Song of Moses. The song exalted the power of God and how He would bring them victory.
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Day 80 (March 21): Song of Moses, God keeps his promise to forbid Moses from entering Canaan, prayer of Moses

Credit: Sweet Publishing / FreeBibleimages.org

Welcome to Livin’ Light’s Bible-In-A-Year challenge of discovering God’s love for us and His purpose for our lives. Here is the format for this great adventure: The daily reading assignment is posted at 5 a.m. After each day’s reading, Leigh An Coplin, the blog host, shares observations and poses questions about difficult passages to Rob Fields, who studied Christian Education at Asbury Seminary and currently teaches Biology in the Orlando area. To start from the beginning, click on 365 Bible Readings and scroll down to Day 1. The reading schedule is taken from The One Year Chronological Bible NLT. 

Today’s Reading
— Deuteronomy 31:30-32:52
— Psalm 90
(1406 BC) Click here for a timeline of the entire Bible.

Questions & Observations

O. Before I read today’s readings, I was thinking about Moses’ relationship with God.  Thus far, he has been the closest human to God, so we should focus on what he is about to say and know that the words are coming from a man who has spent many days with God and had God’s glory in him.

Q. (32:8): Can you explain this verse?  I’m at a loss.  When it says “divided up the human race” is he talking about the tribes being assigned land?  And what is the heavenly court? From my footnotes, it looks like it could have several meanings?  The Dead Sea Scrolls, the Greek version and the Masoretic Text all say something different.

A. Nice job incorporating our material from yesterday!  I don’t have a clear explanation for the verse.  The dividing up the human race appears to be a reference to the Tower of Babel and the distribution of the nations after its fall from Genesis 11.  The heavenly court is usually viewed as the congregation of the angels, as we saw in the beginning of Job.  There are some Jewish traditions that ascribe to a notion that angels had a territory among the different nations, so the reference to division based upon the court might refer to that.  But, I can’t say it definitively.

Q. (32:10): What does the second part of the verse mean where he says he guarded them as he would guard his own eyes?

A. You guard your eyes like no other part of your body.  Even as a reflex (blinking, pulling away, etc.) your body automatically will take great steps to ensure that your eyes are not damaged.  They are so important.  God is watching over Israel just as closely, it says, as how carefully you guard your own eyes.

Q. (32:15): Moses refers to God as a Rock here.  I’m sure there is a good meaning behind the name.

A. Even today, we think of rocks as being steady and unbreakable.  That’s a central part of the image.  Also, in this era, rock faces and caves would have served as shelters for people who desired to hide, so we can also think of rocks as a source of protection.  So God as the Rock paints an image of protection, steadiness, and longevity.

O. (32:39): A verse worth noting.  It brings up a question we have had before about if there are other gods.  “Look now: I myself am he!  There is no other God but me!  I am the one who kills and gives life; I am the one who wounds and heals; no one can be rescued from my powerful hand.”

Q. (32:40-41): Is Moses talking for God here or himself?  I don’t know what Moses means when he says, “As surely as I live, when I sharpen my flashing sword and begin to carry out justice, I will take revenge on my enemies and repay those who reject me.”

A. Moses is talking for God here.  This imagery refers to God avenging Himself among those who reject Him, referring specifically to the many Israelites who will be unfaithful to Him.  We will see various instances of this in future readings (I’m thinking of Joel 2 in particular, which is a powerful image of God avenging Himself), so let’s see how this verse is seen in subsequent stories.

Q. (32:50): What is the significance of both Moses and Aaron dying on a mountain?

A. Mountains are associated with the presence of God (like Mt. Sinai/Horeb), so dying on a mountain would be associated with the path a person “walks” to join God on high.  It is symbolic of a life journey where the end destination is God.

Q. (Psalm 90:4): Can this verse be used as proof of creation?  The 7 days of creation may have been longer.  I know it’s not important how long it took God to create the world.  I just thought it may be used to explain that.  Or, was Moses just making a quip?

A. You have touched upon something that is common in some circles: to use this verse and other citations of it to say that Creations could have been longer than one 24-hour period.  I don’t put much stock in these.  Moses is using metaphorical language to say that our concept of time means nothing to God.  I wouldn’t take it to mean anything more literal than that.

Q. (Psalm 90:5-9): This doesn’t paint a pretty picture of a reverent relationship with God.

A. In light of the eternal nature of God, I can’t say that I disagree with the assessment.  Next to Him, everything seems finite and fading.  It is only by His mercy that we are able to be more than dust in the wind, as it were.

