Culture & Context: Deuteronomy

Welcome to Culture and Context, a blog that will flesh out the context of the PATH journal and other content that we study here at True North.

Deuteronomy is the last of the first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Pentateuch or Five Books of the Law. Greek and Latin tradition call it the “second law,” but it is not secondary in importance. It is a treaty of renewal to the Israelite people as they stand poised on the threshold of the Promised Land. Rather than focusing on ritual and law, Moses places emphasis on the first and second commandments, which would one day become the basis for Jesus’ preaching.

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” - Luke 10:25-28

Most biblical scholars believe that Moses is author, while others believe it was composed by an unknown author in the 7 th century BC but ascribed to Moses. The literary structure of Deuteronomy as a “second law” or renewal treaty closely resembles legal forms used in ancient Hittite treaties that were used in Moses’ time; this structure supports Moses as author of Deuteronomy.

The book of Numbers focused mostly on the 38 years that the Israelites spent in the wilderness. God now gives Moses in new command: He is to exhort the new generation of Israelites about their responsibilities. They have been wandering for almost forty years and as the original population has died off, it is time to remind their children of the covenant and law that God gave to the people through Moses at Mt. Sinai (also known as Mt. Horeb), and to warn them not to repeat their parents’ failures.

Even though there are many warnings in the looking back, there is also optimism about the future of this new generation. Moses is offering them hope and telling them that they can fulfill the promises God made to the Israelites when He brought them out of slavery in Egypt. He did not emphasize the legalistic keeping of the Law; he described it as part of the unique relationship between their Lord and His people, which sets them apart from the rest of the people in the land.

I gave you a tease in my last post about one of the themes of Deuteronomy... and the answer is

love.

Love, and obedience as the way of showing and living out that love. After re-telling the ten commandments, Moses tells the people what they will be facing and he weaves the theme of love and obedience into all of his instructions. They are to love the Lord their God with all their might and to hold nothing back. Their love and devotion was to be pure and they were to cut out of their lives anything that would interfere with that love and devotion.

They were to love the foreigner, because God loved them when they were slaves and strangers in Egypt. He loves widows and orphans, He loves justice and righteousness, and if they loved God with all their being, they were to love others and be concerned for their welfare. Their humanitarian spirit contrasted the Babylonian, Assyrian and Hittite laws that contained no reference to love between the people and their god. And part of their obedience was to cut out the people that would interfere with that love.

You may be asking how the Israelites could be told by God to love their neighbors and then be told to “devote them to complete destruction,” as He commands in Deuteronomy 7:2. Our western culture is troubled by what we see as the murder of people, something we cannot perceive as loving or just. God is asking the Israelites to clear people away from the land that He has promised to Israel as a way to bless the entire world, land that is occupied by idol worshipers who have abominable practices, including child sacrifice.

The word devote is the Hebrew word haram, which means to put under a ban or dedicate. It can also be translated as to destroy or annihilate. The following verses in chapter 7 tell the Israelites not to intermarry or make covenants with them and to destroy their idols. Why would Moses tell them not to intermarry if the Israelites had killed every person? How could they make a covenant with someone who is dead? Or is this a warning about WHY they must kill every Canaanite man, woman and child?

The commentary Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone implies that since Jesus spoke in metaphor (gouging out your eyes to stop yourself from looking at women), that Deuteronomy is not to be taken literally, but rather that the Canaanites must be eliminated from the lives of the Israelites, and that it is their attitude that will cut the Canaanites out. On the other hand, the Bible Knowledge Commentary gives four very clear reasons for the killing of the Canaanites:

1. they deserved to die for their sin (they were morally depraved)

2. they hated God

3. they were a moral cancer

4. to kill a Canaanite child was actually a blessing because he or she would be spared from future sinning.

As you can see, this is a topic with many opinions and varied interpretations, which is why context is important. Warfare in the ancient Near East was wrapped up in divinity as their gods were called up to aid in battle and were often considered to be fighting along with and ahead of the warriors. Nature gods were prevailed upon to manipulate weather and eart. Children were sacrificed. These practices were all detestable to God. We read with western culture eyes and see genocide or ethnic cleansing; however, the practice of haram was meant to purify and purge the land of wickedness and it was only implemented by Israel within the borders of the promised land (Deut. 20:10-18). As you read further into the Old Testament, the killing of Baal worshipers stops when faith in Yahweh was established. Further proof that even on book cannot be taken out of context- it needs to be read as a part of the ENTIRE Bible.

God's love for His peopler is contained in what is known as the great Shema:

"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." - Deuteronomy 6:4-5

God's people are to enter the promised land and follow His commands by keeping that love for Him and desire to obey Him as their number one commitment. In doing so, they will find their promised rest. The rest of the historical/ narrative books of the Old Testament and the books of the Prophets tells the story of how well the people did and did not follow God's commands.

Imagine sending your child off to college. You've prepared for this moment and yet, as you are sending them off, you may be giving them instructions, reminding them of who they are and how to achieve their goals. It is a huge transition. It;s note quite the same, but I think of Deuteronomy as a great pause and the final words of a loving Father to His people, as they stand on that threshold and prepare to enter their land.

Works-cited and Resources

• Alexander, T. Desmond, and Brian S. Rosner, eds. New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Electronic ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000.

• Beetham, Christopher A., and Nancy L. Erickson, eds. The NIV Application Commentary on the Bible. One- Volume Edition. NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2024.

• Deere, Jack S. “Deuteronomy.” In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985.

• Elwell, Walter A., and Philip Wesley Comfort. Tyndale Bible Dictionary. Tyndale Reference Library. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001.

• Ferguson, Paul. “Devote, Devoted.” In Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Electronic ed., 174–75. Baker Reference Library. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996.

• Goldingay, John. Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone. Old Testament for Everyone. Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press; Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2010.

• Konkel, August H. “Deuteronomy.” In Deuteronomy–Ruth, edited by Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar, II:19–310. ESV Expository Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021.

• Reid, D. G. “Violence.” In New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, edited by T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner, Electronic ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000.

• Trimm, Charlie. The Destruction of the Canaanites: God, Genocide, and Biblical Interpretation. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2022.