DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 1 ~ 7

DEUTERONOMY

THE Books of Moses describe the process of revelation in five steps, and the division into five books roughly corresponds to the five areas of emphasis to be noted: the oneness of God, divine justice, revelation through prophets, divine guidance, and finally the subject of the last and fifth Book of Moses, human responsibility before the divine message.

The book consists of an extended sermon on the part of Moses, in which he recapitulates the events of the Exodus and the revelation of divine law, warning the people of their responsibility to obey God. The whole tenor of the book portrays blessings on those who obey and catastrophe and judgement on those who do not.

Both Muslims and Christians find the most interesting verse in the book to be 18:18, the former applying it to Muhammad, and the latter to Jesus. The Islamic view is largely fortuitous, and there is little in the text that clearly refers to Muhammad. The Christian view, by contrast, is simply silly. After all of the arguments are presented, one fact demolishes the whole structure. Christians generally believe that Jesus is God, God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. That is the most important thing about Jesus for Christians, unless it be his vicarious sacrificial death on the cross. No Christian believes that Moses was or is God, nor that he died on a cross for their sins. In the two central points of faith, Jesus and Moses differ. If the text of Deuteronomy refers to Jesus, then he is not God and he did not die on the cross. One just cannot have it both ways. In point of fact, the text and context seem best to refer to Joshua, who came in Moses' place and led the people into the promised land. Of course it may refer, in a secondary sense, to either Muhammad or Jesus, or both, if one is willing to ignore some clear differences between Moses and these later figures. This is a good example of how religious traditions get away with poor Scriptural interpretation, merely on the weight of their numbers and influence.

The Books of Moses are not particularly good sources of prophecy for either Jesus or Muhammad. But Deuteronomy, like the three preceding books, is filled with legislative matters of great interest. The food laws of Leviticus 11 are mirrored in Deuteronomy 14. Both Jews and Muslims still find them binding in general.

Again and again idolatry is excoriated in Deuteronomy, and the oneness of God proclaimed. The central text on the divine oneness is found in 6:4,5 and this text is a part of the Jewish daily prayers. The Samaritans emphasis 32:3,4 for the same belief and practice. These recapitulations of the divine unity appear again and again in the book in the context of warning against idolatry. Thus the Books of Moses enfold the central premise of revealed faith, the acknowledgement that God is one and one only, in the absolute sense, and accepts no rivals nor associates. The book comes to a culmination, with the wedding of these two principles of divine oneness and divine judgement in the grand passage near the end of the book, 32:39,40. In verse 41 this becomes the theme of joy for the Gentiles, thus expanding the ethnic focus of the Books of Moses to a universal faith, one for all people.

THE Book of Genesis establishes
That You alone are God among the fizz
Of claimants to Your throne, while Exodus
Proves You alone are just among the fuss
Of rival justices. Leviticus
Proves prophecy to enhance and apply
The law that You proclaimed on Mount Sinai.
The subject of the Book of Numbers was
That divine guidance enlightens Your laws.
The golden chain of revelation takes
Its final link in the last book that makes
Responsibility to revelation
The subject of Your judgement and Your station.
Punish me with Your love as my own ration.

WEEK 44 DEUTERONOMY 1

1 These are the words which Moses spoke
To all Israel upon a stroke
On this side of the Jordan in
The wilderness, and in the plain
Opposite Suph, between Paran,
Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and
Dizahab. 2 Eleven days' stand
From Horeb by way of Mount Seir
To Kadesh Barnea, no fear.
3 Now it happened in fortieth year,
In the eleventh month, on first
Of the month, Moses blessed and cursed
In speech to Israel's sons by all
That YHWH had given him to call
Commandments to them, 4 after he
Had killed Sihon king of the free
Amorites, who lived in Heshbon,
And Og who was king of Bashan,
Who lived by Ashtoreth and swore
In Edrei. 5 And then on this fore
Side of the Jordan in the land
Of Moab, Moses took in hand
To explain this law, saying grand,
6 "YHWH our God spoke to us beside
Horeb, saying 'You've come to bide
Long enough at this mountainside.
7 'Turn and take your journey, and go
Where Amoritic mountains show,
To the adjacency in plain,
In mountains and in lowland vane,
In the south and on the seacoast,
To the land of Canaanites boast
And Lebanon, as far as where
The great river Euphrates bear.
8 'See, I have set the land before
You, go in and possess, restore
The land which YHWH your fathers swore,
To Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
To give to them and all the hub
Of their descendants after them,
In generations head to hem.'

I too, Beloved, have taken forty years
On a fortnight's journey because of fears.
I too have stopped along the golden way
To complain of the stony path by day
And of the frost and darkness of the night.
I've balked at pillar of cloud and pillar of light.
And still I stop to hear Your prophet's word
Spoken in blessing and curse undeterred.
I take the bread of life from prophet's hand
Dripping with blood of two kings of the land
And bow to Your wisdom and Your command.
I lay aside the lovely Ashtoreth
That Bashan's Og worshipped beneath the swath
Of groves that fluttered on deserted wrath.

9 "And I spoke to you at that time,
Saying 'I alone cannot rhyme
To bear you. 10 'YHWH your Ælohim
Has multiplied you, as we deem,
And here you are today, as stars
Of heaven in multitude bazaars.
11 'May YHWH God of your fathers make
You a thousand times more to take
Than you are, and bless you as He
Has promised you. 12 'How can I be
Alone bearing your problems and
Your burdens and complaints in hand?
13 'Choose wise, and understanding, and
Knowledgeable men from among
Your tribes, and I will make them sprung
Heads over you.' 14 "And you answered
Me and said the following word:
'The thing you have told us to do
Is good.' 15 "So I took the heads true
Of your tribes, knowledgeable men
And wise, and made them heads again
Over you, leaders of thousands,
Leaders of hundreds by commands,
Leaders of fifties, chiefs of tens,
And officers for your tribes' kens.

The myriads of the fifties and the tens
And chiefs of thousand thousand citizens
Bewilder the poor brain that prays alone
Below the pines and firs, beside the stone.
Beloved, breathe on me that same blessing now
That You gave to the multitude somehow
To multiply their numbers and their faith
A thousand times. My company's a wraith,
And I am bound on Sabbaths that I find
That two or three together are combined
And rarely more. Yet You in promise kept
Are here beside the one who sang and wept.
And yet I pray for blessing come on me
To go beyond a Sabbath trinity.

16 "Then I commanded your judges
At that time, saying 'Hear cases
Between your brothers, and judge right
Between a man and in his sight
His brother or the stranger who
Is with him. 17 'You shall not make do
With partiality to judge,
You shall hear the small and not fudge
As well as the great, you shall not
Be afraid of any man's plot,
For the judgement is God's own lot.
The case that is too hard for you,
Bring to me, and I'll hear its due.'
18 "And I commanded you that time
All the things you should do in mime.