Q. (Psalm 90:12): This verse says a lot!  I often think of troubles I have or things I want to do but can’t, for reasons of time and money.  And, if I’m in my right mind — which isn’t often enough — I remember that our time on Earth is so short and that if I don’t get the things done on my bucket list, then it’s no big deal.  God has bigger and better things for me waiting in heaven.  And I also think that my future in heaven, and possibly other’s futures, relies on what I do right now on Earth.  That gives me perspective to keep on seeking God’s guidance and do what He wants me to do.  This does sound a little dogmatic and I don’t mean it to.  I truly believe that He has given me, and anyone else who cares to listen to Him, a curriculum for my time on Earth.  And, from that, I gain the wisdom to make the right choices and not waste my time on empty matters.  Did I apply this correctly, Rob?

A. If we have properly fixed our gaze and decisions on the eternity of God, and not our time on earth, then I think that we are able to make decisions that allow us to live in light of this eternity.  You’ve got the idea.

Thanks for reading along.  See you tomorrow!

Further reading:
— Seven things to know about the Song of Moses, https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/inspiring-things-to-know-about-the-song-of-moses.html
— A deeper look into the Song of Moses, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_Moses

Tomorrow’s reading: Deuteronomy 33-34, Joshua 1-2

Joshua Israel's new leader
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Day 79 (March 20): Moses reviews Covenant, God shows mercy, life choices, Joshua is Israel’s new leader, Book of Instruction, God predicts disobedience

Wong Chim Yuen

Welcome to Livin’ Light’s Bible-In-A-Year challenge of discovering God’s love for us and His purpose for our lives. Here is the format for this great adventure: The daily reading assignment is posted at 5 a.m. After each day’s reading, Leigh An Coplin, the blog host, shares observations and poses questions about difficult passages to Rob Fields, who studied Christian Education at Asbury Seminary and currently teaches Biology in the Orlando area. To start from the beginning, click on 365 Bible Readings and scroll down to Day 1. The reading schedule is taken from The One Year Chronological Bible NLT. 

Today’s Reading
— Deuteronomy 29:2-31:29
(1406 BC) Click here for a timeline of the entire Bible.

Questions & Observations

Q. (Deuteronomy 29:29): This is an interesting verse.  Has God said this before that there are secrets that He has not revealed?

A. I don’t think it has come up to this point, but honestly, there will always be things about the infinite God that are incomprehensible to the finite “us.”  I don’t really like the way that this verse in translated in this version.  The NIV makes Moses’ point more carefully.  The focus is not on God and His secrets, i.e. things He has not revealed, but rather on the Law as a blessing to the people and future generations of their children.

O. (30:1-10): Yeah!  God has mercy on the Israelites.  God is merciful.

O. (30:9-10): This passage made me smile.  It’s nice to know we can delight God.  So many times, it feels like we can either make Him happy or make Him mad.  But, the thought that we can bring joy to His heart brings joy to my heart, much like when I look at my girls and think how lucky I am that God made them a huge part of my life.

Q. (30:17): I know these commandments are for the Israelites — I never really differentiated that rules were for them and not necessarily for us today until Rob explained that — nevertheless, we can still learn from them, right?  Here Moses is telling the Israelites that if they worship other gods, they will be destroyed.  There are other false gods to worship, but I think that once you become a Christian, you are not likely to be lured by other cults, religions, etc., but we have idolatry of today — TV, work, money, hobbies, food, alcohol, sports, travel, lust — anything that we give so much importance to that we forget about God.  Would you say that applying this passage to today in this way is accurate?

A. I think it is.  You have begun to see the way that we should think about idolatry today: as anything that competes with God for our attention and time.  It is anything that we trust in besides God.  Having said that, I think that we as a society are moving toward a more open view of mixed religious theology.  We usually call it pluralism, and say things like, “all roads lead to God.”  Unfortunately, this goes exactly against what Moses is teaching the people here.  We must be very careful about allowing other religious ideas to infiltrate our faith.  Intermixing their faith in God with other faiths will get the Israelites in a lot of trouble.

O. (31:1-8): Just reading this gets my heart pounding.  I imagine the Israelites thinking about how big and numerous these inhabitants were and here God said He is going to conquer them.  And now, since they did not actually see the miracles in Egypt, there may be many who doubt His power.  But, Moses keeps reminding them of the deliverance and miracles and I’m sure their parents did — the loyal, wise ones anyway.

Q. (31:12): What is in the Book of Instruction?  The curses and the blessings?  Was this book placed in the Ark of the Covenant also?  Do any of these exist in museums today?  That’s another question: Can you give us a nutshell version of where all of the scrolls that form the Bible were found?

