EU 1-4{Sophy. Mamma, did Moses write anything more before he died?
Mamma. Yes; he wrote a fifth book, which men have called Deuteronomy. It is chiefly telling us what he said to all Israel when they were encamped by the river Jordan.
It was the eleventh month of the fortieth year, and Moses knew that soon he would die, as God said, and Israel would go over Jordan into the land; so that this book we are now going to read tells us his last words to the people who were so dear to his heart, because they were God's people. He first tells us that they ought to have taken only eleven days to come straight out of Egypt into Canaan, but that the children of Israel took forty years to get there.
S. Oh, but that was because they despised the beautiful country, and they, were afraid of the giants, and they did not believe that God could make them conquer them all; so God kept them in the wilderness all that time to punish them.
M. You are quite right; but it is a true Picture of man's heart. For when God gives us any blessing we are very slow about taking possession of it, because we do not believe how good it is. The moment we see how very good it is, we forget all the things that frightened us before, and we think everything else is nothing compared to it, and we try how quickly we can get all we can of God's blessing. And when we know how good it is, we also find out how God delights to give it to us; for it is joy to God Himself to bless us.
S. Were the children of Israel not afraid of the giants when they got into Canaan?
M. No. Alter they had destroyed Sihon and Og, the two kings, on this side of Jordan, we hear no more of their fears. They seemed to have proved how God would give them victory, as He said He would.
S. What did Moses say to the people by the river Jordan?
M. He began by going over their history, showing us how the Spirit of God kept account of every step of their way. He showed how God had told them to go straight to the mountain of the Amorites, for that was the first bit of possession He meant to give them. But, alas! when they got there, we know what happened.
S. They sent out spies to spy out the country.
M. Yes; and here Moses tells them that it was unbelief in them that made them wish to send spies instead of going straight in themselves; but God showed His patience with His people when He said to Moses: "Send the spies." And it was the spies that brought all the trouble upon them, because they brought an evil report of the land. And Moses told them that Jehovah, their God, had carried them as a man would carry his son all the way that they had come. In the wilderness, where there was no way, He had made a way for them, for He had gone before them to search out a place where they might rest. Still they had rebelled against Him; so that only Joshua and Caleb should see the good land. But the Lord said Caleb should see it, and the land that he had trodden on God would give to him and to his children, because he said: “Let us go up at once and possess this good land.”
And Moses reminded them how they had turned back into the wilderness, but the Lord had been with them there. He knew their walking through that great wilderness; all those forty years He had been with them, they had not wanted anything. But they took thirty-eight years to come back to the mountain of the Amorite, and when they were there again God said to them: There is the spot I promised you before; go now and take possession of it.
S. And they obeyed God this time, and they killed the king!
M. Yes: they killed Sihon the king, and took possession of his country. And the Lord said to them: Begin to possess, and this day I will begin to make all the nations afraid of you, so that they shall tremble when they hear of you. The king of Bashan was a great giant, and he had a great iron bed, which was four and a half yards long! And when Moses saw what the Lord had done to these two kings he said: Oh, Lord, thou hast begun to show Thy servant Thy greatness; and now I pray Thee let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, and that beautiful mountain, and Lebanon. But the Lord said: No; speak no more to me of this matter. But go up to the top of Pisgah, and look to the west, and to the north, to the south, and to the east, for you shall see it with your eyes; but you shall not go over Jordan. But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him, for he shall go over before this people, and he shall make them inherit the land which you shall see.
S. I am glad Moses saw the good land. Tell me what more he said.
M. He spoke about the blessing of keeping the word of God. He said: Listen, O Israel, to the word that I teach you; and do it, that you may live and possess the land. You must not add anything to God's word, or take anything from it. And he reminded them of the sorrow of disobeying the commandments of the Lord, and of the blessing of keeping them. And he said: This is your wisdom in the sight of the nations; if they see you doing everything in obedient to God they will say: Surely this, is a wise and understanding people.
And Moses reminded them of the day the Lord spoke out of the fire on the top of the mountain, when they saw nothing, but only heard a voice.
S. Why did they not see anything?
M. Because the word of God was enough. If they had seen anything in the Mount they might try to make something like it. But God said: You shall not make the likeness of anything you have ever seen, for if you do you will be tempted to worship it; and if my people make an image, or likeness of anything that I have forbidden them, I will scatter them among the nations, and I will leave them to worship idols which men's hands have made, which cannot see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But God said: Even then, if they seek me, they shall find me; and if they are obedient to my word I will not forsake them, nor destroy them, and I will not forget the covenant I made with their fathers. Thus Moses encouraged them to obey the Lord their God. Then he set apart three cities of refuge on that side of Jordan, to show that God took possession of the land he had given to Reuben, and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh.
S. Were the cities of refuge God's cities?
M. Yes. And the Levites lived there.