The Rest of the Story -
Wandering
Random Walk in a Religious Art Gallery, Step 11: Deuteronomy 2:1-8, Buying Water
Deuteronomy 6:1-25, The Rest of the Story: 6. Wandering
Deuteronomy 7:1-16, The Rest of the Story: 6. Wandering
Deuteronomy 8:1-20, The Rest of the Story: 6. Wandering
Deuteronomy 9:1-29, The Rest of the Story: 6. Wandering
Deuteronomy 29:1-29, The Rest of the Story: 6. Wandering
More of the Rest of the Story
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Random Walk in a Religious Art Gallery, Step 11: Deuteronomy 2:1-8, Buying Water (3/16/15)
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When I first (and second) saw this illustration, I thought, “‘Buying water’? What’s that about?” Consequently I had never used it on the website. (Well, to be truthful, most of the pictures we’re seeing in the Random Walk are ones I hadn’t used on the website; that’s why we’re doing this study! But in this particular case, the picture confused me.) Besides that, I thought the armed men were the ones buying water, maybe Romans buying water from the Judeans. But I did a little searching in the Bible, and I learned that the children of Israel had to buy water at one stage of their journey from Egypt to Canaan. I’ve read this scripture passage quite a few times, and either I never noticed or I promptly forgot that God instructed them to buy water – with cash money – from the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob. The descendants of Esau were also under God’s protection, and he forbade his people to molest them in any way, for example, by stealing water from their wells. So here’s an illustration of a minor point that struck the artist as interesting. Because of his interest, it’s a point that I won’t be forgetting again any time soon. Previous Step. Next Step. |
 "Buying Water," from the Binns family Bible, now in the private collection of Regina Hunter. |
Deuteronomy 6:1-25, The Rest of the Story: 6. Wandering (9/17/12)
The most important prayer in Christianity is, of course, the Lord’s Prayer, which I dare say is known and prayed regularly by about 99% of the world’s Christians. (The other 1% hasn’t yet learned to talk.) We teach our children this prayer before they even know what the words mean or how to pronounce them properly, which leads us to great amusement when they say things like “deliver us some email.”
The most important prayer in Judaism is the Shema (pronounced “sh’ma), “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). An observant Jew prays the Shema daily and wants it to be the last thing he says in this life. I suspect it’s one of the first things taught to a Jewish child. The Hebrew shema means Hear! After 40 years in the desert, the children of Israel are finally ready to hear as Moses tells them, “There is one and only one God, our LORD. Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.”
Deuteronomy 7:1-16, The Rest of the Story: 6. Wandering (9/18/12)
The seven nations of Canaan (vs. 1) are typically mentioned as a group. I don’t see the Girgashites, but everybody else is on the map.
Deuteronomy 8:1-20, The Rest of the Story: 6. Wandering (9/19/12)
Wouldn’t you just love to have the opportunity to prove that great wealth would not ruin you? Yet all too often, we read about people who are ruined by sudden wealth – sports figures, movie stars, lottery winners… These folks seem to forget who they are, and they think they can spend any amount of money on anything they want, because they “deserve” it. Then the collection agencies (or the police) come in, and they are worse off than they were before.
This is exactly what Moses is warning the children of Israel against. God is about to give them great wealth – rich land, already planted with orchards and vineyards; cities already built; mineral rights; the whole shebang. Moses says, “Don’t forget who you are: a people who didn’t amount to much until God chose you for his own purposes. Don’t ever think that you deserved all of this or earned it yourself. And especially don’t forget to worship God, who gives it to you, because otherwise you will be worse off than you were before.”
Deuteronomy 9:1-29, The Rest of the Story: 6. Wandering (9/20/12)
I don’t know about you, but when something good happens to me, I think it is because I am so charming, intelligent, beautiful, and law-abiding. And when something bad happens to me, it’s nothing to do with me – it’s because the universe is unfair!!!
Moses warned the children of Israel against this attitude. “Something wonderful is about to happen to you,” he says, “and it has nothing to do with you. You are stubborn, whining, law-breaking, and impatient. God has considered giving up on you several times, and you would have deserved that. But since God is determined to bless the world through Abraham, he’ll put up with you a while longer.”
Deuteronomy 29:1-29, The Rest of the Story: 6. Wandering (9/21/12)
I once had a Bethel student who said at the end of two years of biblical study, “This used to be my parents’ religion, but now it is my religion.” The children of Israel would really understand that. For 40 years in the desert, they have heard about God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph. Now God is renewing the covenant, with them. Of course, Moses takes this opportunity to warn them of the dangers of breaking God’s Law after they have accepted the covenant.
More of the Rest of the Story
Week 1. Beginning of Life As We Know It
Week 1. More on the Beginning of Life As We Know It
Week 2. God Builds a Nation – Abraham … But Not Lot
Week 2. God Builds a Nation – Isaac…But not Ishmael or the sons of Keturah
Week 2. God Builds a Nation – Jacob…But not Esau
Week 3. Joseph Preserves Two Nations
Week 4. Deliverance
Week 4. More on Deliverance
Week 5. New Commands and a New Covenant
Week 6. Wandering
Week 6. More on the Wandering
Week 7. The Battle Begins
Week 8. A Few Good Men...and Women
Week 9. The Faith of a Foreign Woman
Week 10. Standing Tall, Falling Hard
Week 11. From Shepherd to King
Week 12. The Trials of a King
Week 13. The King Who Had It All
Week 14. A Kingdom Torn in Two
Weeks 15 and 16. God's Messengers and The Beginning of the End
Week 17. The Kingdoms' Fall
Jeremiah, Prophet of the Exile
Story 19. The Return Home
Apocalyptic writings in the Old Testament
Story 21. Rebuilding the Walls
Story 22. The Birth of the King
Story 23. Jesus’ Ministry Begins
Story 24. No Ordinary Man
Story 25. Jesus, the Son of God
Story 26. The Hour of Darkness
Story 27. The Resurrection
Story 28. New Beginnings
James, Brother of the Lord
John and Jude
Story 31. The End of Time
Copyright 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016 by Regina L. Hunter. All rights reserved. This page has been prepared for the web site by RPB.
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