A. The Book of Instruction is the Law.  It is basically some form of the previous four books we have been reading: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  I suspect the versions of the books that we have been reading were edited together to combine the instructions of the Law with the journey in the wilderness that we have been reading about.  There will be various references to copies of the Law throughout the OT, but it appears a copy of the Law did end up in the Ark.  It is very unlikely, however, that it was a copy that would have been used.  It is likely that other copies made by the priests were used for everyday study.

Regarding your other question, you’ve touched upon a complex subject: the transmission of the OT.  There’s a few things to note. First, the oldest known copy of the complete OT in Hebrew is called the Masoretic Text (usually MT), which is a medieval copy of the OT from the Middle Ages.  We have portions of the OT that are found throughout the Middle East, but there’s a catch.  In the late BC era, the OT was translated into ancient Greek, to create a document known as the Septuagint (from the Greek word for seventy from the number of translators who worked on it).  Most of the ancient copies of the OT are Septuagints: Greek, not Hebrew copies.  Modern Jews reject the use of the Septuagint (probably because it’s the version that many early Christians, including Paul, used), and feel that only the Hebrew is valid for translation.  So while we have many fragments of the OT in Hebrew, and several copies in Greek, the oldest complete text comes from the Middle Ages.

I hear the questions rising now: isn’t that a long time?  Yes it is, but one of the coolest discoveries of modern Biblical archeology was the discovery of what is known as the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940s and 50s- found near the Dead Sea in the West Bank.  This was a collection of nearly a thousand clay pots that contained scrolls of various sizes.  These scrolls contained various portions of nearly every book of the OT (the exception was Esther, for reasons that don’t concern us here).  The ultimate find, however, was a full-length copy of the Book of Isaiah on a 12-foot scroll.  The coolest part of the discovery: the text of Isaiah matched more than 99% of the Masoretic text, despite being more than a thousand years older!  This, I think, tells us the great care with which Jews have copied their sacred text (and the way early Christians transmitted theirs), and gives me great confidence that the copies of the Bible that we have today are accurate representations of what the original author and editors desired to write about God.

O. (31:16-18) I doubt this is news that sits well with Moses, especially on the day of his death!

Q. (31:29): So much for peace in the valley of milk and honey.  Why does the disobedience have to continue?  From reading the Bible thus far, it seems that God does have a hand in what disasters strike.  Is this just more of God testing to see who deserves His blessings?

A. The people continue to rebel against God.  And just because God can “see it coming” as it were, does not make the people any less responsible for their actions, which is part of what God is telling Moses here.  The purpose of the curses, the droughts, the conquest by other tribes, these are all tools used by God to call His people back to Him.  None of us deserve the blessings God provides for us.  Like the Israelites, our call is to be faithful to God, and He will handle the rest.

Tune in tomorrow: a song God gave Moses to share with the Israelites.

For further study: What are the oldest copies of the Bible? https://biblearchaeologyreport.com/2019/02/06/the-three-oldest-biblical-texts/

Shop: We are so blessed to have a merciful God who forgives us 70 x 7! https://livinlight.org/product/490/

Tomorrow’s reading
— Deuteronomy 31:30-32:52
— Psalm 90

 

Blessings and curses. Moses renews Covenant with all of the Israelites
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Day 78 (March 19): Offering of first crops of new land, obey God’s commands, blessings and curses

Credit: Wong Chim Yuen

Welcome to Livin’ Light’s Bible-In-A-Year challenge of discovering God’s love for us and His purpose for our lives. Here is the format for this great adventure: The daily reading assignment is posted at 5 a.m. After each day’s reading, Leigh An Coplin, the blog host, shares observations and poses questions about difficult passages to Rob Fields, who studied Christian Education at Asbury Seminary and currently teaches Biology in the Orlando area. To start from the beginning, click on 365 Bible Readings and scroll down to Day 1. The reading schedule is taken from The One Year Chronological Bible NLT. 

Today’s Reading
— Deuteronomy 26-29:1
(1406 BC) Click here for a timeline of the entire Bible.

Questions & Observations

Q. (Deuteronomy 27:15-26): I don’t remember the implementation of curses thus far.  How is “cursing” different from laws, rules and covenants?

