Deuteronomy: A Commentary

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Cover Page Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Contents Preface Abbreviations Introduction Name and Canonicity Text and Versions Qumran Scrolls Paragraph Divisions Deuteronomy Papyri Date, Composition, and Authorship The Josianic Reform The Quest for Urdeuteronomium Northern Provenance Hezekiah’s Reform A New Quest for Urdeuteronomium The Question of Authorship Ancient Near Eastern Treaties Ancient Hebrew Rhetoric Rhetorical Prose Preached Law Rhetoric and Composition The Deuteronomic Law Code Earlier Biblical Law Later Biblical Law Ancient Near Eastern Law Codes Deuteronomy and the Prophets Amos Hosea Micah Isaiah Jeremiah Deuteronomy and Wisdom Humane Treatment and Benevolence to the Poor and Needy Teaching of Children Blessing: Life, Goodness, and Longevity in the Land Avoidance of Shame Discerning False from True Prophets Theological Ideas in Deuteronomy The Name of Yahweh Yahweh the One and Only God Yahweh a Holy God Yahweh Is Heard but Not Seen Yahweh a God of Love Yahweh a God Faithful to His Promises Yahweh a Righteous God Yahweh an Impartial Judge Israel a Holy People The Election of Israel The Covenant at Horeb (Sinai) The Land as a Gift and Tenure in the Land Holy War Divine Blessing Covenant Obligations Doing the Commandments Love to Yahweh and to Others Fear of Yahweh Walking in Yahweh’s Way Serving Yahweh Gratitude to Yahweh The Book of Deuteronomy The First Edition (1–28) Prologue (1–4) The Covenant at Horeb (5–11) The Deuteronomic Code (12–26) Blessings and Curses (27–28) First Supplement (29–30) Second Supplement (31–34) Deuteronomy and the New Testament The Synoptic Gospels The Gospel of John and the Johannine Epistles Acts of the Apostles Pauline and Deutero-Pauline Letters The Epistle of James The Epistle to the Hebrews Revelation of Saint John Bibliography Text and Reference Works Commentaries Books, Monographs, and Articles Translation, Notes, and Comments I. Superscription to the Prologue and First Edition (1:1–5) II. Prologue to the Deuteronomic Law (1:6–4:40) A. The Land Is Set Before You (1:6–46) B. Pass Peaceably through Seir (2:1–8a) C. Pass Peaceably by Moab (2:8b–15) D. Do Not Go near Ammon (2:16–23) E. I Have Given Sihon into Your Hand (2:24–37) F. I Have Also Given Og into Your Hand (3:1–11) G. Apportionment of Transjordan Land (3:12–17) H. The Focus Now Is Beyond the Jordan (3:18–22) I. Moses Asks to Cross the Jordan (3:23–29) J. Listen to the Statutes and Ordinances and Do Them (4:1–40) 1. Forget Not the Horeb Revelation (4:1–24) 2. What Will Happen If You Do Forget (4:25–40) III. Refuge Cities in the Transjordan (4:41–43) IV. Subscription to the Prologue (4:44–49) V. The Covenant at Horeb (5–11) A. Law and Covenant (5:1–33) 1. This Covenant Was with You! (5:1–5) 2. The Ten Words (5:6–21) 3. Moses: Mediator for Subsequent Laws (5:22–33) B. Fear Yahweh and Keep the Commandment (6:1–3) C. Liturgical Injunction (6:4–9) D. Forget Not, Test Not (6:10–19) 1. Forget Not Yahweh (6:10–15) 2. Test Not Yahweh (6:16–19) E. What Mean These Commandments? (6:20–25) F. You