chapter 10

Moses goes on and on, knowing he's about to be dead and maybe people don't remember his rules.

"Make two tablets like the ones you broke and put them in a wood box so no one ever sees them. Call it the ark. Use acacia wood. Make two stones."

Part of the reason the Holy Scriptures is so big is everything is said over and over.

Moses talks about when he killed his brother on the mountain. God killed him. Made his son, likely the son of Moses, the high priest.

The Lord put the Levites in charge of holy artifacts. They carried the ark, the jar of manna, gold and silver not idol religious stuff. To help in the worship and rituals. Levites were royal over all others. And used their position to accumulate wealth. Without owning land. Just palaces. With prison quarters.

I was up on the mountain 80 days and I convinced the Lord not to destroy you. And give you the land he had promised.

Do only what the Lord God demands. Love him. Serve him. Follow the laws for your own good. Everything belongs to God. The Earth. Everything on it. And above it. The all of all of it.

Though you are stubborn stupid people, God has chosen you. The Lord is your God of Gods and Lord of Lords. He is great and mighty. Awesome. He don't do favors or take bribes. He gives clothes to strangers and is nice to orphans and widows. We were slaves in Egypt.

Worship only God.

Seventy went to Egypt. We flourished, then were made slaves and multiplied to a huge number of soldiers. As many as stars in heaven.

chapter 11

So love the Lord your God and do what I told you.

Remember how we killed all the first born of Egypt, all the animals and crops three times over. How when someone was bad the earth ate them. And their families.

I am great and have mighty killing methods. And I swore I'd get you some land. With milk and honey.

Not a land like Egypt where you gotta water the crops like a garden. But a land where water rains out of the sky.

I will give you rain if you obey me. I'll give you grass for your cattle. Don't serve other gods. Or the Lord will get very angry. And turn off the water.

Teach your children fear of me. Chant it. Keep your land.

If you follow the rules, I will scare away all nations. Everywhere you tread will be yours. From the wilderness, to Lebanon, to the Euphrates, to Mediterranean. No one will question your power. They will fear you and your God of genocide and fury.

Religion as military propiganda. How typical.

Lord save us from the Lord.

Blessings if you obey. Curses if you don't. No other gods.

Stand on Mount Gerizim and bless. Curse at Mount Ebal. In the land of the Canaanites that we have doomed.

I gave you the land. It is their lot to be exterminated. We are the great exterminators. Obey my laws.

chapter 12

Laws and rules.

Destroy all religious things and sites.

Don't get any weird ideas from those wicked people who must die. Especially the evil children. We will set up places for you to worship and bring things. You will be happy to serve only me.

You will be instructed what to pay in taxes and you will do it. Tithes, sacrifices, offerings. You will like it. Even your slaves will rejoice.

Follow all the rules. And eat as much as you like. Don't drink blood. Blood is poured on the ground if there ain't an alter nearby.

You don't ever got to think. Just obey. Pay the Levites their dues. And sing.

I'm an Israelite. No need for a brain.
I've many cows. Got fields of grain.
Used to be a slave. Now we are not.
The land of others is what we now got.

Eat meat whenever you want. Slaughter anything the Lord gives you. Eat the meat but not the blood. The blood is life. And we don't eat or drink it. Spill it on the ground.

When the Lord your God hacks down the seven nations on your land be sure not to do what they used to do before we killed them all. Don't wonder how they worshiped other gods. Because they are abhorrent rituals.

They burn their children as sacrifice.

This might have been true but more likely a propigated lie, often used before invasion of a land so the the invaders can believe that the children they are butchering are better off dead.


chapters 13 - 15