This is cool, I never knew what Jack White was referring to
with “Seven Nation Army.” It is right
here: “When the Lord your God brings you
into the land which you are entering to occupy and drives out the many nations
before you—Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites,
and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you—when the Lord
your God delivers them into your power and you defeat them, you must put them
to death.” —Deut. 7.1–2
Old Testament
Book Five:
Deuteronomy
Primary Charge of Moses to the People
(cont’d)
Chapter 7: The
inhabitants of Canaan
Chapter 8: Injunction
for life in the promised land
This is truly amazing, the first truly shocking thing I have
read in the bible so far. I already told
you that according to the notes, Deuteronomy was written during the time of the
Kingdom of Judah, and the story was told (retold) as some kind of message for
the people of that later time, so the admonitions in Deuteronomy are
particularly geared toward that time.
(That’s not special to Deuteronomy.
The entire bible is written that way.
That is apparently, for instance, why there are so many contradictory
fragments throughout the earlier books, like the two creation stories. They are differing creation myths that had
been handed down, and the writers of the bible didn’t want to offend the
followers of either one, so they put them both in. Yes, to say it again, this is the book that
people actually believe is the infallible word of God.)
Anyway, the notes just had a spoiler. They say, “Those who gathered the
Deuteronomic traditions believed that the kingdom of Israel had suffered defeat
through succumbing to Canaanite influence.”
Wait, WHAT?!?!?! Earlier I was
complaining about how all this time, they are on the border of Canaan, and
rather than just going down there and taking over like they are supposed to,
they have to pause and wait one more time while Moses gives another
speech. Now, it turns out, if I’m
reading this right, when they invade Canaan, THEY
LOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am speechless. I
actually know very little about the bible.
I know the stories in Genesis very well, and I know that Moses lead
Israel out of Egypt, and the Red Sea, and they wander the desert for 40 years,
and God promised them Canaan. I know
that, then I have absolutely no idea what happens next. I know the stories, like David and Goliath,
Samson and Delilah, splitting the baby, but I don’t know the context—who is
this king that threatens to split the baby?
When is that happening? What’s
going on? No idea. So, we get to Deuteronomy, and Moses gets up
there to say, “Okay, we’re about to finally do it! I just want to remind you of the rules, now
let’s go get ’em!” After all this
promising, and knowing that these five books are the Torah, the most important
five, here is the climax, I thought surely this is it, this is what we’ve been
waiting for. Now, if I understood this
note correctly, God fails AGAIN! And
this is the God they are following?! It
is utterly amazing.
Okay, well, now for the first time ever I am actually on the
edge of my seat. Can they really lose
after all this time? Of course, it
wasn’t the bible itself that created this tension, it was the note-writers, but
I am still interested.
Okay, I read the introduction to Deuteronomy more
carefully. It looks like Israel will be
able to defeat Canaan. Then, at some point
later, Israel loses to Assyria. The
Kingdom of Judah is the only one that remained faithful to God, so, allegedly,
God spared them while he let Israel be defeated. Still, it gets back to what I have said a
hundred times about God’s faithfulness. Anyway,
Deuteronomy was written during the time of Josiah, a king in the Kingdom of
Judah, to convince the people of Judah to remain faithful to God (meaning, of
course, to the leadership).
Some other interesting things. Since we’ve established already God clearly
isn’t the only god, it really sucks that we got stuck with the god that we call
God! The Canaanite gods were gods of
fertility! How much more fun must that
have been than this dumb ole god we’re stuck with now?!
The language of this book has definitely changed. It’s stronger, more powerful in some
way. Here’s a cool quote: “Know then that the Lord your God is God, the
faithful God; with those who love him and keep his commandments he keeps
covenant and faith for a thousand generations, but those who defy him and show
their hatred for him he repays with destruction: he will not be slow to require any who so
hate him.” Deut. 7.9.
A couple more things.
This is interesting. Here
(chapter 8) the hardships and delay in the Wilderness is reinterpreted (the
note says) to mean that God was teaching them discipline before Canaan. The claim now is that Canaan is going to be
so great you will be tempted. You need
to learn discipline before I give it to you.
One more thing I must point out. Stupid-ass American Christian Taliban insist
that Islam is evil. One of their
arguments is that Muhammad was a warlord and the Koran advocates “holy war”
against” infidels. Did you pick up on
what this section was about? Read the
seven nation quote at the top again. God
tells them explicitly to execute all the non-believing Canaanites. How the fuck is Islam more violent than
Judaism/Christianity? (Of course I’m not
saying Islam is BETTER than the other two.
What is idiotic is to think any of them is better or worse than the
others.)
--bibletoenail
Quotables:
“Know then that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God;
with those who love him and keep his commandments he keeps covenant and faith
for a thousand generations, but those who defy him and show their hatred for
him he repays with destruction: he will
not be slow to require any who so hate him.”
Deut. 7.9.
“He humbled you and made you hungry; then he fed you on
manna which neither you nor your fathers had known before, to teach you that
man cannot live on bread alone but lives by every word that comes from the
mouth of the Lord.” 8.3.
“You shall devour all the nations which the Lord your God is
giving over to you. Spare none of them,
and do not worship their gods; that is the snare which awaits you.” —Deut. 7.16
“Be in no dread of them, for the Lord your God is in your
midst, a great and terrible god.” —Deut.
7.21
“He humbled you and made you hungry; then he fed you on manna
which neither you nor your fathers had known before, to teach you that man
cannot live on bread alone but lives by every word that comes from the mouth of
the Lord.” —Deut. 8.3
“Nor must you say to yourselves, ‘My own strength and energy
have gained me this wealth,’ but remember the Lord your God; it is he that
gives you strength to become prosperous, so fulfilling the covenant guaranteed
by oath with your forefathers, as he is doing now.” —Deut. 8.17–18
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment