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Deuteronomy (Ancient Greek: Δευτερονόμιον, romanized: Deuteronómion, lit.'second law'; Latin: Liber Deuteronomii)[1] is the fifth and final book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called Devarim (Biblical Hebrew: דְּבָרִים, romanized: Dəḇārīm, lit.'[the] words [of Moses]'). It is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament.
Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to the Israelites by Moses on the Plains of Moab, shortly before they enter the Promised Land. The first sermon recounts the forty years of wilderness wanderings which had led to that moment and ends with an exhortation to observe the law. The second sermon reminds the Israelites of the need to follow Yahweh and the laws (or teachings) he has given them, on which their possession of the land depends. The third sermon offers the comfort that, even should the nation of Israel prove unfaithful and so lose the land, with repentance all can be restored.[2] The final four chapters (31–34) contain the Song of Moses, the Blessing of Moses, and the narratives recounting the passing of the mantle of leadership from Moses to Joshua and, finally, the death of Moses on Mount Nebo.
One of its most significant verses is Deuteronomy 6:4, the Shema Yisrael, which has been described as the definitive statement of Jewish identity for theistic Jews: "Hear, O Israel: The Lᴏʀᴅ is our God, the Lᴏʀᴅ alone." This was also quoted by Jesus in Mark 12:28–34 as the Great Commandment.
Traditionally, it was believed that God dictated the Torah to Moses, but most modern scholars date Deuteronomy to the 7th–5th centuries BCE.[3]
Patrick D. Miller in his commentary on Deuteronomy suggests that different views of the structure of the book will lead to different views on what it is about.[4] The structure is often described as a series of three speeches or sermons (chapters 1:1–4:43, 4:44–29:1, 29:2–30:20) followed by a number of short appendices[5] or some kind of epilogue (31:1–34:12), consist of commission of Joshua, the song of Moses and the death of Moses.[6]
Other scholars have compared the structure of Deuteronomy with Hittite treaties or other ancient Near Eastern treaty texts. But it is clear that Deuteronomy is not in itself simply the text of a treaty, as Deuteronomy is more than simply applying the secular model of treaty to Israel's relationship with God.[7]
The Ten Commandments (Decalogue) in chapter 5 serve as a blueprint for the rest of the book, as chapters 12–26 are the exposition of the Decalogue, thus the expanded Decalogue.[7]
(The following "literary" outline of Deuteronomy is from John Van Seters;[8] it can be contrasted with Alexander Rofé's "covenantal" analysis in his Deuteronomy: Issues and Interpretation.[9])
The final verses, Deuteronomy 34:10–12, "Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses," make a claim for the authoritative Deuteronomistic view of theology and its insistence that the worship of Yahweh as the sole deity of Israel was the only permissible religion, having been sealed by the greatest of prophets.[10]
Deuteronomy 12–26, the Deuteronomic Code, is the oldest part of the book and the core around which the rest developed.[11] It is a series of mitzvot (commands) to the Israelites regarding how they should conduct themselves in the Promised Land.
Mosaic authorship of the Torah, the belief that the five books of the Torah – including the Book of Deuteronomy – were dictated by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, is an ancient Jewish tradition that was codified by Maimonides (1135–1204 CE) as the 8th of the 13 Jewish principles of faith.[12] Virtually all modern secular scholars, and most Christian and Jewish scholars, reject the Mosaic authorship of the Book of Deuteronomy and date the book much later, between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE.[3] Its authors were probably the Levite caste, collectively referred to as the Deuteronomist, whose economic needs and social status the book reflects.[13] The historical background to the book's composition is currently viewed in the following general terms:[14]
Chapters 12–26, containing the Deuteronomic Code, are the earliest section.[17] Since the idea was first put forward by W. M. L. de Wette in 1805, most scholars have accepted that this portion of the book was composed in Jerusalem in the 7th century BCE in the context of religious reforms advanced by King Hezekiah (reigned c. 716–687 BCE),[18][19] although some have argued for other dates,[20] such as during the reign of his successor Manasseh (687–643 BCE) or even much later, such as during the exilic or postexilic periods (597–332 BCE).[3][21]
There is a suggestion in Moshe Weinfeld's translation and commentary on Deuteronomy, based on substantive affinities between the blessings and curses that appear in the book and the vassal treaties of Esarhaddon (pledging allegiance to the God of Israel and the Law in one version and to Esarhaddon in the documents exhumed from the archaeological record), that an important phase in the compilation of Deuteronomic law occurs at the same time as (and may be partly identical to) the Josianic reform.[22] Weinfeld stringently rejects and dismantles the notion that the main body of the work might be post-exilic, without dismissing the obvious and unremarkable truth that textual changes accruing over generations of copying that extend for centuries are likely to have occurred and may be evident in the text.[22] The dates that Esarhaddon reigned as an Assyrian 'King of the Universe' tend to prohibit any notion that the book was nearing a form that approaches its final draft during the reign of Hezekiah.[22] However, the presence of Jeremiah on the scene, and of a general presence of northern refugees in the territory of Judah during Josiah's reign and thus throughout his reform, go some distance toward reconciling this reading with the notion that Deuteronomy is passed down to Judah as a Mosaic tradition of the north, insofar as Jeremiah has been interpreted as a liaison between the refugees of Israel and the native citizens of Judah sympathetic to both sides who enjoyed a reputation of authority in both communities.[23]
Apart from the main body of the law of Moses in Deuteronomy, the second prologue (Ch. 5–11), and the first prologue (Ch. 1–4) appear as distinct units of the text; the chapters following 26 are similarly layered.[17]
