Deuteronomy 9

I'm a fan of most of director Quentin Tarantino's films. Brimming with energy, coarse language, over-the-top violence, crackling wit, and various naughty bits, most of his films nevertheless contain characters trying to find redemption in a twisted world. His most recent film, The Hateful Eight, is an exception, featuring characters who truly live up to the film's moniker. I don't want to spoil anything here, but the even the characters who seem likable at first end up performing truly despicable deeds. (OK, there are a few more "upright" characters, but they don't last very long.) If you end up rooting for any character at all, it's for the character who's the least horrible.

Likewise, God lets the Israelites know that He didn't choose them because of their overwhelming virtuosity. As He explains in verses 4-6, everyone else is even more horrible than the Israelites. Therefore, God is using the Israelites to purge the legitimately wicked people from the land. I wonder just how deflating this was to the Israelites, or if they even recognized how special their relationship to God--the one true God--was.

I don't profess to be a peerlessly paragon of moral rectitude. I try to do the right thing, but just like most people (I suspect), I screw up and act selfishly from time to time. I have to keep in mind that whatever boons God provides me, He does so not because of my righteousness. And perhaps keeping that mindset will prevent me from depending on my own efforts, spurring me to instead rely on and listen to God.

This chapter's Moses nugget comes early on in verse 2 when he says about the residents of Canaan, "The people are strong and tall--Anakites!" Notwithstanding that "Anakite" sounds an awful lot like "Anakin," that statement doesn't mean a whole lot to anyone unfamiliar with ancient Near Eastern history--but that exclamation point lets us know that they're formidable enough to ruffle Moses's plumage. Perhaps we'd get a better sense of what Moses is talking about if we change the phrase to this: "The people are strong and tall--NBA players!" I mean, when Stephen Curry, who's 6'3", is considered a short player (and indeed he looks diminutive on the court), you have an idea of just how colossal these basketball players are. (As Curry so explosively proves, though, size isn't everything.)