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Deuteronomy: Living in a Van down by the River
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Deu·ter·on·o·my (dū'tə-rŏn'ə-mē, dyū'-) : Fifth and last book of the Pentateuch, known in Hebrew as Devarim, "Words," from the opening phrase. The sages refer to it as Mishneh Torah (i.e., "the Repetition of the Torah," whence the Greek Deuteronomion---"Second Law"),
Having wandered in the wilderness for forty years, the generation of Hebrews that walked in the shadow of the parted waves fleeing Pharoah's chariots is almost gone. They have been decimated by tribal warfare, the hardships of desert life, and constant smiting by their arguably demonic Lord.
By the banks of the Jordan river Moses gathers the younger generation, whose destiny it is to surge across into the promised land denied to their parents, and gives a series of talks on how as a people they came to this point. The rules they will have to live by to avoid being swallowed by the earth, burned to death or struck down with plague by the terrible spirit that commands their loyalty are reviewed. He is giving them not just a sense of their place in the world, but also in a sense giving an account of his own life. When the talks are done Moses will wander into the mountains, see the promised land spread below him, and surrender his mortal frame.
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*drives to the grocery store*
I'm not sure I understand what the beginning of chapter 21 is talking about. It seems like instructions on how to deal with a murder mystery but the language is unclear. Blood guilt?
Eh?
I've always said that that promise, if a deity were to issue it today, would basically translate to "I will lead you to a land flowing with delicious ice cream!"
??? indeed.
(red x)
Oh fuck that show in it's fucking face. VH1 got it perfect.
There were people dressed as cats jumping around and meowing and clawing at the audience then jumping in and touching everyone and I thought to myself "Is this art? Am I supposed to be understanding this and I'm not?"
I thought you were trying to draw a parallel between the ancient Jews with modern day Palestinians who have suffered for 40 years (well, 42) in the desert of the West Bank. Never mind.
It would be awesome if my posts were that subtle.
I think we've had something like 95% attrition.
If I recall, the documentary hypothesis says Deuteronomy was largely edited by the same guy/group as the four or five books that come after it—the "Deuteronomistic histories"—which are equally horrifying from a moral standpoint. In that they are basically awed catalogues of the Hebrews' God-commanded genocides or attempted genocides.
The weirder and crueler regulations that shock us so much are probably incidental and merely a part of Hebrew folk religion.
Deuteronomy seems much more about justifying use of political authority and force, though. I remember something about how some scholars think the entire books of Deuteronomy and the histories were basically the invention of some 8th century B.C. Judean king who "found" them in a temple library. A lot of the laws in Deuteronomy are also copies of laws in Exodus (the Ten Commandments are found in both, for example).
Every time God does something horrendous it is to prove how powerful he is and/or to enforce the authority of Moses, Aaron and the Levite priests. Sure, God may have a rule about having a blue ribbon fringe or stoning virgins or something - but how many of those plagues that consumed 20,000 people were because of that? How many people were burnt to death by God or swallowed by the earth because of violating those rules?
No, the Rebellion of Khorah (conclusion thereof in my sig) really clarified the pattern - especially because just after it Numbers launches into a reaffirmation of how the first fruit, first livestock, first everything is owed as a religious obligation to the Levite priests.
The strange thing about the books we've read so far is how little God seems to care about any one life. God has a project, starting with Abraham - he's going to make a chosen people. Why? Nevermind. The innocent dead that are the collateral damage of this project are meaningless. Even the individual chosen are meaningless.
At one point in Numbers God says to Moses "Well, these Hebrews are pretty pesky and disobedient. How about I just kill them all and hit reset? The last few centuries have been a mistake, I'm going to wind this thing back with you serving as Jacob by being the father of a nation."
So who is essential to God's project? The priests. Who is the enforcer for the priests? God - as proved by these stories about God killing thousands who are disobedient to the priests either directly or personified by Moses/Aaron.
well, Judges is coming up soon. Apparently there is ass kicking rather than a bunch of laws most people don't really feel they need to follow and a few that are fun to cherry pick. It might pick up a bit.
I think there is something to the notion that a lot of the rules acted to cement the power and position of the religious class. I doubt it is particular to Abrahamic religions, but is a result of the formalization of any religious establishment.