ראה

Moses stood before the Israelites and said, “See, today I set before you a blessing and a curse. Blessing if you obey God’s commandments, and a curse if you turn away and follow other gods you have not experienced.” He called these commandments mitzvot, the daily do’s and don’ts that shape how a person lives.

He pointed across the Jordan to two mountains. “When God brings you into the land you are about to enter and possess, you will speak the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal.” Moses described where they were, beyond the west road, near Gilgal, by the terebinths of Moreh. Soon they would cross the river, settle, and build homes. “When you are settled,” he warned, “take care to observe all the laws and rules I set before you today.”

Moses explained what life in the land should look like. First, he said, they must destroy the worship sites of the nations they would dispossess, on mountains, hills, and under lush trees. “Tear down their altars, smash their pillars, burn their sacred posts, and cut down their images,” he said, “so their names are erased from that place.” They were not to worship God in those ways.

Instead, they must go to the one place God would choose among the tribes to establish the divine name. There they would bring offerings, tithes, and gifts, and they would feast with their households, sons and daughters, servants, and the Levite, who had no land.

They could eat meat in their towns, but never blood, because blood is life; it must be poured out like water. Moses also named clean and unclean foods and repeated, “Do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” He added: do not harden your heart against the needy; open your hand and lend what is enough, even as the seventh-year remission of debts approaches.

Moses then spoke about gathering to serve God through the year. “Observe the month of Abib,” he said, “and offer the Passover sacrifice, because God freed you from Egypt at night.” For seven days they were to eat unleavened bread and keep leaven out of their territory. The Passover could not be slaughtered in any town; it had to be brought to the place God would choose, and none of the meat was to remain until morning.

Next came counting seven weeks from when the sickle first touched the standing grain. Then they would celebrate the Feast of Weeks with a freewill gift, each according to the blessing God had given. After the ingathering, they would keep the Feast of Booths for seven days, rejoicing with family, servants, the Levite, and those who needed help.

Moses also described the third-year tithe stored in towns so the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow could come and eat their fill. Three times a year, all males were to appear before God in the chosen place, never empty-handed, but bringing a gift.