Deuteronomy is Moses' goodbye to his people. He's giving them helpful reminders and rehashing the story of their past. The people preparing to go into the Promised land didn't actually live through the Exodus and the many years of wandering, they were born in the midst of it and grew up never knowing the oppression of Egypt. Moses gives them the run-down. It's a reminder to not screw it up. God has finally allowed them the gift that the country has been waiting for for such a long time. But will this new generation remember the importance of why the land means so much and everything their ancestors went through to get to it? Moses is doing his best to make sure that they do remember and can not deny it.
Currently, I'm (very slowly) reading "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan in moments of rest (hence the very slowly...). One of the most striking parts of it is one of the grandmothers saying she hopes her granddaughter will remember her, but comes to the realization that "later, she will forget her promise. She will forget she had a grandmother." It's not just Israel, Judaism, Christianity that worries about remembering the past. It's humans. We all want to make our mark on the world we live in- to somehow get famous and be known, to have children to carry on our name, to have friends to take pictures with. Yet we forget the past that came before us. How many of us can tell the full story of our great-grandparents' lives? Or even our grandparents? I know for me, I know the story of Israel better than my own. I guess Moses got it right- remind them, and often.
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