We tell students that the rhythm of the Scripture is set and begins repeating in the first eleven chapters of Genesis. Recognizing the rhythm and the way it repeats helps make sense of the rest of the Bible. This morning, I heard the rhythm of Genesis 1–11 in Deuteronomy 9–10 in a new way, a way that helps me see how this part of Moses’s speech ties together.

Moses’s thesis in this section seems to be this: You are entering the land, but it isn’t because of your righteousness (Deut 9:4–7) so listen to and love Yahweh (10:12–13) and circumcise your rebellious heart (10:16). To support the first part of the thesis, Moses describes the events at Sinai as a process of rebellion, decreative judgment, mediation, and new creation. The language echoes the rhythm of Genesis, particularly the first nine chapters.

The Rhythm of Scripture

The rhythm of Scripture goes something like this:

• Un/decreation (Gen 1:2; 2:5)
• Creation (Gen 1–2)
• Escalating rebellion (Gen 3–6)
• Decreative consequences and judgment (Gen 3–7)
• Mediation and New Creation (Gen 8–9)
  

By the time you reach Genesis 9, the rhythm has already been set and has started to repeat. Now, turning to Deuteronomy 9, listen for the rhythm here and notice how its evocation supports Moses’s thesis, particularly the first part of the thesis which highlights the people’s rebellion—“It isn’t because of your righteousness!” (Gen 9:4–7).

Rebellion

In Deuteronomy 9, Moses explicitly states that Israel has been rebellious since they came out of Egypt (9:8), but it’s later descriptions of their rebellion that recall the rhythm of Genesis 3–6. Moses describes how he was on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments—receiving the terms of the covenant that would allow Yahweh to dwell in the midst of his people again, similar to Eden—and Israel was, in the meantime, making a golden calf, breaking the first commandment (9:16). Two vocabuary clusters establish a hyperlink to Genesis: The repeated use of corruption (שׁחת) and the people’s failure to listen to Yahweh’s voice (שׁמע plus קוֹל).

Corruption

Genesis 6:11–14 uses the vers שׁחת (to corrupt) four times to explain the organic connection between human rebellion, its effect on the land, and the cause of the flood. Humanity corrupted (שׁחת, verse 12) their way on the earth with violence, this led to the earth being corrupted (שׁחת, twice: verses 11–12), and therefore Yahweh will corrupt/destroy (שׁחת, verse 13) humanity. God allows what humanity spilled onto the land (corrupting violence) to come back upon them in the form of the chaos waters, “the deep” (תְּהוֹם, Gen 1:2; 7:11).

In Deuteronomy 9:12, Yahweh tells Moses that the people have acted corruptly (שׁחת), and that he will destroy them. Moses prays that Yaweh will not corrupt/destroy (שׁחת) them (9:26), and Yahweh listens and doesn’t corrupt/destory (שׁחת) them (10:10). Moses describes Israel’s rebellion at Sinai in terms that recall Noah and the generation of the flood. Israel had corrupted their way just like the flood generation.

Failing to listen to the voice

In Genesis 3, Adam listened to the voice of his wife (כִּי־שָׁמַעְתָּ לְקוֹל אִשְׁתֶּךָ) rather than listening to the voice of Yahweh. Later, Lamech, a voice that epitomizes the repeated rebellion of Genesis 1–11, boasts about his violence with this invitation: “Listen to my voice!” (שְׁמַעַן לְקוֹלִי, Gen 4:23).

A quick glance through a concordance shows that “listening to / obeying / hearing the voice of Yahweh” occurs all over the book of Deuteronomy (around thirty times—I didn’t take the time to comb through all the results, but it’s a bunch!). In Deuteronomy 9, failing to “listen to the voice” is used to describe Israel’s rebellion at Kadesh: “You did not believe him or listen to his voice” (וְלֹא שְׁמַעְתֶּם בְּקֹלוֹ, Deut 9:23). Israel’s failure at Sinai is described in terms that echo the archetypical rebellion of Genesis 3–4.