The cases that are too hard, who's to say?
My reading of Your Word leaves me to pray
Until the case is clear, no doubt Your own
Occulted guide is whispering what I'm shown.
Let him return and take the golden stair
That joins my inner chamber with the air,
And prostrate by my side where I repair
Into the fine and chosen room I share.
I shall indeed bring to Your prophet sent,
To Moses or Muhammad in the tent,
Any case that I fail to penetrate
With judgement and the clear Word's instigate.
Beloved, there is no judge of human mind
Who is impartial, still I shall be kind.

19 "So we departed from Horeb,
And went through all that vastly web
Of terrible desert which you
Saw on the way to their debut
In the mountains of Amorites,
As YHWH our Ælohim recites
Command to us. Then we came to
Kadesh Barnea. 20 "And I said
To you, 'You have come to be led
To the mountains of Amorites,
Which YHWH our Ælohim delights
To give us. 21 'YHWH your Ælohim
Has set the land before your dream,
Go up and take it, as YHWH God
Of your fathers has spoken prod
To you, do not fear, be downhearted.'
22 "And everyone of you then started
To come near me and said 'Let's send
Men before us, and let them tend
To searching out the land for us,
And bring back word we may discuss
Of the way by which we should go,
And of the cities we should know.'
23 "The plan pleased me well, so I took
Twelve of your men, from each tribe's nook
One man. 24 "And they left and went up
Into the mountains like a tup,
And came to the vale of Eshcol,
And spied it out both part and whole.

Ha! This prophet and divine guide reveals
The lacking of the knowledge that he feels.
When in their unbelief the people crowed
To send out spies to seal the proffered road,
He was well pleased. But when the two tribes came
Along with half of Manasseh, the blame
Was fast to fall from Moses' lip to spare,
Although their motive was both good and fair.
In broken vessels, my Beloved, You hide
Your messages of faith at eventide.
The gnarling of my roots shows battered heart,
And yet imperfectly I do my part.
Like Moses I rely on what I know,
Yet often have to let the knowing go.

25 "They also took some of the fruit
Of the land in their hands to boot
And brought it down to us, and they
Brought back word to us in the way,
Saying 'It's a good land that YHWH
Our Ælohim gives to our crew.'
26 "Nevertheless you would not go
Up, but rebelled against the mot
Of YHWH your Ælohim, 27 "and you
Complained in your tents, and said 'Since
YHWH hates us, He has made us wince
To bring us out of Egypt's land
To deliver us in the hand
Of Amorites, to destroy us.
28 'Where can we go victorious?
Our brothers discouraged our hearts,
Saying "The people in their parts
Are greater and taller than we,
The cities are great and greatly
Fortified, moreover have we
Seen the sons of the Anakim."'

The wilderness the world makes in my view
Is made up of two messages and true.
The one is that beside my hand and foot
The glories of the promised land are put
For my delight and for my nourishment.
The other is that giants have been sent
To darken happy days with sentiment.
I may choose to live in the shadow of
The foe or in the shining light of love,
Depending on which way my face in turned.
The one is always held, the other spurned.
Beloved, renew the lessons I have learned,
And if You must, make sun rise in the west,
But turn my viewing from the worst to best.

29 "Then I said to you, 'Do not dream
Of terrors, do not fear their beam.
30 'YHWH your Ælohim, who precedes
You, He will fight in all your needs,
According to all He did for
You in Egypt and on your score,
Before your eyes, 31 'and in the wild
Places where you saw reconciled
How YHWH your Ælohim bare you,
As a man carries his son true,
In all the way that you went till
You came to this place by His will.'
32 "Yet for all that, you'd not believe
YHWH your Ælohim for reprieve,
33 "Who went in the way before you
To search out a smooth place for you
To pitch your tents, and to show you
The way you should go, in the fire
By night and in the cloud's desire
By day. 34 "And YHWH heard evil sound
Of your words, and was angry found,
And took an oath, saying 35 'Surely
Not one of these men of this tree
Of evil generation see
That good land of which I once swore
To give to your fathers before,
36 'Except Caleb Jephunneh's son,
He shall see it before he's done,
And to him and his children I
Shall give the land he went to spy,
Because he wholly followed YHWH.'
37 "YHWH was also angry it's true
With me for your sakes, saying 'You
Also shall not go in there, 38 'but
Joshua son of Nun rebut,
Who stands before you, he shall go
In there. Encourage him to show,
For he shall cause Israel to know
Inheritance and apropos.
39 'Moreover your little ones and
Your children, who you say will stand
Victims, who today have no proof
Of good and evil, not aloof
They'll go in there, to them I'll give
It, and they shall hold it and live.

Was it You, my Beloved, who smoothed the way
Before the folk complaining every day
About the heat and cold, the lack of food
And drinking water for their famished brood?
Despite the guiding cloud by day, at night
The cloud of flickering fire and shining light,
They did not see that Your hand smoothed the road
Of hurtful things, and everywhere bestowed
Your blessings on their travelling and load.
I too have dwelling in the wilderness,
Among the rocky ways, where birches dress
In green in summer, in the winter white.
Do You smooth my way also out of sight?
I trust in You, Beloved, love and confess.

40 'But as for you, turn and take your
Journey into the desert store
By the way of the Red Sea's door.'
41 "Then you answered and said to me,
'We have sinned against YHWH, now we
Will go up and fight, just as YHWH
Our Ælohim told us to do.'
And when all of you had put on
Your weapons of war and at dawn
You were ready to scale the mount,
42 "Then YHWH said to me, 'Give account
To them, "Do not go up nor fight,
For I'm not with your blatherskite,
Lest you be defeated in sight
Of your foes."' 43 "So I spoke to you,
Yet you would not listen and do,
But rebelled against charge of YHWH,
And presumptuously went into
The mountain. 44 "And the Amorites
Who lived in that mountain's delights
Came out against you and chased you
As bees do, and drove you back from
Seir to Hormah from whence you'd come.
45 "Then you returned and wept before
YHWH, but YHWH would not listen more
To your voice nor give ear to you.
46 "So you remained in Kadesh pent
Many days, all the days you spent.

What can I say, Beloved, about the way
The folk rebelled, refusing on one day
To go into the glories of Your land
And come before Your throne that day to stand?
It is a thing that I know very well, this trait
So human it seems to come a day late.
But pretence of obedience on Sunday
To do what was required the day before
Is just another wicked way to say
Rebellion is the human heart's own store.
Who weep for bees' attack between the pews
Get no answers from You for what they choose.
Beloved, I come in as soon as Your right
Hand raises giving precious signal light.

DEUTERONOMY 2

1 "Then we turned and journeyed into
The desert by the Red Sea's view,
As YHWH spoke to me, and we skirted
Mount Seir for many days asserted.
2 "And YHWH spoke to me, saying 3 'You
Have gone around this mountain too
Long, turn towards the north. 4 'Command
The folk, saying "You'll pass the land
Of your brothers, and Esau's sons,
Who live in Seir, and they're the ones
Who'll be afraid of you. Therefore
Watch yourselves carefully in store.
5 "Do not meddle with them, for I
Will not give you their land to spy,
No, not so much as one footstep,
Because I have given with pep
Mount Seir to Esau as possession.
6 "You shall buy food as a concession
From them with money, that you may
Eat, and you'll also buy for pay
Water from them with money, that
You may drink water on the flat.

Since agriculture took over the store
Of gathering from nature’s fields and floor,
Most men have understood to eat one must
Pay silver or work oneself in the dust.
Now You Yourself, Beloved, make water such
As is not free to every tongue to touch,
But is always to be owned and to buy.
To drink is not a right under the sky.
When fresh air also as it seems becomes
A luxury, it too will have its sums.
Beloved, methinks You bow too freely to
What men do and what men may seek to do.

7 "For YHWH your God has blessed you in
All your hand's work that's without sin.
He knows your trudging through this great
Wilderness. These forty years' rate
YHWH your God has been with you, you
Have lacked nothing in what you do."'

I whirl upon the mountain of a land
Not my own, where I as a stranger stand
And look across a wilderness of great
Islands and lakes, and as appears my fate
I whirl and whirl, though not a step of ground
Belonging to Esau is to be found
In my possession. Still a stranger here
I keep whirling without fatigue or fear.
Tell me not, my Beloved, to go a bit
More northward, I would surely have a fit!
Or step off into treeless tundras where
The ptarmigan lies with the polar bear.
Let forty years turn on my turning round
And I shall fly up to the sizzling sound.

8 "And when we passed beyond our brothers,
The sons of Esau, and none others,
Who live in Seir, far from the road
Of the plain, far from Elath's load
And Ezion Geber, we turned
And passed by way of desert spurned
Of Moab. 9 "Then YHWH said to me,
'Do not harass Moab, nor be
Contending with them in warfare,
For I'll not give you some of their
Land as possession, because I
Have given Ar to the small fry
Of Lot as a possession too.'"
10 The Emim had lived there times past,
A people as great and forecast
As many and as tall as those
Called Anakim. 11 And so they chose
To regard them as giants, like
The Anakim, but in the strike
The Moabites called them Emim.
12 The Horites once lived in Seir's dream,
But the children of Esau came
To dispossess them to their shame
And destroyed them from before them,
And lived in their place to contemn,
Just as Israel did to the land
Of their possession by YHWH's hand.

Some think that You, Beloved, have only one
Chosen people and righteous under sun.
But every folk that follows after prophet
Sent by Your grace and never does get off it
Is chosen, loved, and given room to live
Upon the green sward and contemplative.
Esau and Lot are still found on the plot
Where they first learned and laughed and loved and sought
Your will, Beloved, and chose to follow it.
I pass by mosque and synagogue well lit,
And churches without steeples but still fit,
And see the faithful few in solitude
Bow down to find Your grace beyond the feud
Of factions joining hands for benefit.

13 "'Now rise and cross over the vale
Of the Zered.' So we crossed hale
Over the valley of Zered.
14 "And the time we took coming led
From Kadesh Barnea until
We crossed over the vale and hill
To Zered was thirty-eight years,
Till the generation of fears,
The men of war were consumed from
The midst of the encampment come,
Just as YHWH had sworn to their sum.
15 "Indeed YHWH's hand was against them,
To destroy them from crown to hem
From the midst of the camp until
They were consumed and had their fill.
16 "So it was, when all men of war
Had succumbed from the people's store,
17 "That YHWH spoke to me, saying more,
18 'This very day you will cross over
At Ar, Moab's frontier of clover.
19 'And when you come near Ammon's folk,
Do not harass or give a poke,
For I'll not give you of the land
Of Ammon's folk to hold in hand,
Because I've given it to Lot's own
Descendants as a plot to own.'"

The generation that followed the spies
Who deceived the people with cunning lies
Were all consumed. Indeed, Beloved, no need
Compelled You to consume them from their seed.
Time was enough to bring them to their death,
And time takes also righteous from their breath.
Life's punishment enough for every sin,
And reward great enough to rejoice in.
Let live and live is welcome counsel given
To desert folk who've lived and marched and striven.
Let die and die is no command at all
Since everyone must follow the clear call
To walk a while and wait upon the sod,
And then appear before the face of God.

20 That was too held as giants' land
Since giants used to live at hand.
Ammonites call them Zamzummim,
21 A people as great it would seem
Many and tall as Anakim.
But YHWH destroyed them before them,
And they threw them out from their hem
And lived there instead, 22 just as He
Had done for Esau's sons freely,
Who lived in Seir, when He destroyed
The Horites before them employed.
They threw them out to live instead,
Even to this day. 23 The Avim,
Who lived in villages ahead
As far as Gaza, Caphtorim,
Who came from Caphtor, destroyed them
Inheriting their diadem.

The people follow one by one upon
The earth to stay awhile and wait for dawn.
The Word claims for their sins they were thrown out
To give another folk the chance to doubt.
The names live on to witness to their shame
While one by one the others take their claim.
Beloved, I doubt the principle is true
That manifest destiny comes from You.
The innocent and brave sometimes are lost
To the invader who flies at the cost.
The violent also each have their day
And seem successful in relentless way.
The guiding hand invisible seems weak
To those who fall beneath the swords that speak.

24 "'Rise, take your journey, and cross over
The Arnon river, every drover.
Look, I have given into your hand
Sihon the Amorite and band,
King of Heshbon, and all his land.
Begin to keep it, and engage
Him in the battle to his rage.
25 'This day I will begin to put
The dread and fear of you on foot
Of nations under the whole sky,
Who shall hear the report you vie,
And shall tremble and be in toil
Because of you and what you spoil.'
26 "And I sent messengers out from
The Wilderness of Kedemoth
To Sihon king of Heshbon come,
With words of peace, saying to both,
27 'Let me pass through your land, and I
Will keep only to the road, I
Will turn neither to right nor left.
28 'You'll sell me food and without theft
For money, that I may eat, give
Me water for money to live,
That I may drink, only let me
Pass through on foot, 29 'just as the free
Sons of Esau who live in Seir
And Moabites who did appear
In Ar did for me, till I cross
The Jordan to the land which boss
YHWH our Ælohim gives to us.'
30 "But Sihon king of Heshbon would
Not let us pass through land for good,
For YHWH your Ælohim was there
To harden his spirit and bare
His obstinate heart, that He might
Deliver him into your might,
As it is this day. 31 "And YHWH said
To me, 'See, I've begun instead
To give Sihon and his land over
To you, to the sheep and the drover.
Begin to hold it, that you may
Inherit his land in one day.'

Beloved, there many be who hold the fort
And guard the way, many of every sort,
Who would refuse my passing as I whirl
Despite the fact I pay for every curl.
A Sihon sits on every seat of power
And wields a sceptre for what seems an hour
Perhaps to You, but what is generations
In terms of humankind and human nations.
I do not ask that You give me their land,
Nor do I ask for bread and water's stand.
The prayer's enough, Jesus said daily bread.
I ask for draughts from the Kauthar instead.
When one stands with the shining bowl of green,
Then I shall know Sihon's gone from the scene.