A. As this passage is laid out, the curses have nothing to do with the Law.  Where the blessings and curses come into play is they are the result of obedience to God’s law (blessing) or disobedience/rejection of God’s law (curse).  Don’t think of the curses or blessings as being in a separate category from the regulations, they are the result of them.  That covers the laws and rules part of the question, and basically, Moses is telling people THIS is the covenant: if you obey, God will bless you like you have never known, and if you disobey, God will make you wish you were never born.  In the book of Judges in particular, we will see periods of both: disobedience brings about curse (the people are defeated in combat, crops don’t grow, etc.) and this, in turn, causes the people to repent of their sin, at which point, the curse is lifted.  Repentance will play a big role in the way the rest of the story will unfold in the OT.

Q. (Deuteronomy 28:15-68): Wow.  I don’t see that the Israelites really had a choice not to follow God.  I don’t know if this text is foreshadowing what will happen — that people are cursed in future readings because of disobedience — or the curses scare them so bad that they dare not disobey.

A. As I mentioned in the previous question, we will actually see instances of both.  Blessings and curses will also be central themes in the book of Judges, which we should be getting to in a week or two.  Hang in there.

Blessings!  See you tomorrow!

Podcast: The roles of blessings and curses of Deuteronomy, https://bibleproject.com/podcast/covenant-curses/ 

Shop: Following God will lead to immeasurable joy! https://livinlight.org/product/overflow-t-shirt/

Tomorrow’s reading: Deuteronomy 29:2-31:29

Ways of life regulations. Captive women must have their hair cut in order to marry an Israelite.
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Day 77 (March 18): Captive wives, firstborn rights, unruly sons, rules on living, chaste, worship laws, Edomites and Egyptians may worship, other regulations

Credit: Wong Chim Yuen

Welcome to Livin’ Light’s Bible-In-A-Year challenge of discovering God’s love for us and His purpose for our lives. Here is the format for this great adventure: The daily reading assignment is posted at 5 a.m. After each day’s reading, Leigh An Coplin, the blog host, shares observations and poses questions about difficult passages to Rob Fields, who studied Christian Education at Asbury Seminary and currently teaches Biology in the Orlando area. To start from the beginning, click on 365 Bible Readings and scroll down to Day 1. The reading schedule is taken from The One Year Chronological Bible NLT. 

Today’s Reading
— Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19
(1406 BC) Click here for a timeline of the whole Bible.

Questions & Observations

Q. (Deuteronomy 21:15-17): I’m confused.  I didn’t think God cared about birth order.  We saw that with the story of Jacob and Esau and Joseph and his brothers, among others.  Can you explain if “firstborn rights” are truly handed from God?  If so, why the contradiction with the earlier stories?

A. There’s not a contradiction in my mind.  What I have said on previous occasions is that God does not make considerations of birth order when selecting people for HIS purposes.  The people he selected and chose to bless (Jacob, Joseph, Isaac, etc.) were not the firstborn sons, but this does not mean that God makes no consideration for the way that society ran at that time: the firstborn son was to be given the largest share of the inheritance in order to maintain the family heritage from generation to generation.  This is very much in keeping with what God is doing here: setting up a society that will prosper, and be able to keep the land that God gives them.  In this time period, the best way to ensure land was passed from generation to generation fairly was that the firstborn son got the “lion’s share”.  But when it comes to who God desires to use for His purposes, birth order does not, and will not, matter.  Wait until we see how He picks King David.

O. (22:8): This sounds like modern-day legal issues.  How funny they are relevant today.  Luckily, not that many people have to get on roofs.

O. (22:20-21): I have just now realized another way of preventative measures the Israelites had in place: discouragement.  If they don’t obey, they get stoned.

Q. (23:1): Do I dare ask, how this could happen?

A. Well, I suppose it could have been the result of an attack or accident, but basically, this is talking about eunuchs: male slaves who had their genitals removed (usually as boys) as part of their entry into a life of slavery.  This could be because of the work they were assigned, such as with women, but also because by removing the man’s genitals, it would, in theory, prevent him from focusing on his own plans for family or personal gain.  Eunuchs were therefore considered good and desirable workers who would be loyal to their masters.  I am unclear what it is about being castrated that got them excluded from the assembly but I can tell you that one of the first Christian converts is a Ethiopian eunuch.  This is just one more place where the work of Jesus Christ brings salvation to ALL people, even those who had been previously excluded.

O. (24:5): If only this was valid today.  A one-year honeymoon would be wonderful!

Q. (25:5-6): Didn’t the NT revoke this law?  The law was just for the Israelites to protect the family lines?

A. Be careful with the terminology.  Nothing about the NT revoked the ways of the OT, it simply replaced them with a different system, that was not dependent upon human effort.  But the answer to your question is yes, this was all about protecting family lines.  This is actually the way that Ruth will be able to claim a new husband in her story coming up.

