Daily Bible Reading: Deuteronomy 4:1-31 and Matthew 23:1-22

Deuteronomy 4 – Moses reminds the people of the commands he was given by God.”. . .that you may have life and may enter and take possession of the land.” They are told not to add anything to these laws. This is interesting, especially in light of the fact that Deuteronomy does add onto and change things given earlier in the Torah, but the Schocken editors think these new things are worked in here under "the bringing together of the tradition." This is all a revised retelling of the original story. It is interesting that now the people are entering not as Abraham entered—as strangers, but as conquerors. Abraham and his whole clan were not numerically able to conquer the land. Their claim in the land even at the time of Joseph (three generations passed Abraham) was only the burial site at Hebron, which Abraham had bought to bury Sarah; but now things are different. The Lord gives them leave to go in and take the lands he wants them to have, not buy them. The laws and precepts he gives are witness to God’s closeness and his justice. In part they are to be a light to other nations because of the wisdom and justice of the statues and way of life they represent. He reminds his people “not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live. . .”(4:9)

Recalling Horeb (Mt. Snai) where the people had gathered to hear God’s words before the fiery mountain - “Then Yahweh spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words but saw no shape, there was only a voice”(4:12) - and where He gave them the commandments and the covenant that bound them. No image of God appeared to them at that time; so, he remarks, “do not act perversely, making yourself a carved image in the shape of anything . . .” Yahweh “is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (4:24). The interesting thing is that the Lord tells them idolatry of the kind he warns them against “degrades” the people — not Him (4:16). If they are not faithful, God will scatter them and he even predicts this. But then they will repent. “But you will seek Yahweh. . .from there [exile], and if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul, you shall find him. . .” (4:29) “at the end of the day you will return to Yahweh your God and listen to His voice” (4:30).


Matthew 23 – Jesus tells the crowds that the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees occupy “Moses’ seat” so they have a right to interpret the Law of Moses; the problem is not with what they teach – it is that they do not DO what they preach. They are hypocrites. They are great “sayers” of the truth, as early Friends might have said, but abysmal “doers”. And when they DO pious things, they do it for the praise, position and power it gives them in the community. Jesus warns his followers not to seek titles of respect, even the titles of “Teacher” or “Father” or “Leader “(23:8-10). Have the goal of “serving” others – this is what the Lord really wants.

These hypocritical leaders stop people from entering the “kingdom of heaven”; they cross land and sea to convert people but make them worse than they are; they don’t even use common sense in interpreting the tradition—telling people that if the swear by the sanctuary they are not bound, but if they swear by the gold of the sanctuary they are. Which is more precious? They act as if they were blind.

Daily Bible Reading: Deuteronomy 1 and Matthew 21:23-46

Deuteronomy (Introduction) - The ancient name for this book was “mishne tora” or “copy of the Torah. But it goes beyond that according to Schocken. The whole mission and destiny of Israel is “recast” here. Here the man who thought of himself as halting of speech gives a series of eloquent speeches. Though Moses died on the steppes overlooking Jericho, its outlook seems to entail a knowledge and reverence for the monarchy established years later and the centrality of Jerusalem. Scholars have place origin of the book to around the time of the reign of Josiah (640-608 BC)—when he was trying to reform his kingdom, destroying “high places” of pagan worship. 2 Kings reports the “discovery” of the scroll in chapter 22. Schocken points out that scholars have remarked on internal references to the traditions and point of view of the northern kingdom (affinities to Hosea), so some think some of the book represents traditions carried south when the northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians. It may later have been further edited and written down at similar crisis points (is he referring to the later Babylonian exile?)

Deut 1 – Moses addresses people in the 40th year of the exodus journey as they stand just outside the land God has promised them. He retells the story of their journey, of God’s promises and how they came to the new lands. He reminds them of how he could not bear the weight of the task of settling their problems alone (a recurrent theme from the beginning). He has the tribes name leaders whom he makes rulers and judges to hear controversies. It is hard to read them and NOT see the impact these ideas have had on the world we live in: “Judge every dispute fairly, whether it concerns only your own people or involves foreigners who live among you. Show no partiality in your decision; judge everyone on the same basis, no matter who they are. Do not be afraid of anyone, for the decisions you make come from God. If any case is too difficult for you, bring it to me, and I will decide it” (1:16-17).

Then they go through the wilderness to Kadesh Barnea to the Mt. of Amorites. They send out scouts who report the enemy’s strength. They grumble against the Lord because they are afraid of the conflict ahead. Moses tries to reassure the people that the Lord will fight for them as he did back in Egypt, but he could not get the people to trust the Lord. The Lord gets angry at their unfaithfulness and swears no one will enter except for Caleb and Joshua. [Schocken says only Caleb and Joshua encouraged the invasion when others cautioned against it] The people finally decide to make the fight, but now God is NOT going to help them because they doubted Him. The Amorites whip their butts. They cry out to the Lord but He pays no attention to them.


Matthew 21:18-46 - In the morning he returns to the city and is hungry. He sees a fig tree by the road with nothing on it but leaves. He curses it and it withers. The disciples ask him how that happened. He makes it into a lesson about the power they may have too if they have faith. “[I]f you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done” (21:21).

When he goes into the Temple to teach this time, the chief priests and elders ask him by what authority he teaches and does these things. To confound them, knowing their fear of the people who have a high opinion of John the Baptist, he asks them where John’s authority came from. They claim not to know about John, so Jesus says he will not tell them by whose authority he ministers.

Then he tells them the parable of the man with two sons, one of whom defies his father when he asks him to do something but then obeys; and the other who outwardly complies but does not follow through and do what he said he was going to do. Which of the sons is doing his father’s will? They go with the one who gives the right response initially, but Jesus says no, the ones who actually DO the task are the ones who will be rewarded. It is not enough to “know” the father’s will or say you will do his will. The important thing is DOING the father’s will, and this the leaders are not doing.

Then he tells them the parable of the landowner who plants a vineyard and leases it out. The tenants continually abuse the agents of the absent owner. Finally he sends his son to collect his share thinking they will respect him. But they do not. They kill the son. Jesus tells them the owner will “put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time” (21:41). So Jesus wishes to penetrate the blindness of the Pharisees who threaten the life of the Son of God, owner of the vineyard of Israel. If they do not repent, the kingdom will be taken away and “given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom” (21:43). They know he is speaking about them and want to arrest him; the trouble is they fear the crowds who see Jesus as a prophet.

The biblical parables are designed to inspire a respect in the reader for the narrative of God’s dealings with the world seen over the long-term. As Joseph’s traumatic destiny in his family was really part of God plan to preserve and care for his people and not simply the sordid tale of brotherly jealousy and treachery, so the persecution of the prophets, the sending of the son Jesus and his rejection by the tenants (the Jews) must be seen as part of a greater plan God has to extend his salvation to all men.