"It seems impossibly sad that Moses could lead the Israelites out of Egypt, direct them for forty years in the desert, and beat back their rebellions, only to be stopped inches from the Promise Land. But on Mount Nebo... I began to see the story differently. Denied entry, Moses actually gets more: he gets a personal tour of the Promised Land from God. Still, it's impossible to see all the things that the Bible says Moses sees. The only way for Moses to see the complete dimensions of the land is by looking inward, toward his own internal geography. This is the lesson of Mount Nebo and the poetic twist at the end of the Five Books that helps make them such a hymn: the land is not the destination; the destination is the place where human begins live in consort with the divine. Ultimately, it doesn't matter that what the Bible describes is impossible to see. Because at the end, Moses wasn't even looking at the land. He was looking where we should look. He was looking at God." - Bruce Feiler
Psalm 25:5, Psalm 31:14-15
1 comment:
Um, exactly what I needed to hear tonight.....
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