 |  |
This outline has the advantage of placing all the spoken words of Moses together in
one member (B | C | 1: 6 - 32: 47) with the exception of the blessing pronounced
upon the nation in 33: 1-29, which stands alone. As these articles have in mind
readers who may not be able to weigh over the "pros and cons" of those structures which
deal with a wide range of subject-matter, we devote this opening article to an expansion
and verification of the outline given in The Companion Bible for the second member in
the scheme above (C | 1: 6 - 32: 47).
Analysis of the addresses of Moses to Israel (From The Companion Bible):
C | E | G | 1: 6 - 3: 29. Possession East of Jordan. Retrospective.
H | a | 4: 1 - 5: 33. Injunctions in Horeb. Retrospective.
b | 6: 1 - 11: 25. Injunctions on entry. Prospective.
J | c | 11: 26-28. Blessings and curses.
d | 11: 29-32. Gerizim and Ebal.
F | 12: 1 - 27: 10. Laws IN the Land.
E |
J |
d | 27: 11-26. Gerizim and Ebal.
c | 28: 1-68. Blessings and curses.
H | a | 29: 1-17. Injunctions plus Horeb. Retrospective.
b | 29: 18 - 30: 20. Injunctions re Dispersion. Prospective.
G | 31: 1-8. Possession West of Jordan. Prospective.
F | 31: 9 - 32: 47. Laws and Song: IN and OUT of the Land.
The opening member is retrospective and deals with possession East of Jordan; the
balancing member is prospective and deals with possession West of Jordan. These
members we shall now consider more in detail, so that the reader may see for himself that
these things are so.
The first member is retrospective, for Moses turns the attention of his hearers back to
that day thirty-eight years earlier, when God had commanded the nation to go up and
possess the land. He reminds them of the sending of the spies and the awful result.
Chapters 2: and 3: speak of Israel's journeys through the lands "this side of Jordan",
lands held by Og, king of Bashan, and Sihon, king of the Amorites. Chapter 3: refers to
the inheritance of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh, also on "this side of
Jordan". This is sufficient, we trust, to establish the headline of the structure; and we
now turn to the corresponding section, 31: 1-8.
This section is a short one occupying but eight verses. It opens with the fact that
Moses was one hundred and twenty years old, that he was no longer as active as hitherto,
and that he was forbidden by the Lord to go over Jordan. But though Moses the leader
had failed, Jehovah the Lord had not: "The Lord thy God, He will go over before thee
. . . . . and Joshua, he shall go over before thee" (31: 3). The opening section dealt with
Og and Sihon and so, in this balancing section, we find: "And the Lord shall do unto
them, as He did to Sihon and to Og" (31: 4). Words of encouragement addressed to
Joshua are then given; these are repeated in Joshua 1:, emphasizing that the point of