The end of the book of Numbers details the defeat of the Midianites and takes us to the book of Deuteronomy which contains census stats, regulations, a reiteration of the ten commandments, the final details of dividing the land among the clans and warnings against falling away from the Lord.
Now, at the end of Deuteronomy, the two chapters prior to Moses' death contain a song that God commands Moses to teach the Israelites and his final priestly blessing over the people.
Both the song (ch.32) and the blessing (ch.33) are too long to reproduce here, but they are both beautiful and haunting.
The song warns the Israelites from falling away and it is sad to say that in many ways, this song became an accurate prediction of the Israelite decay that led to the exile nearly a 1000 years later.
The blessings pronounced here to each of Israel's tribes resembles those pronounced by Jacob over his sons at the end of Genesis. The blessings abound with a sense of God's working in the lives and history of His people.
What do we learn from these?
1. Moses is still responsive to God - God teaches him the song and he passes it on faithfully. The song contains painful truths about Israel's future unfaithfulness. It would have been tempting for Moses to avoid ending on a "down" note - but truth is more important than rhetoric and Moses remains faithful.
2. The blessings on each of the tribes reminds us of Moses' deep connection with his people and his knowledge of them. His farewell to them reveals both an intimate knowledge of them and a longing for their well-being.
This is a fitting end to life well-lived.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
