{Deuteronomic Circles and the Voice of Conscience}[14th August 1989]

[Redbook6:206-207][19890814:1600]{Deuteronomic Circles and the Voice of Conscience}[14th August 1989]

19800814.(1600c)

The Deuteronomic cycle or theology of history when reconsidered in the light of C[ircles] A[nalysis and] S[ynthesis] leads to a slightly different possibility than originally suggested.*

It is noticeable that simple and honourable codes such as the Covenant and the Ten Commandments, when turned into detailed regulations and commands often became arbitrary and even barbaric – as do their instigators** [sic]: cf the killing of villagers by the Jews entering Old Testament Palestine, when even the soldiers were reluctant at times to execute their orders to the full extreme of savagery required [of them].*** This looks like a classic commencement of Outer Circle disintegration. The conclusion is that Israel’s mistake is not to disobey the detailed regulations and orders of their religious leaders, but to obey them when they contradict the voice of Jahweh in their own hearts, or Conscience. There are different kinds of disobedience, and the kind which leads to destructions of a pagan nature is symptomatic of an advancing state of disintegration, rather than the cause of the fragmentation and revolution which is to come.

(Given that the early barbarities often occurred in territorial conquest, there arises the uneasy question as to whether (as the Rechabites**** presumably thought)# Israel was intended to remain a nomadic and unsettled nation.)

What this represents is the individual perception by the leader-lawyer type distorting the revelation of God.#*

*ref [[Redbook6:159-160][19890718:1601]{Deuteronomic Circles and Fertility Rites}[18th July 1989] &f,] 159

{[[Redbook6:115)][19890315:2020]{Biblical Circles (1)}[15th March 1989],] 115}

{[[Redbook6:150-151][19890713:1847f]{Biblical Circles (2)}[13th July 1989] &/or [Redbook6:150][19890713:1847e]{Loaves and Fishes Decoded [continued (5)]}[13th July 1989],] 150}

**[Presumably, the instigators of the detailed regulations and commands]

***{cf N[um]b[ers] 31:9,17#**

I[saiah(?)] 15[?]#***

****[Rechabites are [sic] a biblical clan, the descendants of Rechab through Jehonadab. They belonged to the Kenites, who accompanied the Israelites into the Holy Land and dwelt among them. The main body of the Kenites dwelt in cities and adopted settled habits of life but Jehonadab forbade his descendants to drink wine or to live in cities. They were commanded to always lead a nomadic life. (Wikipedia)]

#(per E[ncyclopaedia] B[ritannica] 14: 790.)

#*{See [[Redbook6:255-257][19890013:0927#]{Biblical Circles (3)}[18th July 1989],] 255,

[[Redbook6:270][19890918:2235]{Deuteronomic Circles today}[18th September 1989],] 270}

#**[

Numbers 31

‘1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. 3 And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the Lord of Midian. 4  Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war. 5 So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. 6 And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand. 7 And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses; and they slew all the males. 8 And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. 9 And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods. 10 And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire. 11 And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts. 12 And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.

13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. 14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. 15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? 16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. 17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. 18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.’

( – Authorized (King James) Version)

]

#***[

15 The burden of Moab.

1.Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence;

because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence;

2 he is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep:

Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba:

on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.

3 In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth:

on the tops of their houses, and in their streets,

every one shall howl, weeping abundantly.

4 And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh:

their voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz:

therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out;

his life shall be grievous unto him.

5 My heart shall cry out for Moab;

his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old:

for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up;

for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction.

6 For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate:

for the hay is withered away,

the grass faileth,

there is no green thing.

7 Therefore the abundance they have gotten,

and that which they have laid up,

shall they carry away to the brook of the willows.

8 For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab;

the howling thereof unto Eglaim,

and the howling thereof unto Beer-elim.

9 For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood:

for I will bring more upon Dimon,

lions upon him that escapeth of Moab,

and upon the remnant of the land.

]

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