Deuteronomy

Overview

Deuteronomy, the fifth and last book of the Torah, is Moses' farewell. Its name comes from the Greek for "second law", a reading of 17:18 ("a copy of this law"). The Hebrew title, Devarim, means "Words", from the opening line: "These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel." The whole book is set on the plains of Moab, east of the Jordan, in the fortieth year after the Exodus, over a few weeks just before Moses dies and Israel crosses into Canaan.

Most of the book is preaching rather than story. Moses speaks to the generation born in the wilderness, retells what God has done, restates the covenant made at Sinai (which Deuteronomy calls Horeb), and urges the people to love and obey God in the land. The book is laid out like an ancient treaty: history, terms, blessings and curses, witnesses, and arrangements for the future. Tradition attributes it to Moses. Many scholars link its final form to the reforms of King Josiah, when "the book of the law" was found in the temple (2 Kings 22). Its influence on the later history books and the prophets is very great, and Jesus quotes it more often than any other book of the Torah.

The book is built around three speeches and a closing section: the first speech (chs 1–4), the second speech with the law code (chs 5–26), blessings, curses and the call to choose (chs 27–30), and Moses' last acts and death (chs 31–34).

Part 1 — Remembering the Journey (chapters 1–4)

Setting (1:1–5). "On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab," in the eleventh month of the fortieth year, Moses begins to explain the law.

From Horeb to Kadesh (1). God tells Israel, "Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount," and sends them toward Canaan. Moses recalls appointing judges and telling them, "Ye shall hear the small as well as the great… for the judgment is God's." At Kadesh-barnea the spies' report made the people afraid, even though God had carried them "as a man doth bear his son". Because they refused to go in, that generation was barred from the land, apart from Caleb and Joshua.

Through the nations (2–3). For thirty-eight years Israel circled in the wilderness. God then led them past Edom, Moab and Ammon without fighting, because those lands had been given to the descendants of Esau and Lot. Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan attacked and were defeated, and their land went to Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh. Moses pleaded, "Let me go over, and see the good land," but God refused and told him to look from Pisgah and to strengthen Joshua.

The call to obey (4). "Ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude" (4:12), so Israel must make no image of God and must not worship the sun, moon or stars. Moses warns that idolatry will lead to exile, but promises that "if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him." He sets apart three cities of refuge east of the Jordan.

Part 2 — The Covenant and Its Laws (chapters 5–26)

The Ten Commandments (5). Moses repeats the Decalogue. The covenant was made "with us, who are all of us here alive this day." In this version the Sabbath command rests on the memory of slavery in Egypt rather than on creation.

The Shema (6). "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: and thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might" (6:4–5). These words are to be on the heart, taught to children, bound on the hand and forehead, and written on doorposts and gates. When a child asks what the laws mean, the answer is the story: "We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out." Jesus later called the command to love God the first and greatest commandment.

Chosen in love (7). Israel must not make treaties with the Canaanite nations or adopt their worship. God chose Israel "not because ye were more in number… for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the LORD loved you."

Do not forget (8). God humbled them in the wilderness and fed them manna "that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD" (8:3). In a land of wheat, vines and iron they must not say, "My power… hath gotten me this wealth."

Not because of righteousness (9–10). Israel is "a stiffnecked people". Moses recalls the golden calf, his forty days of prayer, and the second tablets placed in the ark. "What doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear… to walk in all his ways, and to love him?" (10:12). God "doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger", so Israel must love the stranger too. They are told to "circumcise… the foreskin of your heart."

A land watered from heaven (11). Unlike Egypt, Canaan depends on rain, and rain depends on faithfulness. The blessing and the curse are to be proclaimed from Mounts Gerizim and Ebal.

One place of worship (12). Canaanite shrines are to be destroyed. Sacrifices may be offered only "in the place which the LORD your God shall choose… to put his name there", which later history identifies with Jerusalem.

False prophets (13). A prophet, a dreamer, or even a close family member who says "Let us go after other gods" must not be followed, even if their signs come true.

Holiness, tithes and generosity (14–15). Laws on clean and unclean food are followed by the annual tithe and the third-year tithe for the Levite, stranger, orphan and widow. Every seventh year debts are cancelled and Hebrew servants freed and sent away with gifts: "Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother."

The three pilgrim feasts (16). Passover and Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles are kept at the chosen place, and the whole household, including servants, Levites, strangers, orphans and widows, is to "rejoice".

