You Must Love the Alien

“You must love the alien, for you once lived as aliens in Egypt.”  —Deut. 10.19

Take a moment to let that sink in.  How repulsive and anti-Christian is the American Taliban?

Old Testament

Book Five:  Deuteronomy

Primary Charge of Moses to the People (cont’d)

Chapter 9:  The basis for the granting of the land

Chapter 10:  The basis for the granting of the land (cont’d)

Chapter 10 (cont’d):  A final exhortation to future obedience

It seems to me the bible is definitely better written as it goes on.  It is interesting how it is not rewritten from beginning to end, they leave the earlier ancient garbage, then try to elide the problems or retell them (which is the point of Deuteronomy).  So, here Moses is retelling everything that happened to Israel (but again, this was written later, with the Kingdom of Judah as the audience).  It’s nice to read this, written better and focused better, you get a better sense of what they consider to be important from the previous 200 pages.

Moses’ point here is that Canaan is not going to be destroyed as a reward for Israel’s merit, but to punish Canaan’s wickedness.  (Echoes of Sodom and Gomorrah.)  Israel really pissed off God in the desert with all their moaning about how crappy manna is, and making the false gods when Moses was up in the mountain.  I have said this before, but I think the real story of the old testament is really a fascinating one, one that I’m not sure has ever been told from a modern point of view before, that of a God and a people who hate him, and the centuries long contentious relationship between them.  There is absolutely no love lost between God and Israel.  He says here he’s doing it because he promised it, not because he wants to or because they deserve it.  This puts a really interesting spin on the concept of “chosen people.”  It’s really hard for anyone to hear you’re part of the “chosen people” and not think it means you’re special, rewarded, better than others.  But here God says that’s not true at all.  I don’t even like you.  But, I made a promise so I have to go through with it.  Any time you hear someone say something about “chosen people” understand that that is not a bragging point at all, it is an arbitrary and undeserved designation.

Most important here is that even at this point, Canaan is not being destroyed because it was promised to Israel:  they don’t deserve it.  It is being destroyed because Canaan was itself wicked.  There are also interesting implications here for predestination.  God promised Canaan to Israel, indicating that he would have given it to them no matter what, right?  But he didn’t want to be unjust?  Is that it?  So did he influence Canaan to be wicked so he could justify destroying them?  What if they had been good people?  Or was it preordained that they were evil?  Or did God not make it happen, but he could see the future?  Then you’re back to the usual problem that a promise without consideration is not a promise.  (This story would be a brilliant illustration of consideration for a contracts class.)

This is interesting, I am not going to go back and check, but it sounds like this is a quite explicit retelling of what happened in Exodus, event by event.  Anyway, once again a human intercedes and argues with God and changes his mind.  According to this, God would have destroyed Israel at Mount Sinai if Moses had not convinced him not to.  Moses’ reasoning for it is very interesting, and again weirdly not strong.  He doesn’t remind God of his love for the people even if they are wicked.  Instead he tells God that if he destroys them, then “the people in the land out of which thou didst lead us will say, ‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them and because he hated them, that he has led them out to kill them in the wilderness.’”  Others would find God weak if he doesn’t save them.  An utterly selfish reason.  It never ceases to amaze me how condescending the Old Testament is toward God!  I love it!

Anyway, one other thing, I had forgotten that it was Aaron who made the false idols while they were waiting for Moses.  It’s so strange how the characters who in one section are clearly the worst of the worst later become important.  The unusual thing about the old testament compared to the new is that apparently all this stuff actually happened.  So they couldn’t just rewrite it; instead they had to add a new book to explain how now Aaron is a good guy.  It’s all so dumb.

The notes have a very interesting comment.  Moses is going through all the different times Israel was unworthy of God’s love.  And he mentions things that happened that were apparently not preserved in the OT.  That is interesting; this is some kind of history of Israel, but it’s not complete.  Or, maybe the notes are suggesting, they were recorded at one time but at some point have been edited out.

—bibletoenail

Quotables:

“Know then this day that it is the Lord your God himself who goes at your head as a devouring fire; he will subdue them and destroy them at your approach; you shall drive them out and overwhelm them, as he promised you.”  —Deut. 9.3

“So now you must circumcise the foreskin of your hearts and not be stubborn anymore.”  —Deut. 10.16

“He is no respecter of persons.”  —Deut. 10.17

“He secures justice for widows and orphans, and loves the alien who lives among you, giving him food and clothing.”  —Deut. 10.18

“You too must love the alien, for you once lived as aliens in Egypt.”  —Deut. 10.19