32 "Then Sihon and all his folk came
Out against us to fight in shame
At Jahaz. 33 "And YHWH our God gave
Him over to us like a slave,
So we defeated him, his sons,
And all his people on their buns.
34 "We took all his cities that time,
And utterly destroyed the prime
Men, women, and little ones there
In every city, everywhere
We left remaining none. 35 "We took
Only the livestock of the crook
As plunder for ourselves, with spoil
Of the cities to pay our toil.
36 "From Aroer, upon the bank
Of River Arnon, and the rank
Of the city in the ravine,
As far as Gilead is seen,
There was not one city too strong
For us, YHWH our God was along
To give them all to us. 37 "Only
You did not go near the land's lea
Of Ammon's folk, nor anywhere
Along the River Jabbok there,
Or to the cities of the hills,
Or wherever YHWH our God wills
That we not go to lay land bare.

I guess You had Your reasons when You swept
Sihon and his folk from the land they kept.
Beloved, I wonder though about the spoil.
Not only men and women met the coil
Of death at the hand of Your chosen race.
The children too were sacrificed in place.
They only kept the cattle live and sound.
I've always thought a cow a likely round,
And calves especially are a favourite beast.
I take exception to the bulls because
One cannot trust what they might do with claws.
In India cows are better than the people.
I've sympathy with that if not with steeple.
Are some folks born to be wicked increased?

DEUTERONOMY 3

1 "Then we turned and went up the road
To Bashan, Og king of the load
Of Bashan came out against us,
He and all his people to fuss,
To battle at Edrei. 2 "And YHWH
Said to me, 'Do not fear him, do,
For I've delivered him to you,
And all his people and his land
Into your hand, and you shall stand
To do to him as you did to
Sihon king of the Amorites,
Who lived at Heshbon in their rights.'
3 "So YHWH our God also delivered
Into our hands Og lily-livered
King of Bashan, with all his folk,
And we attacked until he woke
With no survivors left to soak.
4 "And we took all his cities then,
There was not a city of men
We did not take away from them:
Sixty cities, and all the hem
Of Argob's region, reign of Og
In Bashan ranging like a dog.
5 "All these cities were fortified
With high walls, gates, and bars, beside
A multitude of country towns.
6 "We completely wiped off their frowns,
As we did to king of Heshbon,
Completely destroying Sihon,
The men, women, and children of
Every city mentioned above.
7 "But all the livestock and the spoil
Of the cities we took as toil
Of booty for ourselves to keep.
8 "And at that time we took the sweep
Of land from the hand of two kings
Of Amorites on this side's wings
Of Jordan, from the brook Arnon
Clear up to the mount called Hermon
9 'The Sidonians call Hermon
Sirion, and the Amorites
Call it Senir, 10 "and all the lights
Of the cities of the plain, all
Gilead, and all Bashan call,
As far as Salcah and Edrei,
Cities of Og's kingdom in Bashan.
11 "For only Og the king of Bashan
Remained remnant of giants' nation.
Indeed his bedstead to portray
Was an iron bedstead. Is it not
In Rabbah of Ammon's folk's plot?
Nine cubits is its length and four
Cubits its width, by standard score.

The age of iron it seems progressed so far
That Og had an iron bedstead and cigar.
Those days iron was used mostly on the run
As weapons in the months of war and fun.
Both power and wealth are hidden in the fact
That Og had an iron bedstead not compact,
But nine arm-lengths in length and four such wide.
Today the milling run have king-sized beds
Some just as long and all wider beside.
I guess that gives them wealth and power as heads.
My lakeside hermitage has cots of wood
Which I guess means I'm less than any should
Be in this day and stage of iron hearts
And hands and heads, and painted plastic carts.

12 "And this land we held at that time,
From Aroer, beside the clime
Of River Arnon, and the half
Of the mountains of Gilead
And its cities, I gave in staff
To sons of Reuben and of Gad.
13 "The rest of Gilead, and all
Bashan, the kingdom of Og's call,
I gave to half Manasseh's tribe.
All that Argob's land does describe,
With all Bashan, was called the land
Of giants. 14 "Jair the son at hand
Of Manasseh took all the land
Of Argob, as far as the border
Of the Geshurites and the hoarder
Maachathites, and called Bashan by
His own name, Havoth Jair, till now.
15 "Also I gave Gilead in vow
To Machir. 16 "To the Reubenites
And the Gadites from Gilead's heights
I gave as far as Arnon's brook,
The middle of the river took
To be the border, as far as
The River Jabbok, and that has
The border of Ammon's folk there,
17 "The plain also, the border where
It goes by Jordan from the lake
Chinnereth as far as the wake
East of the Salt Sea, there below
The slopes of Pisgah as they show.
18 "Then I commanded you that time,
Saying 'YHWH your God's given prime
Land to you to possess. All you
Men of valour shall cross on cue
And armed before your brothers, who
Are the sons of Israel. 19 'But your
Wives, your little ones, also your
Livestock (I know you have much cattle)
Shall stay in cities while you battle
Which I have given you, 20 'until
YHWH has given rest to fulfil
Your brothers as to you, and they
Also possess the land which they
Receive of YHWH your God beyond
The Jordan. Then you may abscond
Each to his own possession which
I've given you this side the ditch.'

The grand vicissitudes of Israel's folk
Through invasions, captivities and stroke
Contrast with peaceful Ammon, who's still there
And constant after four thousand years' care
And more, and safe within his given land,
And still faithful to You, Beloved, to stand
On proclamations there's no god but God
In skies above or on the desert sod.
Bless Ammon for his faithful witness here,
Bless Jordan that his faith is crystal clear,
And bless the ruins of the cities old
Where Your name for the centuries was told.
The desert and the flame and kingly right
Still shine below Your heavens and Your night.

21 "And I commanded Joshua
At that time, saying 'Your eyes draw
All that YHWH your God's done to these
Two kings, so will YHWH do to freeze
All the kingdoms through which you pass.
22 'You must not fear them or their class,
For YHWH your Ælohim Himself
Fights for you against man and elf.'

You fight for Your people the promised way
So they need not compel commandment's sway
Prohibiting the taking of a life
By stealth or through warfare and wanton strife.
Ah promise sweet! But what about the times
When Huguenot was slaughtered for his crimes
And Covenanter chased into the fells
Where he fell victim to the Catholic hells?
Say of the Old Believers in their rights,
Andreas Fischer's folk, and the delights
Of war and torture to the marshland masses
Who could not hide behind the burning grasses.
The Exodus was once, again, again
The innocent wonder and wonder when.