Q. (25:7-10) What?  More comedy?  Was having a sandal pulled off disgraceful?

A. I’m not sure.  It appears that this is an attempt at public shaming, in order to, once again, maintain family lines.  These verses will also come into play in Ruth.

Q. (25:11-12): The testicles hold the seed of the family lines?  So, harming them is a huge offense?

A. I think that’s part of it.  But also, since this law is set up based upon rules of retaliation (eye for an eye), and since the woman would, obviously, not have the parts in question, the hand is selected for the reprisal.  Isn’t that fun!

For further study: Having trouble accepting how they lived in Bible times?  Have you heard of presentism?
— https://www.patheos.com/blogs/thereligioushistorynerd/2022/10/presentism-in-religious-history/
— https://www.voicesandimages.com/presentism-dont-judge-ancestors-actions-by-todays-standards/

Shop: Share the source of Truth by wearing this Livin’ Light shirt: https://livinlight.org/product/truth/

Tomorrow’s reading: Deuteronomy 26-29:1

Deuteronomy Moses Bible open to book of Deuteronomy
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Day 71 (March 12): Moses gives instructions from God, Moses recaps 40-year journey

Woohoo!  We made it through Numbers.  Next up, Deuteronomy and, then, the Israelites finally get to the Promised Land.

Welcome to Livin’ Light’s Bible-In-A-Year challenge of discovering God’s love for us and His purpose for our lives. Here is the format for this great adventure: The daily reading assignment is posted at 5 a.m. After each day’s reading, Leigh An Coplin, the blog host, shares observations and poses questions about difficult passages to Rob Fields, who studied Christian Education at Asbury Seminary and currently teaches Biology in the Orlando area. To start from the beginning, click on 365 Bible Readings and scroll down to Day 1. The reading schedule is taken from The One Year Chronological Bible NLT. 

Today we start Deuteronomy the fifth book of the Bible.  For background information about Deuteronomy, go to http://www.biblestudytools.com/nlt/deuteronomy/.  We will be referring to this link before every new book to provide information about the author, time it was written and other scene-setting material.

Today’s Reading
— Deuteronomy 1-3:20
(1407 BC) Click here for a timeline of the whole Bible.

Questions & Observations

O. (Deuteronomy 1:12): Moses is certainly someone who is pure at heart.  Remember when after God chose him to take the Israelites out of Egypt that he told God he was not a good speaker.  And here, he is so blunt to the people.  Maybe it’s that old age thing where the older someone gets they are not afraid to tell you what they are thinking.  This verse just puts a little humor in the Bible for me.

Q. (2:5,9): This verse almost sounds like there is another whole story out there where God is governing other nations.  Did God say that he gave Seir to the Edomites and Ar to the Moabites in the Bible?  I love how we are seeing so much continuity in the Bible.  We have read about Esau and the Edomites and Lot and the Moabites before.  I know there are a lot more connections to come.

A. Though they are not the “chosen” people, in these verses we see that God remains faithful to other descendants of Abraham: either directly as with Esau, or indirectly as with Lot.  Note that this is despite the moral failings of both of these men.  God is generous indeed!  The verses that we read about here are where the territory is declared for these other tribes, so I don’t think there is another reference.  These holdings, and more importantly, God’s protection of them from the Israelites themselves, just point to the generosity of God, especially in places where we note that God’s blessings extend to future generations of those who faithfully serve Him.

Q. (3:11): Now that’s tall.  Now I can understand the Israelites fear of giants.  Do you know anything about if it still exists?

A. That is indeed a big bed, but it doesn’t given any indication of how big the king was.  Anyway, my notes indicate that they are probably not referring to a place of nightly sleep, but rather a sarcophagus: an elaborate above ground tomb — think of the one for King Tut of Egypt and you’ve got the idea.  So, they are describing a bed for eternal sleep.  According to my notes, iron sarcophagi have been found in this area of the Middle East- Amman is the modern day capital of Jordan.

Q. This whole day’s reading looks like a review of Numbers.  Is there anything special we need to take from this review?

A. I would say there is not a lot to note that we did not already cover in our look at Numbers itself.  Israel was given the promise of God to enter the land given to Abraham, but in fear, they doubted that even God could help them conquer this land of giants.  Because of this doubt, God condemned them to wander for 40 years, but now the next generation was on the cusp of claiming their birthright.  Moses is taking the opportunity to share his final thoughts on how the people have come to this point, and how they can avoid the mistakes of the past.

Shop: Be a billboard for God, wear T-shirts with messages from His Word on the front and the back!  https://livinlight.org/shop/

Tomorrow’s reading: Deuteronomy 3:21-5:33