Day 49 – November 3, 2023: Deuteronomy 32-34 and Psalm 1

Even up to the end of his days Moses has not forgotten his responsibility to lead the people of Israel closer to God. The blessings that he gives out to the people seem a little more like castigations than like blessings. At least that is true for the song of Moses in chapter 32. He sings of the disobedience of the Israelites even while the entire the time God is portrayed as a Rock. That is followed up by a blessing upon the Israelites family by family which is much more traditional.

The death of Moses, as Jeff Marsh mentions, is peaceful. It is almost as if God said: Well done good and faithful servant, come and enter into the joy of your master. We see this in Matthew 25, but the parable falls short because God then gives that servant more responsibility than what he had before. But not so Moses. Moses is given true, final rest. I do find it interesting that Moses dies while he is still full of energy and his eyesight was unimpeded. He was 120 and so had lived a long productive life.

Psalm 1 provides us with the guide to why we read Scripture. Because it does help us to distinguish between the way of God and the way of…, well, not God.