Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Torah and is thought to have been written by Moses in around 1400 BC with some later additions. Its title derives from the Hebrew word deverim meaning 'words' or 'these are the words'. In Greek the meaning is 'second law' 'Deutero' meaning second and 'numos' meaning law. It is written as three sermons given by Moses. The later additions are thought to have been added after the death.
It was on the plain of Moab that Moses spoke to his people. Moab is a mountain region to the east of the dead sea where the Moabites lived. The Israelites were in constant conflict with them because the Moabites were descended from the incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughter after she had got him drunk and seduced him in order to get pregnant. The eldest daughter gave birth to Moab and the younger Ben-ammi whose descendants were the Ammonites. Both the Moabites and Ammonites worshiped many Gods but their main God was Molech who required child sacrifices and ritualistic killings. These practices were despised by the Israelite's who forbade such practices under their law.
Moses delivered the three sermons as he gathered his people together, Moses repeats many of the 613 laws outlined in Leviticus but showed how they were be lived out in the promised land as well as in a nomadic dessert community. In the first sermon Deuteronomy 1-4 Moses explains how Israels disobedience has caused them to keep wandering in the dessert rather than going straight to the promised land, how an 11 day journey was to take 40 years. We too can wander in our own dessert rather than reach the promised land when we do not follow God. Moses urges them to obey Gods laws and trust him because he had brought them out of slavery from Egypt. The second sermon Deuteronomy 5-26 includes an extended version of the ten commandments including the Shema prayer. Moses also builds on the meaning of the other laws including instructions and warnings on how to conduct themselves. This is known as the Deuteronomic code. The third sermon Deuteronomy 29-32 is where Moses blesses his people and reminds them to be obedient otherwise they would bring curses upon themselves. Moses aged 120 tells them that it would be Joshua not he who would lead them into the promised land. Moses is considered the greatest prophet in the old testament.
The Shema prayer is the central Judaic prayer repeated twice every day, it is sometimes seen attached to the foreheads of Jews. It states that 'God is one' a complex unity, God is complete from whom nothing can be taken or added. God is faultless, precise and perfectly loving. There are no other Gods. The phrase 'remember how i led you out of Egypt' is mentioned 16 times and the text is designed so that Jews should remember that fact. Moses picks up many themes in Deuteronomy, he speaks of the gluttonous and rebellious son and of the poor man without a cloak which draw parallels in the new testament teachings of Jesus. Deuteronomy seems harsh in the way it speaks of capital offences where transgressors are hung from a tree but we see here a forerunner of Jesus being hung from a tree but his punishment in contrast was for the sins of others. Despite the curse of sin God is shown in Deuteronomy as a teacher who helps to build resilience in the face of adversity.
Why did the law need to be repeated? Deuteronomy was written 40 years after the Exodus and during that time an entire generation had died except for Moses, Caleb and Joshua. It reminds them that after their release from slavery in Egypt they had broken the law so quickly so had to be punished by having to wander. So Moses explains the law to a whole new generation. They were also at the cusp of entering the promised land so they needed to know how to behave in a land occupied by enemies in the same way we need to know how to behave in a world where many do not follow God. Moses knew that he was going to die so was anxious to pass the information on just before seeing the waters part once more, this time on the river Jordon.
The 'land your God gives you' appears 40 times in Deuteronomy perhaps as a reminder of the 40 years spent in the wilderness. They are reminded that the land is a gift. God owns the land and because of their sin it is an undeserved gift. So God says 'Go in and possess the land' but the Israelites had to struggle and fight for it just as we as Christians need to put in some effort in our work for the Kingdom. We have to trust in and draw from God just as the Israelites were required to. God was giving it to them for ever even if they were not to occupy it all of the time, their enjoyment of it depended on how well they lived whilst residing in it and so it proved as they were later exiled. How we live in Gods promise is also important.
As was usual in the ancient world the law was presented as an agreement, a covenant or contract much like a wedding vow. This required sanctions including natural ones such as drought in what was a very fertile land or through military conflict. The Philistines who lived on the coastal plains now known as the Gaza strip would attack Israel whenever they broke the covenant. The land of Caanan was inhabited by a mixture of Amorites and Cananites. God wanted the Israelites to drive them out of the land so they could possess it. Many object to a God who sanctions genocide, this seems immoral and unjust but in Genesis we are told that the Amorites were given 400 years to give up their evil ways. Their practices included human sacrifices adultery, incest , buggery, and remarriage. In Caanan there was idol worship, occult practices, and fertility cults as well as temple prostitution and ritualistic sex. All this was contrary to the law of Deuteronomy. God eventually acts and judges evil as he does with us as humans. He wanted to remove an immoral people from the land which had become corrupt and defiled and replace them with the Israelite's who were to be an unadulterated pure and righteous people who were in turn to be a light to the rest of the world.
Deuteronomy also highlights injustice, there was a wide disparity between rich and poor with pride greed and selfishness leading to exploitation of the poor. The disabled, blind, deaf and widows were uncared for with their poverty being compounded by the charging of interest. God wanted his people to be selfless and to love and care for one another and the land was to be used for good. God needed to be shown respect, for his name, his day, he wanted respect for life, respect for marriage, respect for property, respect for reputation. The quickest way to destroy society is to destroy respect. The purpose of the law is obedient love. In Deuteronomy the word love is used 31 times, the word 'Hear is used 50 times and 'do' 'keep' and 'observe' are used 177 times. Love is to obey, Love is loyalty. Love and the law go together. We can then contrast the law of Moses with the licentiousness of the Amonites
There were other law codes around in the ancient world at that time. The Hammurabi code at the time of the Amorite king in Babylon for example was written 300 years before Moses. This law also prohibits killing, adultery, stealing and false witness. it also included the law on revenge similar to 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth'. We should not be surprised by this as in Romans the apostle Paul tells us that the law of God is written on the human heart so that we should know instinctively what is right and wrong.
