Deuteronomy

Believers Church Bible Commentary

Gerald E. Gerbrandt

• Publisher: Herald Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9780836199703
• eBook ISBN: 9780836147599
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

Deuteronomy is a book full of life, stories of God’s people, and a vision for walking in the way of God. Considered by some to be the theological center of the Old Testament, Deuteronomy has been called the gospel according to Moses, with its attention to divine grace and practices of justice. Deuteronomy has also disturbed thoughtful readers throughout history, having been used to justify violence and all manner of war. In this insightful commentary, Old Testament scholar Gerald Gerbrandt invites readers to struggle with the difficult passages and to humbly converse with the book’s consistently hopeful themes of covenant, land, and leadership. Against the backdrop of apathy and amnesia and countless competing modern-day gods, Deuteronomy calls for the exclusive worship of the one God, with a reminder of what that God has done for us. It presents a vision for a community of brothers and sisters who treat each other with justice and generosity. By examining the book that Jesus quoted when asked about the heart of Israel’s faith, Gerbrandt unfolds for readers the richness of a book that is endlessly challenging and remarkably relevant for today.

Deuteronomy is the twenty-ninth volume in The Believers Church Bible Commentary Series. Accessible to lay readers, useful in preaching and pastoral care, helpful for Bible study groups and Sunday school teachers, and academically sound, the commentary foregrounds an Anabaptist reading of Scripture. Relying on a unique format that includes sections on The Text in Biblical Context and The Text in the Life of the Church, the commentary series is a cooperative project of Brethren in Christ Church, Brethren Church, Church of the Brethren, Mennonite Brethren Church, Mennonite Church Canada, and Mennonite Church USA. Published for all who seek more fully to understand the original message of Scripture and its meaning for today, the series is based on the conviction that God is still speaking to all who will listen, and that the Holy Spirit makes the Word a living and authoritative guide for all who want to know and do God’s will.

Part 1

First Speech:
Retrospect and Prospect

Deuteronomy 1:1–5

Introduction

PREVIEW

How does one start a book? Biblical authors use widely diverse styles. Genesis begins with a summary statement. Ruth has virtually no introduction and moves directly into the story. Like a good-news report with a no-nonsense style, Deuteronomy begins by answering the essential questions of who, what, where, and when. Readers need to be alerted to transitions, movement, and change. Deuteronomy is Moses expounding torah to Israel, as God commanded, in the plains of Moab in the fortieth year after leaving Mount Horeb. But these straightforward answers are more than mere data. They also announce that the words of Moses are simultaneously the word of God, and they situate Deuteronomy geographically and historically (plains of Moab, fortieth year).

OUTLINE

A¹ These Are the Words That Moses Spoke., 1:1a

B¹ Place: Beyond the Jordan …, 1:1b

C¹ Time: Eleven Days …, 1:2

D Moses Spoke … as the LORD Had Commanded, 1:3

C² Time: After He Had Defeated …, 1:4

B² Place: Beyond the Jordan …, 1:5a

A²Moses Undertook to Expound This Law …, 1:5b

EXPLANATORY NOTES

Deuteronomy opens with the narrator speaking. The narrator does not speak often in Deuteronomy, at least not in the three main speeches (chs. 1–4, 5–28, 29–30). In this opening paragraph the narrator makes two key points. First, Deuteronomy conveys the words of Moses, but words that have been commanded by God. Second, these words are situated in a specific context, both in time and space. The seven-part concentric or chiastic structure highlights these two emphases [Chiasm, p. 540].

Not only does the first part (A1) match the last part (A2); it also corresponds with the middle part (D). The words Moses speaks are the words God commands and thus also the words of God. Here is the central thrust of this opening passage. Parts B (B1 and B2) and C (C1 and C2) then locate Deuteronomy in time and space.

Deuteronomy as the Words of Moses 1:1a, 3, 5b

The first two words of Deuteronomy in Hebrew are, literally, these the words. In Hebrew, Deuteronomy is named after its opening words, ʾelleh haddebarim. Deuteronomy is a book of words, of many words. Three times (1:1a, 3b, 5b) this point is made in these five verses.

But Deuteronomy is not merely words. These words are organized into a series of distinct speeches, as reflected in the structure of the book and in its style and language. Interpreters have long recognized that the majority of Deuteronomy divides into three major parts, each having the form of a separate address or sermon, with its own introduction. The didactic or sermonic nature of Deuteronomy is also reflected in its literary style, using every rhetorical device available to persuade the listener or reader to respond (see “Torah: Sermon, Not Law” in the introduction).

