Deuteronomy

Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching

Patrick D. Miller

• Editore: Westminster John Knox Press
• Anno: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781611644500
• Argomento: Theology & Religion
• Categoria: Biblical Studies

In this theological exposition of Deuteronomy, Patrick Miller is sensitive to the character of the book as a part of scripture that self-consciously addresses different generations. He discusses the nature and character of the law as revealed in Deuteronomy, as well as the nature of the moral life under God. The treatment of Deuteronomy in the New Testament, and customary introductory issues such as authorship and date, are dealt with in terms of their significance for interpreting and understanding Deuteronomy's character and intention.

Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

PART ONE

Moses’ First Address: Journey to the Boundary

DEUTERONOMY 1—4

The first major section of Deuteronomy moves from beginning to end with a unity of thought and structure that allows it to be heard and interpreted on its own. Most of the primary themes and concerns of the book appear in these chapters. Chapters 1–4, therefore, serve as introduction. They introduce the subject matter and the theological perspective, and they lead the reader into the book. The long speech of Moses in chapters 5–28, composed of exhortation in chapters 5–11 and laws or statutes in chapters 12–28, is the heart of the book. But the stage is set in chapters 1–4. They tell how Israel came to its present place, on the border between wandering in the wilderness and settlement in the promised land. This section presents a historical retrospect reaching back to Horeb (the alternate name for Sinai used by Deuteronomy) and tells of the movement of the people under Moses’ leadership through the wilderness and through the territories of Edom, Moab, and Ammon, as well as the lands of Sihon and Og, which they captured. It concludes with Moses charging and calling the people to obey the statutes and ordinances of God (ch. 4).

Two things should be noted as one looks at this unit. First, the “movement” of the section places the hearers of Moses’ speech on the border, with their goal in sight but not yet reached. The text is explicit about this at several points (1:1–5; 3:23–29; 4:44–49). While the land east of the Jordan has been taken, “the good land beyond the Jordan” (3:25), the heart of the promised land, has not. Moses does not instruct them after the goal is reached, the land taken, the people settled in. The words of Deuteronomy instruct people who find themselves on the boundary—with possibilities, promises, and problems before them. The possibility of crossing the border and fulfilling the promises will be conditioned by how the people receive the divine instruction for life now being given them. The problems they will confront “beyond the Jordan” are going to be manageable only if “these words” are taken to heart. The past of slavery (Egypt) and fear (wilderness) can be transformed into freedom for life only as life is controlled by this law, this word of God that is given for their wisdom (4:6) and their good (4:40—“that it may go well with you”).

This does not mean that the relationship between God and people begins here only or that only from now on will the folk of God enjoy the divine blessings. On the contrary, the relationship reaches into the past, to the people’s beginnings in Abraham, and was established in a full way at Sinai. All along that way, especially in the hazards of the wilderness, God’s care and providence have blessed them. But the long journey is nearly at an end. To move on into the fullness and abundance of life they have been offered, the people must be instructed about what makes that possible. It is for persons on that kind of boundary that these words were set forth. Deuteronomy is given to people who want to move from death to life (30:15–20), from slavery to freedom, from the wilderness fraught with problems to the homeland filled with promise.

The second point to note in this unit is that texts that may have had separate origins have been brought together into a literary and theological whole. Chapter 4 is commonly regarded as being a later composition and as having been added after chapters 1–3 were already in place as the introduction to the Deuteronomistic History (Joshua through Kings). That may be a correct analysis of their literary formation, but the result is a powerful theological statement in which rehearsal of the story of the Lord’s provision and guidance, as well as reminder of the people’s faithfulness, becomes the ground for a call to obedient response to the Lord in the light of God’s gracious care.

The “so now” (NRSV) at the beginning of chapter 4 indicates that what follows is the appropriate implication or consequence of the preceding historical review. This is reinforced by the vocative and imperative, “Israel, give heed.” The past is recalled because it has implications for life in the future. The boundary on which Israel is poised is not purely geographical. It is also the boundary between chapters 1–3 and chapter 4, the border between the experience of a past shaped by the grace of God but distorted by human fearfulness and a future not yet shaped but whose direction is clearly indicated by the past. It should be marked by obedience and trust. The move across the border is a move from grace to faith, from deliverance to obedience, from gospel to response, from theology to ethics.

A theological structure, therefore, is set forth that will be echoed in different forms, from the Shema of 6:4–5 to the offering of firstfruits and credo of chapter 26 (see Introduction). The device, of course, is not purely Deuteronomic or even Old Testament. Paul’s use of “therefore” at Romans 12:1; Ephesians 4:1; and 5:1—or in such places as Philippians 2:12; Colossians 2:16; and 3:5—demonstrates this fact. The gospel of the love of God in Jesus Christ calls those who have received that good news “therefore” to an obedience that is truly the way to life.

