Notes for Deut 3:18-20

1.The structure here is slightly different from, but indebted to, the palindromic structure noted by Nelson, 54.

2. The root word is capable of three meanings: a) to "take off," "lay bare," hence, to "strip," b) to "escape," "withdraw," and, resultatively, "to rescue," "to deliver," and c) to "gird," "strengthen."

3. For a sad but moving account of life in the Holy Sepulchre—one that resonates with the experience of most visitors to the church—see Simon Goldhill, Jerusalem: City of Longing (Cambridge, MS: Harvard University Press, 2009), esp. 23-43.