Deuteronomy 30 – 31 and A Real Cut-Up

Deuteronomy 30 – 31

Moses was certainly a forward thinking man. He envisioned a time when the people would be living among the nations in exile. He knew the mercy and trustworthiness of the Lord and that, if the people obeyed the Lord’s commands after they were forced out of the land, God would gather back those He had scattered.

Moses also realized that what he was telling the people was not too difficult for them to understand. It was not beyond their reach. It all came down to a choice: a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. The key to their life was to love the Lord, obey Him and commit themselves firmly to Him.

Moses, who could not cross the Jordan River nor enter the Promised Land, shared with the people that Joshua would be their leader. He tells the people and then Joshua specifically to “be strong and courageous.” He then wrote out all of the instructions in a book and gave it to the priests. They were to place it beside the Ark of the Covenant. Every seven years, at the Festival of Shelters, they were to read the book containing the instructions to all the people.

God then predicts that the people will stray, but still He asks Moses to write down the words of a song and teach it to the people “so it may serve as a witness for me against them.”

Tomorrow, we will read the song of Moses and finish the book of Deuteronomy as we study Deuteronomy 32 – 34 and Psalm 91.

A Real Cut-Up

I may have mentioned that I will be making gifts for Christmas for family and friends out of leather. Yesterday, I bought 2 sides of leather (a total of 53+ square feet. Today, I cut up one side and will probably finish the other side after posting this.

Knowing that I had so much leather to cut, I purchased what is called a Head Knife or Round Knife. It is made out of Damascus steel and is very sharp.

Since this knife did not come with any kind of case, I decided to make one. I cut it out and laced it up. It works fairly well, but I would probably make it a little different if I had it to do over.

Doesn’t the knife look sharp? It’s very intimidating.

Here it is all snug as a bug in a rug:

From point to point, the knife is about 4 1/2 inches wide.

I can’t tell you how much fun I’m having with this stuff.

Until next time…