Portion 44 of 54 · Deuteronomy
דְּבָרִים
Devarim
Moses begins his last speech by telling the story back to a generation that was not there.
Start by reading it
Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22
3 chapters. About 12 minutes at an unhurried pace.
Paired reading from the prophets: Isaiah 1:1–27
What happens
- 01
He retells the forty years, starting with the appointment of judges.
- 02
He tells the scouts' story again, from his own side, with his own frustration in it.
- 03
The wars east of the Jordan, and the land already settled.
- 04
Joshua is encouraged in front of everybody: your eyes have seen what God did.
The thing most people walk past
The man who said he could not speak talks for a whole book
Moses began by objecting that he was slow of speech. Deuteronomy is almost entirely his voice. Whatever he could not do at the bush, forty years changed.
One verse to carry
Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; ye shall hear the small and the great.
The first practical instruction in his farewell speech is about courts treating the powerless the same as the powerful.
A question to sit with
He is telling their parents' story to children who did not live it. How do you hand memory to people who were not there?
There is no answer key. This is the part you take with you.