The prophet Isaiah, active in Jerusalem about a century before Josiah, makes no mention of the Exodus, covenants with God, or disobedience to God's laws. In contrast, Isaiah's contemporary Hosea, active in the northern kingdom of Israel, makes frequent references to the Exodus, the wilderness wanderings, a covenant, the danger of foreign gods and the need to worship Yahweh alone. This discrepancy has led scholars to conclude that these traditions behind Deuteronomy have a northern origin.[24] Whether the Deuteronomic Code was written in Josiah's time (late 7th century BCE) or earlier is subject to debate, but many of the individual laws are older than the collection itself.[25] The two poems at chapters 32–33 – the Song of Moses and the Blessing of Moses were probably originally independent.[24]
Deuteronomy occupies a puzzling position in the Bible, linking the story of the Israelites' wanderings in the wilderness to the story of their history in Canaan without quite belonging totally to either. The wilderness story could end quite easily with Numbers, and the story of Joshua's conquests could exist without it, at least at the level of the plot. But in both cases, there would be a thematic (theological) element missing. Scholars have given various answers to the problem.[26]
The Deuteronomistic history theory is currently the most popular. Deuteronomy was originally just the law code and covenant, written to cement the religious reforms of Josiah, and later expanded to stand as the introduction to the full history. But there is an older theory, which sees Deuteronomy as belonging to Numbers, and Joshua as a sort of supplement to it. This idea still has supporters, but the mainstream understanding is that Deuteronomy, after becoming the introduction to the history, was later detached from it and included with Genesis–Exodus–Leviticus–Numbers because it already had Moses as its central character. According to this hypothesis, the death of Moses was originally the ending of Numbers, and was simply moved from there to the end of Deuteronomy.[26]
Deuteronomy stresses the uniqueness of God, the need for drastic centralisation of worship, and a concern for the position of the poor and disadvantaged.[27] Its many themes can be organised around the three poles of Israel, Yahweh, and the covenant which binds them together.
The themes of Deuteronomy in relation to Israel are election, faithfulness, obedience, and Yahweh's promise of blessings, all expressed through the covenant: "obedience is not primarily a duty imposed by one party on another, but an expression of covenantal relationship."[28] Yahweh has elected Israel as his special property (Deuteronomy 7:6 and elsewhere),[29] and Moses stresses to the Israelites the need for obedience to God and covenant, and the consequences of unfaithfulness and disobedience.[30] Yet the first several chapters of Deuteronomy are a long retelling of Israel's past disobedience – but also God's gracious care, leading to a long call to Israel to choose life over death and blessing over curse (chapters 7–11).
Deuteronomy's concept of God changed over time. The earliest 7th century layer is monolatrous; not denying the reality of other gods but enforcing only the worship of Yahweh in Jerusalem. In the later, Exilic layers from the mid-6th century, especially chapter 4, this becomes monotheism, the idea that only one god exists.[31] God is simultaneously present in the Temple and in heaven – an important and innovative concept called "name theology."[32]
After the review of Israel's history in chapters 1 to 4, there is a restatement of the Ten Commandments in chapter 5. This arrangement of material highlights God's sovereign relationship with Israel prior to the giving of establishment of the Law.[33]
The core of Deuteronomy is the covenant that binds Yahweh and Israel by oaths of fidelity and obedience.[34] God will give Israel blessings of the land, fertility, and prosperity so long as Israel is faithful to God's teaching; disobedience will lead to curses and punishment.[35] But, according to the Deuteronomists, Israel's prime sin is lack of faith, apostasy: contrary to the first and fundamental commandment ("Thou shalt have no other gods before me") the people have entered into relations with other gods.[36]
Dillard and Longman in their Introduction to the Old Testament stress the living nature of the covenant between Yahweh and Israel as a nation: The people of Israel are addressed by Moses as a unity, and their allegiance to the covenant is not one of obeisance, but comes out of a pre-existing relationship between God and Israel, established with Abraham and attested to by the Exodus event, so that the laws of Deuteronomy set the nation of Israel apart, signaling the unique status of the Jewish nation.[37]
The land is God's gift to Israel, and many of the laws, festivals and instructions in Deuteronomy are given in the light of Israel's occupation of the land. Dillard and Longman note that "In 131 of the 167 times the verb "give" occurs in the book, the subject of the action is Yahweh."[38] Deuteronomy makes the Torah the ultimate authority for Israel, one to which even the king is subject.[39]
The Shema Yisrael is the fundamental creed of Judaism, and its twice-daily recitation is a mitzvah (religious commandment) for religious Jews.[40] The recitation of the Shema continues with Deuteronomy 6:5–9:
And you shall love the eternal your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (RJPS).[41]
"Love the eternal your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" became a principle central to Judaism: to return God's love in faith, relationship, and fulfillment of God's commandments.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus cited Deuteronomy 6:5 as the Great Commandment. The earliest Christian authors interpreted Deuteronomy's prophecy of the restoration of Israel as having been fulfilled (or superseded) by Jesus and the establishment of the Christian Church (Luke 1–2, Acts 2–5); Jesus was interpreted to be the "one (i.e., prophet) like me" predicted by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15 (Acts 3:22–23). While the exact position of Paul the Apostle and Judaism is still debated, a common view is that in place of mitzvot given by God to the Jewish people in Deuteronomy and the rest of the Torah, Paul the Apostle, drawing on Deuteronomy 30:11–14, claimed that the keeping of the Mosaic covenant was superseded by faith in Jesus and the Gospel (the New Covenant).[42]
Deuteronomy public domain audiobook at LibriVox Various versions