Justice and leadership (16:18–18:22). Judges must take no bribes: "That which is altogether just shalt thou follow" (literally "justice, justice"). A future king must not gather many horses, wives or great wealth, and must write out a copy of the law and read it all his life. Priests and Levites live from the offerings. Divination, sorcery and consulting the dead are forbidden. God promises, "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee" (18:18), a promise later applied to the line of prophets and, in the New Testament, to Jesus.

Life, war and the courts (19–21). Cities of refuge protect someone who kills by accident. Boundary stones must not be moved. Two or three witnesses are required, and a false witness receives the penalty he intended for the accused. Rules of war require an offer of peace first, send home the newly married and the fearful, and protect fruit trees. Other laws cover unsolved murders, captive wives and the rights of a firstborn son.

Neighbourly laws (22–25). A stray animal must be returned to its owner, and a railing must be built round a flat roof. Some laws concern marriage and sexual conduct. A runaway slave must not be handed back. Interest may not be charged to a fellow Israelite. Workers are to be paid before sunset. The forgotten sheaf and the gleanings belong to the poor. The ox treading grain must not be muzzled, weights and measures must be honest, and Amalek is to be remembered.

First fruits (26). Settled in the land, each Israelite brings a basket of first fruits and recites: "A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt…" The confession ends with the gift of "a land that floweth with milk and honey." The second speech closes with mutual vows: Israel will be God's people, and God will be their God.

Part 3 — Blessing, Curse and Choice (chapters 27–30)

Ebal and Gerizim (27). Across the Jordan, the law is to be written on large plastered stones and an altar built on Mount Ebal. Six tribes stand on Gerizim for the blessing and six on Ebal for the curse. The Levites read twelve curses on hidden sins, and the people answer each one with "Amen."

Blessings and curses (28). Obedience brings blessing: "Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field", with rain, harvests, children, herds and victory. Disobedience brings a much longer list of curses: drought, disease, defeat, siege, famine and finally scattering "from the one end of the earth even unto the other." Later books read Israel's exiles in the light of this chapter.

The covenant at Moab (29–30). Moses calls the present generation, and those not yet born, into the covenant. "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us." After exile God will gather his people and "circumcise thine heart… to love the LORD." The command is not out of reach: "The word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart." Then comes the climax: "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life" (30:19).

Part 4 — Moses' Last Acts (chapters 31–34)

Joshua and the written law (31). Moses tells Joshua in front of all Israel, "Be strong and of a good courage… he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." He writes the law, gives it to the priests and elders to be kept beside the ark, and orders it read aloud to all Israel every seven years at the Feast of Tabernacles. God warns that Israel will turn away, and gives Moses a song to stand as a witness.

The Song of Moses (32). "Give ear, O ye heavens… He is the Rock, his work is perfect." The song tells of God's care, like an eagle stirring its nest and finding Israel "in a desert land". Israel grows fat and forgets him ("Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked"), judgment follows, and then God's mercy: "I kill, and I make alive." God tells Moses to climb Mount Nebo to die.

The blessing of the tribes (33). Like Jacob in Genesis 49, Moses blesses the tribes one by one: Reuben, Judah, Levi, Benjamin ("the beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety"), Joseph and the rest. It ends: "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms… Happy art thou, O Israel."

The death of Moses (34). From Pisgah on Mount Nebo God shows Moses the whole land, from Gilead to Dan and on to the western sea. Moses dies in Moab "according to the word of the LORD." God buries him in a valley, and "no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." He is 120 years old, "his eye was not dim." Israel mourns thirty days. Joshua is "full of the spirit of wisdom", and the people obey him. The Torah closes: "There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face."

Key themes, and the bridge to Joshua

• Remember. The book keeps telling Israel to remember slavery, rescue, manna and rebellion, and to pass the story on to their children. Forgetting God in times of plenty is the danger it warns against most.
• Love as the heart of the law. The Shema makes love for the one God the centre of everything. Obedience answers God's love, which came first.
• One God, one people, one place. The book requires exclusive loyalty, no images, and worship only at the place God chooses.
• Justice for the vulnerable. The widow, orphan, stranger, Levite, debtor, slave and even the ox are protected, because Israel knows what it was like to be strangers in Egypt.
• Today. "This day" recurs throughout. Each generation stands at Moab and must choose for itself.
• Blessing and curse. The covenant's terms explain the history that follows in Joshua to Kings: faithfulness brings life in the land, and unfaithfulness ends in exile. The promise that God will one day change the people's hearts goes beyond that pattern.

Deuteronomy ends with Moses dead, buried by God in a grave no one has found, and Joshua in command at the Jordan with the written law in the ark. The land God promised to Abraham lies across the river. The Book of Joshua begins straight afterwards: "Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan."