Table of Contents
Maps viii
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
Numbers 1:1-2:34 Finding Yourself in Your Family Story 6
Numbers 3:1-5:4 God's Claim on Levi 9
Numbers 5:5-31 Breaking Faith 12
Numbers 6:1-27 The Lord Bless You and Keep You 15
Numbers 7:1-8:4 Provision for the Sanctuary 18
Numbers 8:5-9:14 God's Flexibility 21
Numbers 9:15-10:36 The Journey Actually Begins 24
Numbers 11:1-35 On Missing Garlic 27
Numbers 12:1-15 Miriam the Prophet, Aaron the Priest, Moses the Teacher 31
Numbers 13:1-14:38 A Spy Story 34
Numbers 14:39-15:41 The Intentional and the Unintentional 37
Numbers 16:1-17:13 Dealing with Ambition 40
Numbers 18:1-19:22 Provision and Purification 44
Numbers 20:1-13 One Fatal Mistake 47
Numbers 20:14-21:3 Two Very Different Attitudes to War 50
Numbers 21:4-35 Snakes, and Progress, and Another Attitude to War 52
Numbers 22:1-23:4 A Story about Several Asses 56
Numbers 23:5-24 God Doesn't Go Back on a Promise 60
Numbers 23:25-24:25 Beautiful Tents, Jacob 63
Numbers 25:1-26:51 How It All Goes Wrong (Again) 66
Numbers 26:52-27:11 Five Pushy Women 70
Numbers 27:12-23 On Appointing a New Leader 73
Numbers 28:1-29:40 Eating with God 76
Numbers 30:1-16 Negotiations and Love Songs 80
Numbers 31:1-34 Unfinished Business 83
Numbers 32:1-42 On Mutual Support 87
Numbers 33:1-34:29 Land, Promises, and Politics 89
Number 35:1-36:13 Ensuring Justice 92
Deuteronomy 1:1-45 Moses Begins His Last Sermon 96
Deuteronomy 1:46-3:29 No, But... 99
Deuteronomy 4:1-49 The Attraction of Images 103
Deuteronomy 5:1-15 Not with Our Parents 106
Deuteronomy 5:16-33 If Only... 110
Deuteronomy 6:1-25 Listen, Israel 114
Deuteronomy 7:1-6 On Killing Enemies 117
Deuteronomy 7:7-15 On Election 121
Deuteronomy 7:16-9:3 Little by Little 124
Deuteronomy 9:4-10:22 You Don't Deserve It 128
Deuteronomy 11:1-32 It Never Rains in Southern California 131
Deuteronomy 12:1-32 On Not Following Your Instincts 134
Deuteronomy 13:1-18 False Prophets 138
Deuteronomy 14:1-29 You Are What You Eat 141
Deuteronomy 15:1-18 Helping People Get Back on Their Feet 145
Deuteronomy 15:19-16:17 The Rhythm of Pilgrimage 149
Deuteronomy 16:18-17:13 Justice and Only Justice (Absolute Faithfulness) 152
Deuteronomy 17:14-18:22 Kings, Priests, Levites, Prophets 155
Deuteronomy 19:1-20:20 How to Make War (or How to Make War Impractical) 158
Deuteronomy 21:1-23 Murder Desecrates the Land 162
Deuteronomy 22:1-12 On Keeping Things Separate 165
Deuteronomy 22:13-30 Sex in the City 167
Deuteronomy 23:1-25 Attitudes to Egyptians (and Others) 171
Deuteronomy 24:1-22 On Sacred Inefficiency 174
Deuteronomy 25:1-19 Maintaining the Family Name 178
Deuteronomy 26:1-19 A Wandering Aramean Has Become a Great Nation 180
Deuteronomy 27:1-28:68 Curses and Blessings and Curses 183
Deuteronomy 29:1-30:20 The Mystery of Obedience and Disobedience 187
Deuteronomy 31:1-32:47 Moses' Last Song 190
Deuteronomy 32:48-34:12 On Dying outside the Promised Land 193
Glossary 199
