Deuteronomy 9-10:

Deuteronomy 9: The Consequences of Rebelling Against God
Deuteronomy 10: The Second Pair of Tablets / The Essence of the Law

In yesterday's reading we covered Moses' warning (from God) that God will destroy the Israelites if they do not follow God. According to the biblical author, the most dire way of disobeying God is to worship other gods or make idols that represent them. YHWH is the only God of Israel. In fact, YHWH is the only God. YHWH could have chosen other people to support, but he chose the Israelites because of a covenant made with their ancestors long ago. Therefore a failure to follow God's commandments can result in dire consequences. Today we will explore those consequences.

The Consequences of Rebelling Against God: Deuteronomy 9
Moses continues his speech to the congregation of Israel:

"Hear, O Israel! You are about to cross the Jordan today, to go in and dispossess nations larger and mightier than you, great cities fortified to the heavens, a strong and tall people..."
(Deut. 9.1-2)

Moses then warns them not to get cocky, because it is the Lord that will cross over before the Israelites and subdue and defeat the foreign people. Moses warns that it would be wrong for the Israelites to assume that they enter the promised land because they are righteous. In fact, the promised land is not given to them on their merit, but rather due to the wickedness of the inhabitants. And the land is granted in fulfillment of a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To sum up, the two reasons the Israelites are allowed to enter the promised land are:

1. The current inhabitants are wicked.
2. YHWH made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarchs.

It seems that from the author's point of view, Israel is given the promised land as a gift. It is something they were promised, though not as something they necessarily deserved. It is an inheritance, almost, from their dead parents who complained in the desert, as well as Abraham and Isaac, who had few progeny of their own and died (as did Jacob) without seeing the promised land.

The Israelites, after all, are a "stubborn people" (Deut 9.6). Moses recounts the places they have provoked the Lord: Horeb, Taberah, Massah, Kibroth-hattaavah, Kadesh-barnea. Each time the Lord must plead with the Lord to not destroy his people.

The Horeb account of the golden calf is described in detail: Moses remains on the mountain forty days and forty nights without food or water, and receives two stone tablets from God on which is written the covenant. The Lord then tells Moses to go to the Israelites, who have built a golden statue of a calf. Then the Lord changes his mind, deciding instead to blot them out (as he has done before). Moses rushes down the mountain, which is ablaze with God's fury. Moses sees the calf and smashes the tablets. Then he bargains with the Lord for forty days and forty nights to spare the lives of Aaron and the Israelites. Moses then burns the calf, crushes it into powder, and throws the dust into a stream.

At Kadesh-barnea Moses pleads with the Lord to remember the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, rather than focusing on the wickedness of the people. This seems to be the tact God takes regarding the Israelites and their "promised land."

The Second Pair of Tablets: Deuteronomy 10.1-11
Moses recounts how the Lord commanded him to create a second set of tablets on which God would again write the ten commandments. Moses is also to make an ark of acacia wood to hold them. Moses again spends forty days and forty nights on the mountain.

The Essence of the Law: Deuteronomy 10.12-22
Because there is so much going on in this passage, here is an analysis, breaking down this section into verse chunks:

So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being.

Translation: Follow me and everything will be okay.

Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it, yet the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today.

It is the ancestors that made this covenant possible. Without them, God would have little reason to usher this ragtag group of people who frequently doubt him into the promised land.

Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer.

What an interesting metaphor! Just as the Israelites circumcise their sons in a physical reminder that the Israelites are different and special to God, the Israelites must also make a change in their hearts in order to be considered different and special in the eyes of God.

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

The Israelites are not explicitly commanded to not take bribes or execute justice for the orphan and widow. The biblical author is extremely laconic, but is also as specific as possible. The stranger metaphor is a common one employed by the author to describe Israel's deliverance from Egypt. However, the metaphors of widows or orphans are uncommon, if they appear at all. Only the duty to the stranger, which makes use of the metaphor, crosses the divine/human threshold.

You shall fear the Lord your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise; he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen. Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy persons; and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in heaven.

The promise of progeny has been fulfilled. Now it's time to get going on the "land" part. Thank your ancestors and obey God.