#Moses, #Psalmtweet Deuteronomy 32:10-12

This exercise in learning seems to run OK at three verses per group. This comment is by no means structural, simply efficient for this moment of study. And not more than one group per day! Groups 2 and 3 got away from me too soon. I may stretch them out further because our building project is beginning to take shape. I am like the one who was to build a castle and did not consider the cost or the required duration of the plan.

The apple of his eye is a famous phrase from early English Bibles. Three times in the KJV, here, Zechariah and Psalms 17. In each case, however, the phrase is different in the Hebrew. The noun bbh in Zechariah is a hapax, and perhaps we could use apple here as the gloss. (I did since I didn't use apple anywhere else in my translation.) The noun here is aiwvn which I have rendered in its 5 instances in the Bible as picture. The psalm also has a unique form of the phrase:

שָׁ֭מְרֵנִי כְּאִישׁ֣וֹן בַּת־עָ֑יִן בְּצֵ֥ל כְּ֝נָפֶ֗יךָ תַּסְתִּירֵֽנִי		8 ♪g Keep me as the daughter pictured in an eye. In the shadow of your wings, hide me,
k womrni caiwon bt-yin bxl cnpiç tstirni	9 10	wmr\ni c/aiwvn bt yin b/xl cnp\ic t/str\ni

Verse 10 reminds me of Genesis 1 and its parallel in Jeremiah 4:23. And the word I have rendered there formless or here disordered is also once in the psalms (107:40). So the princes (Psalm 107), the chosen (Deuteronomy 32), and the earth as a whole (Genesis 1, and afterward Jeremiah 4) recapitulate the same move from disorder to grace. Let it be that we should become and remain graceful - nurtured  and matured as the fledgling eagle.

One of my teachers at the lay school of theology in Calgary, Peter Craigie, said to us in those days of our youth that Deuteronomy is the book of love. It was not our initial opinion in those days. I remember being astonished at the claim. Our ignorance of what is called the Old Testament is generally abysmal. It needs to be read by all faiths who consider it Scripture with a view to shattering our preconceived attitudes. We are very good at failing to understand the character of God.

יִמְצָאֵ֙הוּ֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִדְבָּ֔ר וּבְתֹ֖הוּ יְלֵ֣ל יְשִׁמֹ֑ן יְסֹֽבְבֶ֙נְהוּ֙ יְב֣וֹנְנֵ֔הוּ יִצְּרֶ֖נְהוּ כְּאִישׁ֥וֹן עֵינֽוֹ ר		10 He found him in a wilderness land, in the disorder of the howling of wasteland, he led him round about, he gave him discernment, he preserved him as a picture in his eye.
i imxahu barx mdbr ubtohu ill iwimon isobbnhu ibonnhu iixrnhu caiwon yino r	17 17	i/mxa\hv b/arx mdbr vb/thv ill iwm\n i/sbb\nhv i/bvn\nhv i/xr\nhv c/aiwvn yin\v
כְּנֶ֙שֶׁר֙ יָעִ֣יר קִנּ֔וֹ עַל־גּוֹזָלָ֖יו יְרַחֵ֑ף יִפְרֹ֤שׂ כְּנָפָיו֙ יִקָּחֵ֔הוּ יִשָּׂאֵ֖הוּ עַל־אֶבְרָתֽוֹ ר		11 As an eagle rouses its nest over its fledglings brooding, spreading its wings, taking them, lifting them up on its pinions,
ia cnwr iyir qino yl-gozliv irkf iprow cnpiv iiqkhu iiwahu yl-abrto r	14 18	c/nwr i/yr qn\v yl gvzl\iv i/rkp i/prw cnp\iv i/qk\hv i/wa\hv yl abr\tv
יְהוָ֖ה בָּדָ֣ד יַנְחֶ֑נּוּ וְאֵ֥ין עִמּ֖וֹ אֵ֥ל נֵכָֽר ר		12 Yahweh unassisted guided him, and there was no alien god with him.
ib ihvh bdd inknu vain yimo al ncr r	7 8	ihvh bdd i/nk\nv v/ain ym\v al ncr