What comes to your mind when you hear the name "Moses"? Do you think of Chariton Heston standing on a rock with his hair and his beard and his robe blowing in the wind, while at the same time, beneath his feet the Red Sea churns and rolls back as mighty walls of waves forming a path for the fleeing Israelites? Perhaps you imagine Moses as a white-haired man standing on the jagged cliffs of a mountain and holding in his sinewy arms the two stone tablets of the law.

It is doubtful that any of you imagine Moses as a preacher; nevertheless, that is the picture of Moses which is presented in our First Lesson for today. The text is from the Book of Deuteronomy, which many early scholars considered to be a sermon spoken by Moses to the people of Israel. Deuteronomy has thirty-four chapters with ea…