But the introduction does not only speak of Deuteronomy as words; it also designates them as words of Moses. Here the text introduces an element of ambiguity. In the first clause it simply calls them the words that Moses spoke to all Israel. In verse 3 (part D, at the center of the introduction) this is expanded to Moses spoke to the Israelites just as the Lord had commanded him to speak to them. That language gives the impression that Moses is merely a mouthpiece, reporting the dictated words of God. The last clause of the introduction (part A2) then reads, Moses undertook to expound this law as follows. Now Moses comes across as a teacher who explains and clarifies something that has been received and may in fact be public information, but that may not be fully understood. The role of the educator is to help people understand by using techniques like explanation, analogy, and application. The implication is that Moses goes well beyond what he has received in an effort to make this law clear.

These verses thus warn against distinguishing too closely between divine and human words, or in this case, separating God’s words from those of Moses. Deuteronomy is simultaneously words that Moses uses to explain the law to Israel and words that God commands Moses to speak. At points Deuteronomy does distinguish between words God gives directly to Israel and words that Israel receives indirectly through God’s servant, Moses (cf. 4:9–14 and 6:22–27), but in the introduction this distinction is absent.

Deuteronomy is the word of God, with all the authority this implies, to Israel and to the contemporary church. But it comes in human form—one might compare this to the miracle of the incarnation in the New Testament—and so is at the same time a human word, with all the limitations intrinsic to language. For most readers of this commentary, this reality is made more complex by the fact that they have access to these words only through English translation.

A similar ambiguity arises when the phrase words that Moses spoke is unpacked with regard to the authorship of the book. Tradition is clear that Moses wrote the book of Deuteronomy as well as the rest of the Pentateuch. German translations of the Bible imply this with their designation of Deuteronomy as the “fifth book of Moses.” Yet many contemporary scholars consider Deuteronomy to be an eighth-or seventh-century document. Both options are inadequate if taken literally or simply [Composition of Deuteronomy, p. 543].

The opening verse directs the words to all Israel (v. 1). Strikingly, the last verse in Deuteronomy contains the same expression (34:12). The all Israel of Deuteronomy transcends the people gathered in the plains of Moab to hear the sermon of Moses. It includes the Israel of the seventh century, the Israel in exile, as well as all later Israels. As a people grafted into Israel, the church also is included (cf. Eph 2:11–22).

The concluding clause of the introduction includes the phrase this law. The Hebrew term torah, rendered law by most English versions, has a meaning much beyond or even different from that suggested by the English word “law” [Law, p. 555]. The ancestral stories of Genesis are torah. The account of Israel’s escape from Egypt in Exodus is torah. All of Deuteronomy is torah, including narrative and exhortation. A recent Jewish commentary on Deuteronomy consistently translates torah as “Teaching,” with a capital T (Tigay). Another writer suggests that Deuteronomy may be considered catechesis, or catechism, the foundational instruction that one generation of God’s people gives to the next (Olson: 7–14). Deuteronomy uses torah in an expansive manner. To help remind us that the Hebrew means something other than law, this commentary will use torah for this broad meaning of the word, both when speaking of the teaching or sermon of Deuteronomy, as well as when referring more generally to God’s instruction of Israel.

Deuteronomy in Time and Space 1:1b-2, 4–5a

Parts B (B¹ and B²) and C (C¹ and C²) place these speeches of Moses into a particular context. The exact location of some of the place names is unclear, but the general locale is straightforward—somewhere in the Transjordan, opposite Jericho in the plains of Moab (see map on p. 570). The phrase beyond the Jordan points to the Transjordan, from a vantage point on the west side (vv. 1b, 5a). The Transjordan may have already received a first installment of the gift of land as a sign of what is to come (see comments on 2:24–3:11), but the primary focus is the land west of the Jordan. Deuteronomy is a sermon at the border of the Promised Land.

The chronological context fits the geographical context. The significance of the surprisingly detailed dating probably lies more in the sequence than in the exact numbers. Looking backward, the book is placed a generation after the exodus (forty years signifies one generation), after the events at the mountain where they experienced God and were made a people through covenant (a place normally called Horeb in Deuteronomy and generally Sinai elsewhere), and after the years of wandering in the wilderness and the death of a whole generation due to their loss of faith upon first arriving at the Promised Land (cf. 1:34–36).

Looking forward, the occupation of the Promised Land still lies in the future, with all its dangers and potential, both for faith and loss of faith. The previous generation had experienced God’s deliverance in the exodus, but when it had come to the Promised Land, it lost faith, and as a result perished in the wilderness (1:19–2:1). Now the present generation is the focus of attention. The defeat of the two Amorite kings reminds them that God is still powerful, still in control, and still wanting to give the people the land. As the previous generation had been, the present generation of the book is at the border of the Promised Land. The question is, will it have more faith than the previous generation, and receive the land God has given it?