WEEK 45

23 "I pleaded with YHWH at that time,
Saying 24 'O Lord YHWH, You in rhyme
Have begun to show Your servant
Your greatness and Your mighty vent,
For what god is in heaven or earth
Who can do anything of worth
Like Your works and Your mighty deeds?
25 'I pray, let me cross here with speeds
And see the good land over there
Beyond the Jordan, pleasant share
Of mountains, and of Lebanon.'
26 "But YHWH was angry with my bun
On your account, and would not hear.
So YHWH said to me, 'That's enough!
Don't speak of this thing in My ear.
27 'Go up to Pisgah's peak in rough,
And lift your eyes toward the west,
The north, the south, the east, and test
It with your eyes, for you shall not
Cross over Jordan at this spot.
28 'But command Joshua, and give
Him courage and the strength to live,
For he shall go before this folk,
And he shall cause them as I spoke
To inherit the land you see.'
29 "We stayed in opposite valley
Across from Beth Peor's levee.

Grave Kelpius had hoped to be transported
Alive to the skies where angels cavorted,
And so did even my grandmamma when
She realized Christ had not come again
As she lay on her deathbed disappointed.
So hope the great and holy, the anointed.
I also hope from day to day to see
The visions of the homeland from the tree
Atop my Pisgahs where I take my guard
And pray that You will glorify the shard.
My visions also show a shining land
And one where no night comes to still the hand,
But You are ever fresh within the soul
To bound the sea and shore with waited toll.

DEUTERONOMY 4

1 "Now, Israel, listen to the laws
And judgements which I teach your pa's
To keep, that you may learn to live,
And go in and take what He'll give
Of the land, which YHWH Ælohim
Of your fathers gives you for scheme.
2 "You shall not add to the word which
I command you, nor take a stitch
From it, that you may keep the law
Of YHWH your Ælohim in awe
Which I command you. 3 "Your eyes saw
What YHWH did at Baal Peor,
For YHWH your Ælohim before
Destroyed among you all the men
Who followed Baal of Peor's yen.

Let none presume I add a tittle to
Your law, Beloved, in these lines not a few
That I place between doggerel paraphrase
Of what Your law would gracefully appraise.
Let none presume I've come here to subtract
A Massoretic sign, I've left intact
The text, I only babble, babble on
My shadowy responses to Your dawn.
I listen to the Hebrew words arise
In simple singing lays toward the skies
And love You but the more because of those
Too human words by which, Beloved, You chose
To share with humankind Your heart of love.
I wonder what You had been thinking of.

4 "But you who held to YHWH your God
Are alive today on the sod,
Every one of you. 5 "Surely I
Have taught you statutes by the by
And judgements, just as YHWH my God
Commanded me by reed and rod,
That you should act according to
Them in the land which you go to
Possess. 6 "Therefore be careful to
Observe them, for this is your sense
And understanding in presence
Of the peoples who'll hear all these
Statutes, and then they say with ease,
'Surely this great nation is wise,
A truly understanding folk.'
7 "For what other great nation spoke
That has Ælohim so near it,
As YHWH our God has made us fit
To be near us, for whatever
We may call upon Him to stir?

Nation indeed! What nation now exists
Either beneath the sun or in the mists
Of new obscurity the modern world
Grants to those who miss media unfurled,
That keeps Your word? No single congregation,
Much less a country or denomination,
Sets heart on even Your ten words alone.
Ah me, the world is made of graven stone!
No wonder You with divine, astute care
Tell that rare nation to remember their
Promises to observe Your statutes’ share.
To read Your law is sweetness in the mouth,
But when the meat comes pushing out the south,
Rare is the soul that does not find it bare.

8 "And what great nation is there that
Has such statutes and righteous mat
Of judgements as in all this law
Which I set before you this day?
9 "Only keep yourself in His awe,
And diligently keep your way,
Lest you forget the things your eyes
Have seen, and lest they meet demise
Departing from your heart to be
All the days that your life will see.
And teach them to your children and
Your children's children by command,
10 "Of the day you stood before YHWH
Your God in Horeb, and when YHWH
Said to me, 'Bring the folk to Me,
And I will let them hear and see
My words, that they may learn to fear
Me all the days they shall appear
Upon the earth, and that they may
Teach their children in the right way.'
11 "And then it was that you came near
And stood at the foot of the sheer
Mountain, and the mountain with fire
Burned to the sky up higher and higher,
With shadow, cloud, and thick darkness.
12 "And YHWH spoke to your ear to bless
Out of the fire. You heard the sound
Of the words, but saw no form round,
You only heard a voice 13 "declare
To you His covenant and share
Which He commanded you to do,
The ten commandments, laws so few,
And He wrote them on two tablets
Of stone, if anyone forgets.

It seems I too stand in the shadow of
That mount and look on it in awe and love.
I teach my children as though I had been
In that vast throng to hear of right and sin.
Perhaps I was in womb or loin of one
Who became my progenitor when done.
Who knows so well his genealogy?
I know but less of what my eye can see
Of You: no form meets form within the fire,
No vision of Your being my desire.
You are not in the thunder nor the flash
Of lightning that comes on me in a crash.
The still small voice in cantillation taught
Becomes Your dwelling audible in thought.

14 "And YHWH commanded me that time
To teach in melody and rhyme
You statutes and judgements, that you
Might observe them and always do
Them in the land which you cross to
Possess. 15 "Take careful heed, for you
Saw no form when YHWH spoke to you
At Horeb out the midst of fire,
16 "Lest you act corruptly, desire
To make for yourselves graven god,
A carved image in form and prod
Of any figure: likeness of
Male or female, 17 "the likeness of
Any beast that's on earth below
Or like a winged bird that may go
Flying along the air above,
18 "The likenesses of things that creep
On the ground or likeness of deep
Water fish there beneath the earth.
19 "And take heed, lest you in your mirth
Lift your eyes to the sky, and see
The sun, the moon, and stars go free,
All the host of the sky, you feel
Driven to worship them a deal
And serve them, which YHWH your God's given
To all the folks under all heaven
As heritage. 20 "But YHWH has taken
You and brought you out unforsaken
Of the iron furnace, and out of
Egypt, to be His folk of love,
And His inheritance, as you
Are this day. 21 "Furthermore was YHWH
Angry with me and for your sakes,
And swore that I for my mistakes
Would not cross over Jordan's stream,
And I'd not enter that good land,
The one that YHWH your Ælohim
Is giving you to have in hand.

I cannot make an image of Your form,
Beloved, because Sinai in thunder storm
Gave no clue of Yourself, yet this I know
There is no male nor female that can show,
The theriomorphic images relate
Nothing at all about You or Your fate.
No fish, no sun can fill the temple place
With form to model image to Your face.
Yet You are real beyond the formal weight
Of any of the things that You create.
More person and not less than those I think
Are persons most godly upon the brink.
Beloved, no thing can show comparison
With You because You are uniquely one.

