Psalm 119:105-112; Deuteronomy 32:1-10; Romans 15:14-21
Friday 10 July
Our Old and New Testament readings for today are both from towards the ends of their respective books, Deuteronomy and Romans. They are parts of the summing-up process in each.
Beginning with Deuteronomy, in chapter 31 Moses hands over his authority, and the leadership of the tribes, to Joshua. He is 120 years old, after all (31:2), and is going to die soon (31:16). At the end of chapter 32 Moses is told by God that he will die on Mount Nebo. In chapter 33 he blesses all twelve tribes. And then in the last chapter, chapter 34, he goes up Mount Nebo, and he does die.
This part of the Bible always reminds me of a scene in the film, Little Big Man (1970). An indirect protest movie against American involvement in the Vietnam War, native Americans were portrayed in a sympathetic light. That part I’m thinking of is when the now blind and elderly character, Old Lodge Skins, goes up a hill as well, and to the Cheyenne burial ground wearing his full chief’s regalia. ‘It is a good day to die,’ he says, as he offers his spirit to the ‘Great Spirit’, lies down and waits for death.
However, before too long it starts to rain. ‘Well, sometimes the magic works. Sometimes it doesn’t,’ he then says as he returns home to eat his dinner. I have wondered whether this was a parody of the end of Deuteronomy, or maybe at least inspired by Moses’ story. Incidentally, Chief Dan George (1899 – 1981) who played Old Lodge Skins was a Canadian activist who is credited for having done much to promote calls for justice for First Nations people in his own homeland.
Deuteronomy 32:1-10 is just the first part of a 43-verse song that God teaches Moses (31:19), and then Moses teaches the Israelites. I think it’s quite funny that, although Moses begins to recite it on his own (32:30), by the time he’s got to the end (and presumably this is because it is so incredibly long), Joshua has now started to give him a hand (33:44). It’s a bit like when Aaron and Hur help him to hold up his hands in Exodus 17:8-13 so that the Israelites can beat the Amalekites in battle.
Turning to Romans, I’m impressed today (as I was the other day) by just how little of the Old Testament Paul has to recite in order to be able to conjure up in the minds of his readers a whole plethora of Hebrew Scripture. Here, for example, at verse 21 we have, ‘Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.’ This is a quotation from Isaiah 52:15 (‘They will see and understand something they had never known’), but one by which Paul clearly means to allude, not just to that one verse, and not just to that one passage even, but to the whole corpus we now refer to as the ‘Songs of the Suffering Servant’ in Isaiah. The Biblical knowledge of those he’s addressing, it seems to me, is very impressive indeed.
Let us pray:
The Garden is Rich
The garden is rich with diversity
With plants of a hundred families
In the space between the trees
With all the colours and fragrances.
Basil, mint and lavender,
Great Mystery keep my remembrance pure,
Raspberry, Apple, Rose,
Great Mystery fill my heart with love,
Dill, anise, tansy,
Holy winds blow in me.
Rhododendron, zinnia,
May my prayer be beautiful
May my remembrance O Great Mystery
be as incense to thee
In the sacred grove of eternity
As I smell and remember
The ancient forests of earth,
(Chinook Psalter)