Deuteronomy Overview

Brief recap and introduction:

A year after the Exodus, Israel is at Mt. Sinai in the covenant-making ceremony with God.

They leave, journeying through the wilderness and become the wandering generation after they disqualify themselves from entering into the P.L.

Deuteronomy begins with the new generation, the children of the wandering generation. Moses is standing before them explaining the covenant stipulations of the Torah.

The design flows from the first few verses…Deuteronomy is a series of speeches given by Moses to call this new generation to covenant faithfulness.

Chapters 1-11: Moses’ Opening Speech

Chapters 12-26: Collection of Laws (actually where the book gets its name — deuteronomion, a Greek word meaning “second law.”)

Chapters 27-34: Moses’ Final Speech and Death

Moses’ Opening Speech (chps.1-11)

Chps.1-3, a recap of the story so far, highlighting the rebelliousness of the previous generation which provides a stark contrast against God’s continual grace.

Did God exercise justice?

Did God abandon His covenant promises?

Chps.4-11, Moses passionately calls the current generation to be faithful, unlike their parent’s generation.

They are reminded of the Ten Commandments.

Then, in the center is one of the most sacred texts in the entire Pentateuch — The Shema (Deut.6:4-9 ““Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”)

A daily prayer in Judaism

Brings the themes of Deut. together

Listen = hearing and responding to what you hear (OBEY)

Love = emotive decision leading to whole-hearted devotion to God

By doing these, they will fulfill their call to be a kingdom of priests.

They will represent God to the world, displaying both the wisdom and justice of God.

Lord alone (“The Lord is One”) = YHWH is the one and only God Israel is to worship.

In Canaan, there are gods who represent numerous aspects of the physical creation (sun, moon, sex, war…you name it).

This is a warning to avoid what Rom.1:25 (“because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”) will expose.

Collection of Laws (chps.12-26)

Israel’s worship (Deut.12-16a)

Highlights the fact that Israel is to have one temple to worship one God.

Emphasizes care for the poor, a way to worship God by loving others.

One-tenth was to be set aside to give to the temple, but every three years 1/10 was to be set aside to give to the poor.

This justice concern happened at a time in history when other cultures were not necessarily doing these things…it was a mark of holiness.

Israel’s leaders (particularly, their character qualifications (Deut.16b-18))

Elders, priests, and kings were all accountable to the covenant of YHWH’s law.

God would enforce these standards by sending prophets.

This sets up a contrast with other ancient civilizations where kings often consider divine, standard-makers themselves, Israel’s leaders are subordinate to YHWH and His standards.

Civil laws (Deut.19-26) — marriage, family, business, social justice and the legal system (including protection of widows, orphans and immigrants), which are followed by more instructions on worship.

Tips on reading the laws:

These are the terms of the Sinai covenant, given specifically to ancient Israel, who lives in a culture vastly different than our own.

It doesn’t help to compare them to modern laws which were written in a very different culture. Rather, Deuteronomic laws were given to set this people apart. However, when compared with contemporary nations, Israel was being pushed to a higher level of justice than any other ancient society.

Discern core principles and moralities undergirding any particular law. (Extra credit HW: see how Paul does this in 1 Cor. 9:9 quoting a law from Deut.25:4).

Moses’ Final Speech and Death (chps.27-34)

Moses’ final challenge is that Israel should listen to and follow God. It comes first with a warning and ultimatum (chps.27-30).

IF Israel will listen to and obey their God, things will go well. There will be divine blessing.

BUT, if they rebel, famine, plague, devastation and exile will follow.

KEY TEXT: Deut.30:15-20 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

HOWEVER, right after Moses says this, we get some hard-to-hear words:

Deut.31:16 “And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them.”

Deut.31:26-27 ““Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord. How much more after my death!”

What would possess the leader of God’s people to say such a thing?

Well, it’s only a depressing thought if we forget God’s patience and the fact that Moses has addressed their rebelliousness (Deut.30:6-10 “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”)

Don’t miss the fact that Moses is bringing out an enormous theological truth: there is something fundamental wrong with the hearts of the Israelites, and by extension, all humanity.

The Fall centered around mankind rejected God’s good way in order to define life on their own terms.

Moses, then, offers hope to this terrible predicament: God is going to transform the hearts of His people so that they can truly “Hear” (Deut.6:4) God.

This truth will get picked up by prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel who hold out hope for a new heart.

Moses’ last words and death are recorded in chps.31-34, which include a poem of warning in chp.32 and a poem of blessing in chp.33. After this, he walks up on a mountain and sees all the land as God reaffirms His covenant promise just before he dies.

Thus the Torah comes to the end. Major biblical themes are in place, but they have yet to be resolved.

When will the descendant of the woman come and defeat evil (Gen.3)?

How is God going to rescue and bless the whole world through Abraham (Gen.12)?

How can a holy God be reconciled to a people who are continually rebellious (Exodus-Numbers)?

How will God transform the hearts of His people (Deut.30)?

As with the rest of the Torah so far, it ends with an invitation to keep reading to see how God resolves it all!