Decreative Consequences & Judgment

In Genesis 6–7, “the deep” flood waters that were separated (בדל) at creation return. God created the firmament/expanse to make a separation between the waters above and below (Gen 1:6–8), but when humanity corrupted the earth with violence, the waters returned as decreative judgment (Gen 6–7).

In Deuteronomy 9, the flood waters of judgment return in a similar, symbolic way. Moses recalls how at Sinai he took the golden calf, crushed it, threw its dust into the water than ran down Sinai, and had the people drink the water. If you can hear the rhythm here, Moses’s actions are portrayed as flood-like, decreative judgment. Moses’s actions combine two important sybols: (1) the deconstructed image of their rebellion, the golden calf, and (2) water. The waters that flow down Sinai carry their decreated rebellion.

At Sinai, the flood waters pass over (or through) the people, but for some reason they come out the other side unscathed. They don’t perish like the flood generation in Genesis 6–9. They are preserved because of Moses’s mediation, similar to the way humanity was preserved through Noah’s mediation.

Mediation & New Creation

In Genesis, Noah and the ark pass through the flood waters, and Noah serves as a mediator between God and humanity. On the other side of the flood, Noah offers a burnt offering, and when God smells the soothing aroma of the sacrifice, he promises to never again curse the ground because of humanity (8:20–22). Before Noah takes and drinks (way too much, Gen 9:20), Noah receives the command given to Adam and Eve: “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth” (Gen 9:1). In his mediation, Noah leads to new creation.

In Deuteronomy 9–10, five times the discourse emphasizes that Moses mediated on behalf of Israel “forty days and nights” (Deut 9:9, 11, 18, 25; 10:10). The role of mediator has taken on greater prominence between Genesis 8 and Deuteronomy 9. Moses’s mediation at Sinai doesn’t just preserve a small family; he preserves a people “as numerous as the stars of heaven” (10:22) from being destroyed. The flood waters pass over them as they drink the dust of the golden calf, but because of Moses’s mediation, they are preserved and have another chance to cling to Yahweh’s instructions, to listen to him, love him, and circumcise their hearts (10:12–22).

In chapter 10, similar to the way the first three days of creation involve the action of separating (בדל), Yahweh separates (בדל) Levi to serve as priestly mediators (10:8). Moses is about to die, and Israel needs a more permanent source of mediation. This is what Yahweh provides in Levi, and Moses recalls this new creation act of separating Levi (10:6–9) right in the middle of emphasizing his own life-giving role of mediation (10:1–5; 10–11). Moses recalls how he placed the tablets he received in an “ark” (אֲרוֹן, Deut 10:1–5) and how, moving forward, Levi will carry the ark (Deut 10:8) to bring blessing to Yahweh’s people. The word to describe the wooden box the tablets go in is different than the word for “ark” in Genesis 6–9 (תֵּבָה), but I can’t help but connect the symbols.

Conclusion

In Genesis 1–11, the rhythm of Scripture is set and beings to repeat. Being familiar with this rhythm brings coherence and clarity to later portions of Scripture, like Deuteronomy 9–10. In Deuteronomy 9–10, Moses portrays Israel’s rebellion at Sinai as a process of rebellion, decreative judgment, mediation, and new creation. By recalling the rhythm of Scripture in Genesis 1–9, Moses reminds Israel that their rebellion at Sinai was yet another replay of the human rebellion that began in Eden and ended in the destruction of the flood. Moses’s audience, however, has another chance. Yahweh didn’t bring the decreative flood waters upon them, but Moses by his symbolic actions of crushing the calf, sprinkling it into the waters at Sinai, and having the people drink from the waters, Moses does remind the people that their actions were worthy of such decreative consequences. Through Moses’s mediation (“forty days and forty nights,” Deut 9:9, 11, 18, 25; 10:10), they were not wiped out at Sinai, nor at Kadesh. This generation has another chance to circumcise their hearts and cling to Yahweh’s instructions as life itself.

I saw these connections for the first time today and thought they were super cool. Hope you do, too!