22 "But I must die here in this land,
I must not cross, by His command,
Over the Jordan, but you shall
Cross over and take that good land.
23 "Take heed to yourselves, lest you shall
Forget the covenant of YHWH
Your God which He has made with you,
And make for yourselves a carved image
In the form of anything's scrimmage
Which YHWH your God's forbidden you.
24 "For YHWH your God's consuming fire,
And jealous El. 25 "When you desire
To beget children and their sons
Have grown old in the land by tons,
And act corruptly and they make
A carved image for the form's sake
Of anything, and do what's wrong
In the sight of YHWH your God strong
To provoke Him to anger, 26 "I
Call heaven and earth to witness by
You this day, that you soon will fly
Wholly from the land which you cross
Over the Jordan without loss
To possess, you will not prolong
Your days in it, but end your song.

You warned the people all along to make
No image or likenesses for Your sake.
Yet by the centuries that measure life
The institutions that arose in strife
Make images both in paint and in wood
And stone to express You as though they could.
The churches and the mosques together take
Theologies and so in concepts stake
More images than heathens in their wake.
Such images cannot be cut by knife
Or melted down to dross by their midwife.
How shall I shake corruption of that kind
From off the polished surface of my mind?
Beloved, You must lay hold and play the fife.

27 "And YHWH will scatter you among
The nations, and you will unstrung
Be left few in number among
The nations where YHWH will drive you.
28 "And there you will serve gods for YHWH,
The work of men's hands, wood and stone,
Which neither see nor hear a tone
Nor eat nor smell. 29 "But from there you
Will seek YHWH your God, and you will
Find Him if you seek Him to fill
With all your heart and all your soul.
30 "When you are in distress or toll,
And all these things come upon you
In the latter days, when you turn
To YHWH your God and do not spurn
His voice but obey, 31 'because YHWH
Your God is a merciful El,
He will not forsake you nor well
Destroy you, nor forget the pact
Of your fathers He swore in fact
To them. 32 "For ask now of the days
That are past and before your plays,
Since the day Ælohim created
Man on the earth and then instated,
And ask from one end of the sky
To the other, whether great try
Like this has happened, or the like
Has been heard on the sea or pike.

Does this mean that You see and hear and smell?
And yet You have no form that I can tell.
Without the need of eye You trace the spell,
Without the need of ear You hear the bell.
Without the need of tongue You speak right well
Above the thunders and the lightning's knell.
Beloved, among the scattered I take flight
To find Your being above sun and light,
Beneath the depth of darkness of the night.
Beloved, among the scattered, I, Hittite,
Like Uriah and Zohar, join the fight,
Bowing to You, God of the free Semite,
And so my Celtic soul joys in Your might,
And comes to take its place in divine sight.

33 "Did any people ever hear
The voice of Ælohim speak clear
Out of the midst of fire, as you
Have heard, and live to tell the due?
34 "Or did Ælohim ever try
To go and take Himself a nation
From the midst of another nation,
By trials, signs, wonders, war, by might
And by an outstretched arm in sight,
And by great terrors, according
To all that YHWH your God did bring
For you in Egypt to your eyes?
35 "To you it was shown to be wise
And know that YHWH Himself is God,
There is none other besides Him.
36 "Out of heaven He was not dim
But let you hear His voice, that He
Might teach you, and upon earth He
Showed you His great fire, and you heard
His words out of the midst inured
Of fire. 37 "Since He loved your parents,
Therefore He chose their descendants
After them, and He brought you out
Of Egypt with His seen presence,
And with His mighty power stout,
38 "Driving out from before you nations
Greater and mightier in their stations
Than you, to bring you in, to give
You their land as a place to live,
As it is this day. 39 "Therefore know
This day, and in your heart bestow,
That YHWH Himself is Ælohim
In heaven above and on the gleam
Of earth beneath, there is no other.
40 "You shall therefore keep with your brother
His statutes and His commandments
Which I command you common sense
Today, that it may go well both
With you and with your children's oath
After you, and you may prolong
Your days in the land of your song
Which YHWH your God is giving you
For all time where to live and do."

Granted, Beloved, it was a thing unique
That You Yourself came down to take a peek
At the atrocities Egyptians did
That year, to whom and what, and where they hid.
And granted also You never spoke out
With thunder and lightning and with a shout
Except on Sinai when You gave the ten.
But is that uniqueness blessing to men?
I myself would find more to thank You for
If You had led more people to the shore
Of freedom from oppression. Every state
Has those it freely crushes in the gate.
Why don't you speak again and raise a hand
To help the downtrodden in every land?

41 Then Moses set apart three cities
On this side of the Jordan gritties,
Toward the rising of the sun,
42 That the manslayer when he's done
Might flee there, one who kills his neighbour,
But not on purpose nor with labour,
Without hating him in time past,
And that by fleeing to one cast
Of these cities, then he might live:
43 Bezer there in the wilderness
On the plateau for Reubenites,
Ramoth in Gilead to give
To the Gadites a place to bless,
And Golan in Bashan in sights
Of children of the Manassites.

Three cities on the river's other side
Show Your concern for those who must abide
Outside the land of Canaan. With respect,
That shows this law is riddled with neglect
For those who live on other continents.
The way it is, it cannot make good sense
Outside of Palestine. I do not say
This in a mean or criticizing way,
But rather to praise You that You design
To make a local application fine
Of Your will and Your law. I praise Your name
That guidance is not limited to fame,
But in villages and in times far flung
There are still ways and means Your name is sung.

44 Now this is the law which Moses
Set before Israel's folk like kiss.
45 These are the testimonies and
The statutes, and the judgements’ strand
Which Moses spoke to Israel's folk
After they came from Egypt's stroke,
46 On this side of the Jordan and
In the vale opposite the land
Of Beth Peor, and in the land
Of Sihon king of Amorites,
Who lived at Heshbon, whom in fights
Moses and Israel's folk defeated
After they came from Egypt heated.
47 They took possession of his land
And the land of Og king of Bashan,
Two kings of Amoritic nation,
Who were on this side of the Jordan,
Toward sun's rising from the ford on
48 From Aroer, there on the bank
Of where the River Arnon sank,
Up to Mount Sion (that is, Hermon),
49 And all the plain toward the dawn
From Jordan as far as the Sea
Of the Arabah, on the lee
Below the slopes of Pisgah's knee.

DEUTERONOMY 5

1 And Moses called all Israel, and
Said to them "Hear, O Israel's band,
The statutes and judgements which I
Speak in your hearing by the by
Today, that you may learn them and
Be careful to observe them. 2 "YHWH
Our Ælohim made promise true
With us in Horeb. 3 "YHWH did not
Make this covenant with our sought
Fathers, but with us, those who are
Here today, all of us who are
Alive. 4 "YHWH talked with you face to
Face on the mountain from where you
Saw the fire. 5 "I stood between YHWH
And you at that time, to declare
To you the word of YHWH and fair,
For you were afraid of the fire,
And you did not climb the mount higher.

Beloved, Moses proclaims the covenant
Was made with those who stood before his tent
That day, and yet the most of them had not
Been born when You came down to say Your lot.
My soul arises in joy at these words.
It's likely no one today who eats curds
And whey was not in the same way present
At Sinai. Every son today must be
Descendant of someone who stood there free:
A Jew from tribe of Judah, or another
From the ten tribes lost in the world to smother
But really raised from the genetic pool
That makes world's population something cool,
Or from the mixed multitude for a brother.