There are notable differences though between the two laws. In the Hammurabi code the punishment was always death whereby the Mosaic law there was capital punishment for 18 crimes. The Mosaic law treats slaves as people rather than property, there are no class distinctions in the law of Moses whereby the Hummurabi code had a different law for nobles as opposed to common people. To conclude the Hummurabi code was a threat whereby the Mosaic code was a command to obedience. Today these codes seem harsh in their punishments but in relation to what went before they were a significant moral advancement which was developed even further in the teachings of Jesus. This allows us to understand the history and give context to the relative law codes at that time.
The Mosaic law had many different aspects. Jews were forbidden to worship any other Gods. It is said that God is a jealous God and sometimes this is seen as a negative trait but there is a clear distinction between this and envy, which is wanting what somebody else has whereas Jealousy in this context is wanting what is actually yours. So God is jealous for his people when they follow other Gods. Therefore all graven images, phallic symbols and Asherah poles are forbidden. There was to be no cutting flesh or shaving heads when mourning. There was to be only one main place of worship and all Canaanite worship places were to be destroyed. Child sacrifice was outlawed and consulting the dead through mediums, practicing witchcraft, believing omens and using spells were all punishable by death as was blasphemy. Unuchs were to be excluded from the assembly and children of forbidden unions were to be banished. Amonites and Moabites were to be excluded as the Israelites were not to mix with the immoral pagan tribes around them. All first born animals were to be dedicated to the lord and 10% of all produce was to be set aside for aliens, orphans, levites and widows.
The Israelite's were to receive the first fruits of the land when they entered Canaan, they were to also declare their history and give thanksgiving for Gods provision. The Sabbath is given as a provision for slaves who had previously worked seven days a week. There were set feasts that were to be celebrated as acts of remembrance of their history, these were the feasts of Passover, weeks, tabernacles and pentecost. All vows and contracts were to be kept. There should be no mixing of seeds, clothes or fabrics such as wool and linen and the donkey and ox were not to be yoked together as these were all common practice for the pagans who believed that they aided fertility.
There were also laws for a King to follow even though Israel was not to have a King for many years to come. Kingship was a concession and not part of Gods plan but the people wanted one. A King on coming to the throne was to write out the law of Moses in his own handwriting and read it regularly to the people, the King is also instructed not to have many wives, horses or much money which would have been very rare for that time. There were rules given for Judges and the conduct of courts which included a court of appeal. The punishment for contempt of court was death so a high premium was set on telling the truth. There were to be no bribes or favouritism with the poorest and richest being subject to the same rule of law. It was necessary to have two or three witnesses to prove the crime and anybody bearing false witness received the same punishment as the crime would have warranted. Floggings were to be a maximum of 40 strokes although the offender usually received 39 to make properly sure the law was not broken, it had been the practice previously to flog people to death. If a person was executed they were not to be left on the tree after sunset and this law was certainly applied to Jesus after his crucifixion. Murder always carried the death penalty except for manslaughter and six cities of refuge were set up (three each side of the Jordon) where those who had killed accidentally could go to escape the death penalty. The death penalty was applied to rapists although the woman was expected to shout in protest. There we also laws against theft and the moving of land boundries as well as rights to receive damages for injuries, slaves also had certain rights and workers had to be paid on time. Debts were to be cancelled after seven years and no interest was to be payable. Proper rules for weights and measures were aimed at fairness and inheritance had to follow the family line. There were strict rules with regard to marriage. Divorce on the grounds of disliking your wife is prohibited and in the case of Adultery both parties were to be put to death.
There were rules that applied to health and welfare with procedures involving the priest to be followed in the case of leprosy, laws against eating animals that are found dead and strict rules were to govern clean and unclean foods. Meat and milk are not to be cooked together because the pagans thought this helped fertility and camel, rabbit, pigs and some birds were considered unclean. Well being for the poor was important with sheaves of corn being left on the edge of the field for the poor to pick up. Human waste was designated to a specific area and needed to be covered up. Animals were to be treated well including those belonging to neighbours and an ox was not to be muzzled when it was treading grain. Parents expected respect and support from their children, with rebellious children punished by death. In warfare the married soldiers were to stay at home if they had just been married and the 'faint hearted' were not expected to fight.
Many of these laws seem incongruous to us today in a relatively comfortable western culture though some laws had a very practical purpose for a nomadic desert people in a hot climate, others were ceremonial rituals of obedience to instill discipline and respect for God. God is interested in all aspects of our lives not just the big moral questions and punishments are only administered if the laws are broken. The 'thou shalt not' laws are designed for the well being of the Israelite's, to lead them away from the barbaric pagan practices of nearby countries. All the laws are known by everybody and are not arbitrary unlike many Kings who killed on a whim. The punishments are harsh by todays standards but were a vast improvement on what went beforehand and were ultimately designed for the well being of the community. The phrase 'that it may be well with you and that you may live a long life in the land' is mentioned often in Deuteronomy.
God wants a distinct and holy people who are to be a light to the rest of the world. The covenant is confirmed after they cross the river Jordan as they stand below Mount Elba and Gerazim
Summary from Unlocking the bible by David Pawson and The bible book by book - Cris Rogers