Deuteronomy 1—3

On the Way with the Lord

This section recapitulates the story of Israel’s journey from Horeb to the border of the promised land in three main parts. The first is primarily a story of failure, frustration, and stymied progress (ch. 1). The second part records progress toward the land, achieved by peaceful encounter with kinfolk and victory over hostile inhabitants, the Amorites (2:1—3:11). The final unit reports the first allotment of land by Moses, the tribal territories in Transjordan (3:12–29).

Here the reader can perceive a clear interaction between divine intention and control of history and human response to conform to or resist that purpose. Moses’ frequent use of such statements as “the Lord said” and “the Lord commanded” reveals that this is not simply an account of Israel’s wanderings. This is report of a journey led by God, shaped at every point by God’s command and the response of Israel and others to it. It is a journey from wilderness to fruitful land, but it is not made alone. Both progress and provision are given by the word and power of God. Even apparently aimless wandering is under the direction of God (e.g., 2:1–3).

Divine Guidance and Human Fearfulness (1:1–46)

The initial units of chapter 1 introduce the book and the journey: Moses’ role is identified, the people’s destination is delineated, and persons to assist Moses in the leadership of the people are designated. At verse 19 the journey begins. The first episode (vv. 19–46) is given as a kind of paradigm of the human failure to trust in the Lord who created them. It is clearly a lesson Deuteronomy sets before later generations of the Lord’s people.

Introduction to Deuteronomy (1:1–5)

These verses introduce the book as a whole. Two things stand out as one reads this section: the degree of geographical and temporal detail and the impression of repeated introductions (vv. 1, 3, and 5) with a clear focus on Moses. Both aspects merit attention.

Time and Place. The precise information about time and place serves two purposes. One is transitional and introductory. It connects the Book of Deuteronomy with the preceding books and with the narrative of the journey through the wilderness, and it anticipates in very concise fashion the salient features of the opening chapters. Here is an indication that Deuteronomy does not stand alone; it is meant to be read with and out of the preceding books, thus creating that body of literature known as the Torah, or Pentateuch (see Introduction).

The second purpose is to root this book in very specific ways in history. It does not stand before us as a general statement about human conduct but has grown out of the life and experience of a people in their journey with God. That experience impinges upon, affects, and shapes the words and the instruction that follow. Torah as the Lord’s teaching is not immobilized and restricted by the temporal context but is related to it. One often discerns what is at stake by hearing that instruction in its context. In this case, we have good reason to think that the teaching of this book was deliberately set against the backdrop furnished by these references, impelling us all the more to take it seriously.

Most of the interpretive comment made on the geographical details is to try to locate the places. Such endeavor is of only penultimate usefulness. Usually it founders on our inability to locate a number of the places, especially in verse 1, with any precision or certainty. We do know that Horeb refers to the mountain in the Sinai peninsula where the law was given to the people and that the Arabah is the geographical rift south of the Dead Sea. We know also that the other places are in the southern region of Palestine or, more likely, in the territory of Moab across the Jordan and the region north of it where the kings Sihon and Og ruled. Two or three of the places can probably be identified more precisely. The exact location of others is uncertain.

What is important, however, is that these times and places identify in shorthand fashion the central contextual matters one needs to keep in mind while reading the book. Several of those need to be lifted up.

The starting point is identified as Horeb. The covenant established between God and this people and the giving of the law are indeed the starting point and the basic assumption of all that follows. Again and again the chapters that follow will seek in some fashion to transport the people back to Horeb (Sinai) to identify the instruction and demands before the people now—whether “now” refers to Israel in the wilderness preparing to take the land or to Judah of the late monarchy trying to hold its place in the land or to the people in exile hoping to return to the land (see Introduction)—with those set before them at Sinai.

At Kadesh-barnea (1:2) the redeemed people failed to trust in their redeeming God. There they found that the promise would not come to those who were afraid and did not trust in the power of their God to keep the promise made. That story is told in the latter part of this chapter to indicate that if there is a relation between law and land, as Deuteronomy surely seeks to declare, there is also a direct connection between trust and promise. In both cases, one cannot expect the latter without the former. Reference to the fortieth year anticipates the fate of the fearful generation that was not allowed to enter the land; forty years is the approximate length of a generation (cf. 2:14–15). That period is described in chapter 8 as a time when the Lord humbled Israel, testing them (v. 2) but also providing for them (v. 4).

In contrast to the fearful expectations of the people, the story of the victory given Israel by the Lord over the powerful and hostile kings Sihon and Og (1:4) clearly demonstrates the power of God to fulfill the promises to protect and provide for the people who trust and obey.

Most other geographical references are subsumed under or spell out the general locale of the wilderness and the land of Moab. Both designations remind us of the boundary setting of this instruction. The people are still in some sense in the wilderness, with all the vicissitudes and threats it presents, but in sight of the promise, of home, of a rest from tiresome wandering. How do they get across the border? How do they move from the wilderness to a promised rest? The answer as Deuteronomy gives it is that they move across through the power and instruction of God.

Repeated Introductions. Verses 1, 3, and 5 seem at first glance to be unnecessary repetitions. Verse 1a serves as an introduction satisfactorily without requiring the other references to Moses in verses 3 and 5. All three, however, do relate to the way the book is set up, what it is intended to accomplish, and particularly the question of its source.