He said 6 'I am YHWH your God who
Brought you out of Egyptian crew,
Out of the house of bondage. 7 'You
Shall have no other gods before Me,
But always, every day adore Me.

When Moses recapitulates in sermon
The ten commandments for the folk, not mermen,
He starts with what You said on Mount Sinai:
"There is no god at all, at all but I."
Whether a local message from Your heart,
Or the expression of Your law at start
Eternal and a universal word,
The beginning is what remained and stirred
All souls with consciousness, that You are One
And only God eternal beyond sun.
Though I was not brought out of Egypt's plot,
I still rise to the joy that You are not
A local deity, one person's vision,
But One now and forever, no revision.

8 'You'll not make for yourself carved image,
Or any likeness at the scrimmage
Of anything in heaven above,
Or that's in the earth that you love
Beneath, or that's in water under
The earth, 9 you shall not bow, by thunder,
Down to them nor serve them. For I,
YHWH your God, am jealous and sly
El God, laying iniquity
Of the fathers on children's fee
No further than to third and fourth
Generations of those gone forth
In hate to Me, 10 but showing mercy
To thousands in the controversy,
To those who love Me and who keep
My commandments faithful as sheep.

Some say You chose a nation, only one,
Called Israel, and made that one Your son,
But I see here that mercy will extend
To everyone, no matter foe or friend,
Who love You and who keep Your holy law.
Hittite or Celt, I join myself in awe
To You, Beloved, in love and my intention
To keep Your commands and without prevention.
Though earth seems filled with violence, I trust
Your promise is still good upon the dust
To limit all effects of evil to
Not more than generations three or few,
And every act of goodness multiply
Beyond the power of humankind to spy.

11 'You shall not take the name of YHWH
Your God in vain in what you do,
For YHWH will not hold him guiltless
Who takes His name in vain to bless.

I take Your name, Beloved, on song and lip
And reciting repeat it from the ship
Of my return confessing and repenting
To find Your burning love still unrelenting.
Let me not take Your name in vain nor lift
My soul to You for hope of grant or gift,
But only to increase Your praise in all
Things here created on the earthly ball.
Let me take Your name without any guilt,
So let my wicked deeds perish and wilt,
And only blessing and service receive
The power to go on living and relieve
The hopelessness that illusion's dark night
Would sweep upon a soul and a soul's sight.

12 'Observe the Sabbath day, to keep
It holy, as YHWH your God deep
Commanded you. 13 Six days you shall
Labour and do all your banal
Work, 14 but the seventh day's the Sabbath
Of YHWH your God. And so it grabbeth
You not to do work: you, your son,
Nor your daughter, nor servant Hun,
Nor your maid, nor your ox, nor donkey,
Nor any of your cattle honkey,
Nor any stranger who's within
Your gates, that your servant in bin
And your maid may rest as you do.
15 And remember that you were too
A slave in Egypt's land, and YHWH
Your God brought you out from there by
A mighty hand and warning cry
And outstretched arm, and therefore YHWH
Your God commanded you to keep
The Sabbath day like faithful sheep.

The Sabbath has a cosmic light to give,
But that's not all the light one has to live.
Although it is the gauge of grand creation,
It's also gauge of the single salvation
That Israel found from Egypt's contemplation.
With meanings crossed and multiplied, it goes
In shadow and in light through all the flows
Of human fate and mercenary woes.
Sign of creation, sign of Exodus,
The Sabbath still comes down without a fuss,
But silently to bear a witness true
To every soul of the great work You do
Not only for a great folk and a nation,
But also to the lowly ones in station.

16 'Honour your father and your mother,
As YHWH your God's commanded you,
That your days may be long with brother,
And that it may be well with you
In the land which YHWH your God true
Gives you. 17 'You shall not kill at all.
18 'You'll not go in adultery's thrall.
19 'You shall not steal. 20 'You shall not bear
False witness against neighbour fair.
21 'You'll not covet your neighbour's wife,
And not covet his house for strife,
His field, his servant, nor his maid,
His ox, his donkey, or waylaid
Anything that's your neighbour's paid.'

Who would find that the Decalogue is void
Because it differs here from that enjoyed
In Book of Exodus, do well to note
That this is but a free and noble quote,
And does not at all pretend to be what
Exactly You said on the tablets shut.
Therefore Moses says "As YHWH your God has
Commanded you." That ought to well serve as
An indication that quotation's free.
The same goes for Jesus' quoting freely
To mention only these last words and clear.
The implication's not, it would appear,
That he would abrogate all of the rest.
Deluded people still attempt their best.

22 "These words YHWH spoke to all of you
Assembled, in the mountain coup
And from the middle of the fire,
The cloud, and the thick darkness' ire,
With loud voice, and then He added
No more. And He wrote them in grid
On two tablets of stone and gave
Them to me who was as His slave.

I note well that You spoke so all could hear,
And with loud voice in each mother's son's ear.
You did not add nor did you subtract from
What You spoke on the mountain and in sum.
You wrote it all down on tablets of stone,
Two tablets with six sides each in the cone,
So that on twelve sides all the words were written,
With every trait well graved and finely bitten.
The hearing and the seeing of Your word
Was clear enough that two million inured
Could well bear witness of the things they heard
With nothing to make disagreement there.
Beloved, I find Your words not only fair,
But marvellous in every part and share,
So nothing in the bright world can compare.

23 "So it was, when you heard the voice
From the midst of the darkness choice,
While the mountain burned with the fire,
That you came near me with desire,
All the heads of your tribes and your
Elders. 24 "And you told me the score:
'Surely YHWH our Ælohim's shown
Us His glory and greatness known,
And we have heard His voice from fire.
We've seen this day that God is higher
And speaks with man, yet he still lives.
25 'Now why should we die fugitives?
For this great fire will consume us,
If we hear the voice thunderous
Of YHWH our God anymore here,
Then we shall die and all in fear.
26 'For who is there of all flesh who
Has heard the voice of Ælohim
The Living speaking from the cue
In middle of the fire to seem,
As we have, and lived? 27 'You go near
And hear everything in your ear
That YHWH our Ælohim may say,
And tell us everything one day
That YHWH our Ælohim tells you,
And we will hear and we will do.'
28 "Then YHWH heard the voice of your words
When you spoke to me, frightened birds,
And YHWH said to me 'I have heard
The voice of this frail people's word
Which they have spoken to you. They
Are right in all they've had to say.
29 'Oh, that they always had such heart
In them that they would fear My part
And keep all My commandments' art,
That it might be well with them and
With their children for time to stand!
30 'Go and say to them, "Return to
Your tents then." 31 'But now as for you,
Stand here by Me, and I will speak
To you all the commands you seek,
The statutes, and the judgements you
Shall teach them, that they may observe
Them in the land which I shall serve
Them to possess.' 32 "Therefore you shall
Be careful to be punctual
To do as YHWH your Ælohim
Has commanded you, do not deem
To turn aside to the right hand
Or to the left from His command.
33 "You'll walk in all the ways which YHWH
Your Ælohim's commanded you,
That you may live and it may be
Well with you, and that you may see
Your days prolong in the land you
Shall possess gear and trim and crew.

