Deuteronomy 3 – They move on to the region of Bashan. I think the entire region discussed in these early chapters of Deuteronomy is along the eastern side of the Jordan River. They are moving North of the Arnon River. Og, King of Bashan, marches against them and loses. They take 60 towns and again do a lot of killing – men, women and children. And there seems no shame in Moses or in the writer of this book in stating this very matter-of-factly. Moses divides Gilead between the half-tribes of Manasseh and Reuben and Gad. It is clear that the lands to the west of the Jordan will be a more difficult to take. Moses tells the men who have been granted the eastern lands that they are to help take the western lands and only then return to settle down. It is at this point that Moses begs the Lord to let him cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land. They are at Mount Pisgah (Mt. Nebo today) at the northeastern corner of the Dead Sea. The Lord is angry with him for the failings of the people. Note here the moral unity of the leader with his people – their participation in each other’s failings and strengths. This seems very primitive in a certain way, but it prefigures Jesus expiatory role and also [in the Catholic mind I also carry] the “holy logic” of the saints’ merits being available to us.
The other thing that cannot NOT come to mind when I read this chapter is the prophetic use Martin Luther King, Jr. made of this chapter in his last speech on April 3, 1968, the day before he was assassinated, in support of the sanitation workers in Memphis. These are his words:
We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
Matthew 22:23-46 - It seems that everyone in any kind of leadership place in Jewish society challenged Jesus at every opportunity. The supporters of Herod (Herodians) have tried to show the Jesus is a potential problem for secular Roman authorities. Now the Sadduccees who represent the Temple leadership class challenge him on the issue of life after death. Traditionally Jews did have a belief in resurrection of the dead though it was not clearly or definitively set forth. There was a lot of discussion of it throughout Jewish history. See an interesting Jewish blog on the question: http://www.jewfaq.org/olamhaba.htm - They ask Jesus how it will be in heaven for a woman who has had seven husbands (brothers who have died one after another). Jesus tells them that “when the dead rise to life, they will be like the angels in heaven and will not marry” (22:30). This is something he might have said even if she had only had one husband. But then he adds another argument - that the Lord is God of the living, not of the dead, so when scripture says, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” these must be seen as living people even though they died many years earlier. Both of these responses leave a lot of interpretive “wiggle-room.”
Now the Pharisees challenge him again; they send a lawyer to ask him which commandment is the greatest. He says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” and he adds a second part: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (22:37-40). After answering them, he asks them a question about who the Messiah is or will be. They respond that he will be a descendant of David, and Jesus responds with a puzzling question as to why David calls him (a supposed descendant, not yet arrived into the world) "Lord" in Psalm 110. The Psalm reads, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit here at my right side until I put your enemies under your feet’” (110:1). Clearly [sorry, humility is definitely called for here], Jesus SEEMS to be saying that the psalmist is quoting God’s words to the Messiah who is present WITH HIM in that moment (in eternity) but will not be entering into the world until [God] puts his enemies under his feet, and that that will not be for a long time yet. It is clear if you read on through the psalm that the Lord might have been talking to David, but it isn't clear why David who was thought to be the author of the psalm would have had the line read the way it does. All interesting! It shuts the Pharisees up for a while anyway.
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