THE TEXT IN BIBLICAL CONTEXT

Israel at the Boundary

The plains of Moab, a generation after the exodus, represent a critical juncture in the story of Israel. Ever since Genesis 12, the story has been looking forward to this point. Abraham and Sarah received the promise of land, but fulfillment for them was limited to a small plot that Abraham purchased for their burial (Gen 12:7; 24:7; 23:1–16; 25:7–11). Isaac and Jacob wander about in the land, but they do not settle down, and the promise is repeated (Gen 26:3; 28:13–15; 35:12). Jacob is even forced to take the family to Egypt, far away from the land, in order to survive the famines that inflict the area. His actions may secure life, but they also set the stage for slavery under a pharaoh who does not know Joseph. Hope for life, much less for the Promised Land, grows dim. But, the story says, God hears them in the land of slavery and calls Moses to lead them out. Now they are out, and the children of those who escaped are at the border, on the verge of receiving what had been promised so long ago. Throughout Deuteronomy this strategic location in time and in space cannot be forgotten. At this strategic location Moses gives Israel directions on how to live after it has received the land.

But the “border” or “boundary” is not a onetime location (Brueggemann 1977; P. Miller 1990). The power and force of Deuteronomy are bound up in the fact that many times later (continuously?) Israel again is at a boundary, at a point in its existence when the future lies open before it. The seventh century bce was such a time. The Northern Kingdom had been defeated, and Judah had to determine how to respond to this new situation. Later the times of exile and restoration were such crises. Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed. The foundations of Judah’s faith had been undermined. Each time the sermon of Deuteronomy calls out to them.

The New Testament presents another such border time. John the Baptist calls on the people to repent “for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matt 3:2). Shortly thereafter Jesus begins his ministry with a similar proclamation: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15). Like Deuteronomy, Jesus presents his hearers with the challenge to respond now in their border situation.

THE TEXT IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH

The People of God at Boundaries

Not all of life is of the same significance for the future. There are times in the life of the people of God, or times in the lives of individuals, that have extraordinary import for their future. A congregation may need to reassess its identity and approach as its demographics change or the community within which it is located changes. Families have new opportunities and challenges when they relocate in a new community. At key points in life, individuals face potentially life-changing circumstances.

The church of the early twenty-first century may be in such a boundary situation. In her book The Great Emergence, Phyllis Tickle suggests that the church is in the midst of a massive rummage sale, an occurrence that happens roughly every five hundred years. This is a time of upheaval and overhaul as everything is under review, with the possibility of being rethought, radically reoriented, or even jettisoned entirely. The previous such great rummage sale was the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. During the five hundred years leading up to the current shakeup, the institutional church has become so calcified, so set in its ways, that only a giant rummage sale can engender revitalization (2008; cf. 2012).

In the midst of the sale, everything is in a state of upheaval and confusion, but Tickle assures us that, once we have passed through the turmoil, the result is a revitalized and renewed older or former church and a dynamic new form of Christianity. Brian McLaren has a similar sense of our times. In his numerous books he attempts to paint what that new form of Christianity might look like, as reflected in titles like A New Kind of Christian and A New Kind of Christianity.

For young adults the transition from being dependent children in the homes of their parents to independent adults, with their own relationships, lifestyle, and career, is a unique boundary position. They must decide who their friends will be, how they will earn and spend their own money, how or if they will relate to the church, whom they will marry, and other matters. One might push this analogy even further by suggesting that they are about to enter the promised land, when their skills and education will provide for their livelihood and become the source of new blessing. They are at a critical boundary.

Into such boundary situations Deuteronomy presents the words of God through Moses. Just as these words were to guide Israel as it passes over the boundary into the Promised Land, so these words address people and church in their boundary situations today.

Deuteronomy 1:6–18

Retrospect: Dividing the Load

PREVIEW

Leadership, hierarchy, delegation of authority and administration are issues in every social organization. Businesses, church denominations, and countries all must deal with these. Israel is no exception. The first story of Deuteronomy retells the tradition of Israel receiving ...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Abbreviations
• Pronunciation Guide
• Series Foreword
• Author’s Preface
• Introduction to Deuteronomy
• Part 1, First Speech (1:1–4:43): Retrospect and Prospect
• Part 2, Second Speech (4:44–28:68): Preaching Torah
• Part 3, Third Speech (29:1–30:20): The Covenant in Moab
• Part 4, Transition (31:1–34:12): Toward a Moses-less People
• Outline of Deuteronomy
• Essays
• Map of Palestine for Deuteronomy
• Map of the Ancient Near East for Deuteronomy
• Bibliography
• Selected Resources
• Index of Ancient Sources
• The Author