Beloved, though I was not among the few
Who stood at Jordan to see what You do
And hear Your words in law and comfort and
In blessing and in curse upon command,
Though I am not descended from that crew
Nor bear the name of Israelite and true,
Still I would that there might be in me too
A heart to keep Your law and faithfully
Obey Your ten commandments as one free
Who knows no will nor way but Yours alone.
I set aside the gods of light and stone,
The idol carved in massive plastic ware
As well as idols that are made in air.
Oh that such heart in me might come to bear!

DEUTERONOMY 6

1 "Now this is the commandment, and
These are the statutes by command
And judgements YHWH your Ælohim
Has commanded to be your dream,
That you may keep them in the land
Which you are crossing over to
Hold and have for keeps, 2 "and that you
May fear YHWH your Ælohim, to
Keep all His statutes and commands
Which I command you on the sands,
You and your son and your grandson,
All the days of your life till done,
And that your days may still prolong.
3 "So hear, O Israel, the song
And be careful to keep it long,
That it may be well with you, and
That you may increase and be grand
As YHWH God of your fathers planned
And promised to you such a land
Flowing milk and honey along.

I hear, Beloved, though Israel's not my name,
I hear Your song in cantillation's fame,
I hear Your words repeated and recited
In sounds that must illuminate benighted
Recesses of my soul. Beloved, I hear.
I hear and hearing I would come as near
To You as You Yourself have come to me.
Closer than heart vein, closer than the tree
That arcs between the eyes to set me free
From sight and faith. I hear, Beloved, Your game
And rush to Youward and make out my claim
To nothing by Your Youness without shame.
And so I sip the milk and honey dressed
In nectars sweet, refreshing, and twice blessed.

4 "Hear, Prince of God! YHWH's Ælohim,
Our Judge exalted and supreme,
YHWH is One, not three in a dream.
5 And you'll love YHWH your Ælohim
With all your heart and all your soul
And all your might for self control.

Beloved, I thank you for undeserved name
Of Israel in Prince of God's fair claim.
I thank you that You are the Judge supreme
And called Allah, Aloah, Ælohim.
But greater gift has never entered mind
Than the mere oneness of Your being's kind.
Though names are full and fancy and find place
To make a stumbling block for every race
As well as road to find Your divine face,
You are one, one alone beyond all time.
You are one in both rhythm and the rhyme.
And being one instead of two or three
Love is perfected impartiality.
How many angels still dance on the dime!

6 "And these words which I command you
Today shall be in your heart's way.
7 "You shall teach them diligently
To your children, and talk freely
Of them when you sit in your house,
When you walk by the way or grouse,
When you lie down, and when you rise.
8 "You shall bind them as a sign wise
Upon your hand, and they shall be
As frontlets between where you see.
9 "You shall write them on the doorposts
Of your house and on your gateposts.
10 "So it shall be, when YHWH your God
Brings you into the land and sod
Of which He swore your fathers wake up,
To Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
To give you large and fancy cities
Which you did not build, more the pities,
11 "And houses full of all good things,
Which you did not fill, but their kings,
And wells hewn out you did not dig,
Vineyards and olive trees which sprig
You did not plant, when you have eaten
And are satisfied, 12 "then unbeaten,
Beware, lest you forget YHWH who
Brought you out of Egyptian land,
From house of bondage's command
To love, serve and obey anew.
13 "You shall fear YHWH your God and serve,
And in His name take oaths' reserve.
14 "You'll not go after other gods,
The gods of the folk and their rods
Who are all around you 15 'for YHWH
Your God's a jealous El with you,
Lest YHWH your God's wrath be aroused
Against you and destroy you from
The face of the earth whence you come.
16 "You'll not tempt YHWH your God as you
Tempted Him in Massah with crew.

If I had to eat only what I plant
I might have to sit starving and not rant
As I do now with belly full and great
Beads of fat shining on my balding pate.
Vineyard and olive You promised the crowd
Who put away false gods and the allowed
By public sentiment and scientific
College of Baalian studies that's terrific.
I eat what I did not plant in my plot,
The milkweed and the dandelion as taught,
The nettle, lady's mantle and a score
Of other things unplanted what is more.
Oh yes, the best of all, lamb's quarter chopped
And cooked and seasoned well before I stopped.

17 "You'll diligently keep the laws
Of YHWH your God in every clause,
His testimonies, and statutes
Which He has set for your pursuits.
18 "And you shall do what's right and good
In the sight of YHWH, as you should,
That it may be well with you, and
That you may go possess the land
Of goodness which YHWH swore to your
Fathers, 19 "to cast out all of your
Enemies from before you, as
YHWH has spoken, indeed He has.

What good fortune met those who stood to hear
The word on Jordan's banks, perhaps with fear.
You promise to cast out the enemy.
Wherever I look in the place I flee
I find that no one is cast out for me.
Perhaps that only means idolater
That flourishes today to raid the fer
Is not my enemy at all, but friend.
Who knows, Beloved, what You will bill and send?
It's better far, I trow, to have no foe
Than see them cast out from you head and toe.
So I look not on that good fortune spent
On ancient people when and where they went.

20 "When your son asks in time to come,
Saying 'What is the meaning's sum
Of the testimonies, statutes,
And the judgements along with suits
Which YHWH our God's commanded you?'
21 "Then you shall say to your son true
'We were slaves of Egyptian Pharaoh,
And YHWH brought us out from the narrow
Of Egypt with a mighty hand,
22 'And YHWH showed signs and wonders too
Before our eyes, great and severe,
Against Egypt they did appear,
And Pharaoh, all his house and crew.
23 'Then He brought us up out from there,
That He might bring us in, to share
With us the land of which He swore
To our fathers. 24 'And YHWH of yore
Commanded us to observe all
These statutes, to fear YHWH our God,
For our good always at His call,
That He might preserve on the sod
All us alive, as on this day.
25 'Then it will be a righteous way
For us, if we are careful to
Observe all these commandments true
Before YHWH our God, as He has
Commanded us, indeed He has.'

Perhaps I've not been saved as they once were.
I notice people still keep coughing fur
To tell me I need saving. Still I think
That Egypt's a fine place to buy a drink,
And the Nile on an evening is a blessing
In quietness below the tombs confessing
Three thousand years of life and barter on
The market and the field now fresh at dawn.
They still pick up their chickens in the way
The painted pyramidal pictures say.
Perhaps the soft and kindly speech reveals
Idolatry is gone and the time heals.
In any case, Beloved, I meet You fair
In Egypt on the crowded streets and bare.



AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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