The word “Deuteronomy” means “second law”. This
is the Greek title of the final book of the Torah, the Pentateuch, which recounts
a second giving of the law by Moses on the banks of the River Jordan before the
Israelites cross into the Promised Land. The Hebrew title of the book is simply
“debarim” which means “words”. The first thirty chapters present Moses’ final
words to his people. It would have taken close to three hours to say all of
these words. The book contains history, law, and great wisdom.
However, most scholars are agreed that this book
was written in the seventh century BCE as a kind of commentary on the meaning of
the Pentateuch and a summary of its message. The first part of Deuteronomy can
be rather boring if read directly after finishing a reading of Numbers because
there is so much repetition. In reality, the language of Deuteronomy is rather
different from the rest of the Pentateuch and reflects the later time in which
it was written. As Lawrence Boadt says, “Looking back from the troubled times
of the last kings of Judah, it [Deuteronomy] offered hope to a discouraged
seventh century Israel, a new chance to obey the covenant and a lesson that
God’s punishment was not final.”[1]
Here is a general outline of the book:
1:1-4:43 General Introduction
4:44-11:32 Particular Introduction to the Deuteronomic Code
12-26 The Law Code
29-34 Final
Speeches
We are reminded, right at the beginning of this
book, about the Israelite failure in the wilderness. We are told that the
journey from Mt. Horeb (Sinai) to the Promised Land could be accomplished in
eleven days. However, because the Israelites failed to conquer the land the
first time God told them to do it, they had to wander in the desert for forty
years. This underscores the importance of immediate obedience.
Friedman notes a key difference between
Deuteronomy and the books that have gone before it: “God speaks very little to
Moses in Deuteronomy, and Moses never says a word to God, even in the chapters
following his speech. (He only quotes previous
conversations he has had with God.)”[2]
Another difference is that individual people and
families from the previous books now become nations. Friedman explains in his
comment on Deuteronomy 2:19,
The stories in Genesis now return to mind with yet
another layer of significance. Israel is not to be hostile to Edom (because
they are Esau’s children) or Moab and Ammon (because they are Lot’s children).
So the stories of individuals and families in Genesis now become the stories of
nations in Deuteronomy. Ancient Israel understood its neighboring peoples to be
relatives. Israel was expected to act
out of kinship to them. And hostility from any of them was regarded as betrayal
by a family member. This attitude continues past the Torah into the narrative
of Israel’s history in its land.[3]
In Deuteronomy 3:8 we encounter the phrase
“across the Jordan”. This phrase recurs several times in Moses’ speech.
However, the land of the two kings of the Amorites would only be “across the
Jordan” from the perspective of those living in the Promised Land. Thus, the
use of this phrase in Moses’ speech is a telltale sign that the speech, as written,
was not given by Moses. Rather, it was written many years later from the
perspective of those who already lived in the Promised Land.
In Deuteronomy 4:1 we have the introduction of a
theme that will carry on throughout this book and on into the history related
in the book of Joshua. It is the theme of choosing life. “So now, Israel, give
heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and
occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.”
Deuteronomy weaves together themes from earlier
books in the Torah. One example is the term “array” or “host of heaven” in
Deuteronomy 4:19. This word, referring to the heavenly bodies, has not been
used since the creation story in Genesis 2:1. The use of this phrase in 4:19
suggests that the author of Deuteronomy had the text of Genesis in front of
him.
Deuteronomy 4:31 highlights another theme of the
book. Here YHWH is called a merciful God. In fact, these words will become the
most quoted in all of Hebrew Scripture. (See Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Nahum 1:3;
Psalms 86:15, 103:8, 111:4, 112:4, 145:8; 2 Chronicles 30:9; Nehemiah 9:17,31.)
The statement in Deuteronomy 4:35,39 that YHWH is
God and there is no other outside him, shows that monotheism was an essential
concept in Israel as early as the seventh century BCE. Some scholars
erroneously claim that monotheism did not develop among the Jews until after
the Babylonian exile in 587 BCE.
What encouragement might the message of
Deuteronomy, about the one God who is merciful, have for us today?
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