Moses, on his last day, recites two poems—the Song of Moses and Blessing of Moses (Deut 32, 33). In this spirit, the eighth century Tiberian Pinchas Hakohen poetically describes Moses excusing his sins and offering alternatives to his death.
Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig's translation of the Bible strictly adheres to the text's wording and structure. The eminent thinkers sought to let German readers experience the resonance of the Bible's Hebrew and to capture its primordial meaning. Their rendition of Haazinu presents a provocative interpretation of the bond between God, Israel and its land as both universal and singular.
The Torah’s adaptation of a polytheistic ancient West-Semitic custom of sacrificing to seventy gods.
Several poetic verses in Deuteronomy were used in Second Temple times to support the belief in multiple characters in the divine realm. Thus, the scribes of the early Masoretic text, who opposed this belief, sometimes went so far as to revise or excise these references.
The final phrase of Haazinu (Deut 32:1-43) in the MT, וכפר אדמתו עמו, “and he will atone for his land, his people,” is difficult to parse. The textual variants from Qumran, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Septuagint offer a clearer, if more dismal, understanding of the phrase.
Traditional and critical perspectives on the ending of the Torah.
Moses and R. Judah HaNasi implore: “I would be most grateful if you would maintain the Torah after me.”
Jewish and Christian tradition ascribes authorship of the Pentateuch to Moses in the 13th century B.C.E. Is this what the Pentateuch itself implies about who wrote it and when?
Deuteronomy 32 imagines God as a father, an eyelid, an eagle, a nursing mother, and a protective rock. Why so many metaphors?
יִמְצָאֵהוּ בְּאֶרֶץ מִדְבָּר וּבְתֹהוּ יְלֵל יְשִׁמֹן יְסֹבְבֶנְהוּ יְבוֹנְנֵהוּ יִצְּרֶנְהוּ כְּאִישׁוֹן עֵינוֹ׃
דברים לב:י
He found him in a desert region, In an empty howling waste. He engirded him, watched over him, Guarded him as the pupil of His eye.
Deut 32:10
