Dt. 31: I Predict...Uh-Ohs.

Deuteronomy 31:21b "...I know what they are disposed to do, even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath."

Chapter 31 had to be one of mixed emotions for Moses. On one hand, his death is near. On the other hand, he will rest with his fathers. So...death ushers in rest. On one hand, the people he has been leading for one-third of his 120 years are about to enter the promised land. The big payoff. The fulfillment of everything God has ever promised. On the other hand, Moses got himself banned from the promised land back in Numbers 20. On one hand Moses was telling the Israelites that God would go ahead of them and destroy the current occupants of the Promised land. A few verses later, on the other hand, God reveals how Israel would rebel and great disaster and agony. So...kind of sad.

I think it's interesting that in spite of the untold disobedience and grumbling and commandment-disregarding, all of Israel is still able to enter the promised land, while Moses will not be able to, in spite of his record and rapport with God. Something as seemingly innocuous as striking the rock at Meribah would keep him out of the promised land.

Three times in this chapter is given the command to be strong. Four times to not be discouraged. Is this a harbinger of the adversity to come?

The second half of chapter 31 is God's revelation that Israel will rebel, and it will be a result of their complacency, their self-satisfaction and their outright worship of other gods. God merely says that this will happen. Not that he would step in and stop it. Free will, anyone? God could only offer His end of the covenant. Even before God brought them into the promised land, He knows "what they are disposed to do." I think that is most telling about God. Even though He knows the future...knows what trouble people will get themselves into, He still wants good for them. God still leaves the offering of this great promised land on the table. It's as though... expected...a disposition to sin is not enough for God to break His end of the covenant. God even acknowledges that Israel will place the blame for these disasters on God breaking His promise to them...abandoning them. Even though it is all their fault...their choice...their doing.

Moses reacts with anger to this. Not at God though. He calls Israel a stiff-necked people, and I love how he goes after them fiestily, saying, "I've seen how rotten you can be when I was leading you, how much more evil will you be after I die."

Put yourself in Moses shoes...relief...disappointment...anger...

In the shoes of the tribal leaders...fear?...resolution...resentment?

Joshua...apprehension...fortitude...preparation? But nothing is going to be the way it was meant to be.

God even wrote a song about it...