Verse 1 identifies the words of this book as the words and speeches of Moses. This sets the book as human speech, given by a particular individual in a particular time and place and subject to all the contingencies, contexting, and limitations characteristic of any human words and instruction. Verse 1 also indicates—as do the following verses—that these words are not those of just any individual; they come from the one who is known as founder and leader, one whose words and way were set by the Lord.

This latter point is stressed in verse 3. Moses is the voice, but the Lord is the source and author of the words. Regularly Moses will be speaking, and just as regularly it will be said that Moses speaks according to what the Lord commands him.

The third introduction, verse 5, explicitly identifies Moses as the mediator, teacher, and explicator of torah: that is, of this instruction, which is indeed the role he assumes in the book.

All these introductions may be related to the role of Moses vis-à-vis the law and to the core of the book in chapters 5 and 6. On the one hand Moses is the speaker of the book from beginning to end, while on the other hand he is mediator and simply transmits the words of the Lord (see ch. 5). Equally clearly, however, one sees at the beginning of chapter 6 and elsewhere that Moses is teacher and explainer of the law, Deuteronomy. The word translated as “explain” is uncommon, appearing only here, in Deuteronomy 27:8, and in Habakkuk 2:2. It seems to mean “to make clear,” to expound or explicate in a way that all may clearly understand. This verse therefore underscores the fact that Deuteronomy is not merely law; it is law expounded, interpreted, and explained. Moses is not simply promulgator of law but also teacher and interpreter of God’s instruction.

What about the question of authenticity? Did Moses really receive these words from God and then pass them on, while also interpreting and elaborating them? It is highly unlikely that we have here an accurate historical report of words and actions by Moses on the plains of Moab before the settlement. The creation of Deuteronomy appears to have been a complex, prolonged process, most of which probably took place at a much later time. What was in the minds of the now unknown persons who over a period of time “authored” Deuteronomy can only be speculation. But it is likely that the ascription and reception of this book as Mosaic was done in a most serious fashion. The traditions, conceptions, and even particular matters of instruction were seen as reaching back to the beginnings. Deuteronomy was meant to be—and was received as—instruction about God’s way. That way was rooted in, grew out of, and was consonant with the covenant stipulations and divine activity that created Israel as a people. While traditions and statutes were updated, they were regarded as part and parcel of the primary formulation of relationship between God and Israel. One assumed that this instruction that grew out of the Mosaic instruction belonged with it. Fresh explication of the law of God in a new time does not mean that it is new law. Rather, it is a part of the whole and properly carries the authority of Moses. The introduction, therefore, says in effect to readers of any time: Read these words as being God’s instruction taught and explained by Moses, and you will know what force and authority they are to have. Read these words as guidance for people moving from slavery and wilderness and wandering into a land of opportunity, blessing, and life under God’s rule, and you will know where and how they are to be heard.

The Gift of the Land (1:6–8)

The command “Resume your journey” (v. 7, NRSV) begins the narrative that runs through the first three chapters. Because these chapters describe stages of a journey, the units (or stages) are marked off frequently by either the command to turn (panah) and journey (nasa‘), or to pass over or through (‘abar), or by the report that the people have done so. The first of these journey markers is here, but it is not simply one stage to which the people are set. Rather, this is the introductory command to go up into the land; and as it is given, the promised land is defined in general and ideal form, extending from the Negeb in the south to the Euphrates River in the north. This is an extravagant gift echoing the promise to the patriarchs (e.g., Gen. 15:18–21), as indeed the divine word clearly indicates (v. 8). The limits set forth here were probably never reached except for a while during the reign of David. The proper extent of Israel’s promised land is somewhat ambiguous in the Bible, whether one looks at the land as promised or the land as occupied. We are led to hear with unmistakable clarity, though, that there is a spot for God’s people, that spiritual home is not indifferent to matters of geographical place—or, perhaps more simply, that one cannot truly speak about home or rest (to use the Deuteronomic term) without speaking about place. The precise shape of the gift may not be permanently or rigidly fixed. The important thing is that a place is provided for the people and that it is an unrealistically extravagant gift, as are all of God’s gifts.

When one looks at how land and home are to come to Israel, three things immediately stand out. The land is promised, given, and taken.

It is promised, which means that there is a history to this transaction. The homeland arises out of the sworn purposes of God. It is not an accident or a casual and unexpected event. It has been at the heart of God’s intention to bring blessing to the families of the earth from the beginning (Gen. 12:1–3; cf. Wolff). Because the reality of the land was for much of the time only promise, its realization assumed a histo...

Indice dei contenuti

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Series Preface
• Preface
• Contents
• Index of References to Deuteronomy
• Introduction
• Part One: Moses’ First Address: Journey to the Boundary Deuteronomy 1—4
• Part Two: Moses’ Second Address: The Law Proclaimed Deuteronomy 5—28
• Part Three: Moses’ Third Address: The Covenant at Moab Deuteronomy 29—32
• Part Four: The Death of Moses
• Bibliography