore. The Lord was angry with me because of you.” It's your fault. 

But then in 4:21, I mean, for the third time. Three strikes you're out, isn't it? For the third time, he says, and again, it interrupts a brilliant gospel text. But all of a sudden, he sticks it in there again. “The Lord was angry with me because of you, and He solemnly swore that I would not cross the Jordan, that I would not enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving you as your granted possession.” 

Three times he has blurted out what is deep in his heart. He is a very disappointed man because he had hoped he would lead the people into the promised land. And it's the people's fault he can't go in. 

This is not the stuff of legend. This is not the stuff of pseudepigraphy. What you see here is a very angry, bitter man passing the buck, blaming other people. Why is Moses even recounting this private event where he had a conversation with God? It doesn't make him look good, which really is a shocker to me, because we know from the end of the book that the author of the last chapter has such a high view of him. There's never been a guy like him before. He's got that view. But then when he is preserving his speech, the author of the book has the courage to leave the speech exactly as it is. He doesn't fix it. He doesn't smooth over Moses. He doesn't make him look good. He looks very bad, especially in these three occasions where he says, I can’t cross the Jordan and it's your fault. 

But of course, at this point we have to ask, “Was Moses right?” Is it the people's fault? Well, the answer is no. As the Lord will emphasize at the end in chapter 32, we'll come back to this same thing. The Lord says, “You're not crossing over. Go up the mountain and die. You're not crossing over.” And then he talks about Kadesh (Barnea.) Never about (Meribah) Kadesh, which is where you broke faith with Yahweh and struck the rock instead of talking to it. 

And, you know, I asked myself, what's the big deal about striking the rock rather than talking? It worked last time; is it such a big deal? But the Lord has a very serious interpretation of that in chapter 32 at the end of the chapter, it's a very serious interpretation. “On the mountain where you will be gathered to your people. Your brother, Aaron died on Mt. Horeb, you'll be gathered here because you broke faith with me in the midst of the Sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh in the Wilderness of Sin, because you did not treat Me as holy, is in the midst of the Sons of Israel. You may see the land from a distance, but you shall not go over there.” 

You know, if I had been God, I would think is that such a big deal? Let the guy have it. For 40 years, he's dealt with Your people, taken care of them, and borne this burden. Feel sorry for him. But God doesn't back off. Which is such a shocker when we get to chapter nine, where after the golden calf, where the people had just signed on to the covenant and now they're worshiping the golden calf. And Moses comes down the mountain. He sees this and what does he do? God says, I'm going to wipe this people out. I'm starting over with you. And Moses says, No, you can't do that. And what does God do? He listens to him. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man has great effect with God. That's that one. But in this case, it's a lesson on prayer. There are times when God's answer is (he always answers prayer) but sometimes there's no. This was a no. 

But of course, I raise it here because of the picture it paints of Moses. Was he right? No; God says, “No, you're not going over because you can't pass the buck and blame the people. You'rethe problem. And it's for your sin. But on the other hand, there is a yes to this.” When did Meribah- Kadesh happen? This is why he's so bitter. After Kadesh Barnea. At Kadesh Barnea they were supposed to go in and take the land and the scouts came back and said, It's a great it's a great territory. We can take it. It's well worth it. But then there's ten of them said, No, we can't do this; they'll make mincemeat of our kids. And so, they refused. And God says, Fine, turn around and die in the desert. And by then Moses was already 80 years old.

It is their fault because if they had gone into the land at that point, Moses would have been enjoying life in the promised land for 40 years. Wow. And he lost it. But of course, you see how he's using this though. He’s using it to defend himself, to pass the buck. There's a sense in which he's right. If they had behaved themselves; it is your fault. But in the particular case, it is not. 

Well, all this to say, given the conclusion, the glowing epitaph and obvious admiration of Moses, it's shocking that that he entered Moses’ own transcript of his address unedited into the final version. I don't think any pseudepigraphist would allow that to happen. They would have whitewashed him. They would have made him look really good. They would have had God say, yes, you're right, it is the people's fault, Go on in. It's not your fault. But in any case, if this is a suit of pseudepigraphic document from a much larger time, it's inconceivable how a pseudepigraphist would have made Moses look this bad. 

My conclusion. Whoever put the book together must have been a prophet like Moses who recognized the inspiration and canonicity of the transcripts that he had, who said, I can't change them. 

He had a high regard for the shape of the text at this point, refusing to add or subtract. 

He was a person of incredible courage and integrity.

And he recognized that the medium is part of the message. God's agents are all flawed. They are. Abraham, there isn’t a single human character in the Bible who's not flawed. Maybe Daniel, I mean, he's as close as you get. Josiah, but even in the end, Josiah – there’s a stupid thing he does, and it cost him his life.

But God's human agents are all flawed, and even a serious matter like this didn't disqualify Moses from being the one to bring the Israelites to the brink of the promised land. He got them here. He can't touch it. He can't taste it. He can’t smell it. He's frustrated with the whole thing. For him personally, it aborts. It ends. But he has left us a lasting legacy, far greater than his personal enjoyment of the promised land. A fascinating text.