Are a Holy People (7:1–26) 1. Yahweh Will Clear Away Large and Mighty Nations (7:1–6) 2. Yahweh Chose You Because He Loved You (7:7–11) 3. Yahweh Will Keep Covenant and Love You (7:12–16) 4. Yahweh Will Defeat the Larger Nations (7:17–26) G. Remember Yahweh and His Testing (8:1–20) H. You Are a Rebellious People (9:1–29) 1. Yahweh Will Clear Away Larger and Mightier Nations (9:1–3) 2. Conquest Due to Canaan’s Wickedness and Oath to the Fathers (9:4–6) 3. Remember Your Wilderness Rebellion (9:7–29) a) Remember the Calf at Horeb and Moses’ Intercession (9:7–21) b) Remember Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah (9:22–24) c) Moses’ First Intercession on the Mountain (9:25–29) I. With the Covenant Renewed the Journey Can Continue (10:1–11) 1. Moses Makes New Tablets (10:1–5) 2. Journey to Moserah Where Aaron Died (10:6–7) 3. Levites to Carry the Ark (10:8–9) 4. Intercession Successful; Rise Up and Resume Your Journey (10:10–11) J. Fear, Walk Straight, Love, and Serve Yahweh (10:12–11:17) 1. Circumcise Yourself to Yahweh (10:12–22) 2. Consider Yahweh’s Discipline (11:1–9) 3. The Promised Land Will Have Rain from Heaven (11:10–12) 4. But Rain Hinges on Keeping the Commandments (11:13–17) K. Liturgical Injunction (11:18–21) L. Consequences of Obedience and Disobedience (11:22–32) 1. Be Very Careful with All This Commandment (11:22–25) 2. The Blessing and the Curse (11:26–28) 3. Be Careful to Do the Statutes and Ordinances (11:29–32) VI. The Deuteronomic Code (12–26) A. The Central Sanctuary (12:1–13:1[12:32]) 1. Destroy All Places of Their Gods (12:1–4) 2. On Tithes and Offerings (12:5–14) a) Offerings at the Central Sanctuary (12:5–9) b) Once Again: Offerings at the Central Sanctuary (12:10–14) 3. On the Clean and Unclean (12:15–28) a) Nonsacrificial Meat in the Towns (12:15–16) b) Offerings at the Central Sanctuary (12:17–19) c) Nonsacrificial Meat in the Towns (12:20–25) d) Holy Offerings at the Central Sanctuary (12:26–28) 4. Seek Not Their Gods (12:29–13:1[12:32]) Excursus 1: Centralized Worship in the Reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah B. Yahweh Testing for Faithfulness (13:2–19[1–18]) 1. Beware of Prophets and Dreamers (13:2–6[1–5]) 2. Beware of Family and Friends (13:7–12[6–11]) 3. Beware of Worthless Men (13:13–19[12–18]) C. Israel a Holy People to Yahweh (14:1–21) 1. Holiness in Lamenting (14:1–2) 2. Clean and Unclean Animals (14:3–8) 3. Clean and Unclean Waterfowl (14:9–10) 4. Clean and Unclean Winged Creatures (14:11–20) 5. Holiness in Eating and Food Preparation (14:21) D. Tithes, Remissions, and Offerings (14:22–15:23) 1. Tithing Year by Year (14:22–27) 2. Tithing Every Three Years (14:28–29) 3. Remissions Every Seven Years (15:1–18) a) Debt Remission (15:1–11) b) Remission of Hebrew Slaves (15:12–18) 4. Firstborn Gifts Year by Year (15:19–23) E. Keeping the Feasts (16:1–17) 1. Feast of Passover (16:1–8) 2. Feast of Weeks (16:9–12) 3. Feast of Booths (16:13–17) F. Office Holders in Israel (16:18–18:22) 1. The Judge and Matters of Judgment (16:18–17:13) a) Appointing Judges and Officials (16:18–20) b) Regarding Abominations (16:21–17:1) c) Judgment for Covenant Transgressors (17:2–7) d) Extraordinary Cases to the Priests and the Judge (17:8–13) 2. What Sort of King for Israel? (17:14–20) 3. Rights of the Levitical Priests (18:1–8) a) The Levites’ Inheritance Is Yahweh (18:1–2) b) Offerings Due the Levites (18:3–5) c) Altar Privileges for All Levites (18:6–8) 4. How May We Know the Word of Yahweh? (18:9–22) a) No Practitioners of the Secret Arts (18:9–14) b) Testing for the False Yahweh Prophet (18:15–22) G. Judicial Procedure (19:1–21) 1. Cities of Refuge (19:1–13) 2. No Moving of Boundary Markers (19:14) 3. Regarding Witnesses (19:15–21) H. When You Go to War (20:1–20) 1. Choosing Warriors (20:1–9) 2. Conduct of Holy War (20:10–18) 3. Respect Fruit Trees in a Siege! (20:19–20) I. Expiation for an Unsolved Murder (21:1–9) J. Marriage to a Woman War Captive (21:10–14) K. Rights of the Firstborn (21:15–17) L. Death for Rebellious Sons (21:18–21) M. Hanged Criminals (21:22–23) N. Miscellaneous Laws (22:1–8) 1. Restoring Lost Property (22:1–3) 2. Lifting Up Fallen Animals (22:4) 3. No Wearing the Apparel of the Opposite Sex (22:5) 4. Sparing Mother Birds (22:6–7) 5. Parapets on Roofs (22:8) O. More Miscellaneous Laws (22:9–12) 1. No Mixing of Seeds, Yoked Animals, and Cloths (22:9–11) 2. The Tassel Exception (22:12) P. On Chastity and Marriage (22:13–23:1[22:30]) 1. Unchaste Brides (22:13–21) 2. Sex with Another Married Woman (22:22) 3. Sex with a Betrothed Girl in the City (22:23–24) 4. Sex with a Betrothed Girl in the Country (22:25–27) 5. Sex with an Unbetrothed Girl (22:28–29) 6. Sex with a Father’s Wife (23:1[22:30]) Q. On Purity and Cleanliness (23:2–19[1–18]) 1. Purity within Yahweh’s Assembly (23:2–9[1–8]) a) Blemished Men Excluded (23:2–3[1–2]) b) Ammonites and Moabites Excluded (23:4–7[3–6]) c) Edomites and Egyptians Not Abominations (23:8–9[7–8]) 2. Purity and Cleanliness in the Camp (23:10–15[9–14]) 3. Hospitality to Runaway Slaves (23:16–17[15–16]) 4. No Holy Prostitutes! (23:18–19[17–18]) R. Laws on Loans, Vows, and Theft (23:20–26[19–25]) 1. Loans to Brothers Interest-Free (23:20–21[19–20]) 2. Pay Your Vows Promptly! (23:22–24[21–23]) 3. No Crop Stealing! (23:25–26[24–25]) S. Humane Laws (24:1–25:4) 1. Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage (24:1–5) a) Divorcee May Not Return to First Husband (24:1–4) b) Newlywed War Deferment (24:5) Excursus 2: Divorce within Judaism and Early Christianity 2. Pledges and Scale Disease (24:6–13) a) No Millstones as Pledges (24:6) b) No Stealing of Persons (24:7) c) Warning about Scale Disease (24:8–9) d) Kindness in Exacting Pledges (24:10–11) e) No Sleeping in a Poor Man’s Pledge (24:12–13) 3. Justice and Benevolence to the Needy (24:14–22) a) Paying Hired Laborers (24:14–15) b) Each in His Own Sin Shall Die (24:16) c) No Perversion of Judgment to the Needy (24:17–18) d) The Needy to Get Gleaning Rights (24:19–22) 4. A Limit on Flogging (25:1–3) 5. No Muzzle on a Threshing Ox (25:4) T. Miscellaneous Laws (25:5–19) 1. Levirate Marriage (25:5–10) 2. Wives Interfering in a Fight (25:11–12) 3. Just Weights and Measures (25:13–16) 4. Wipe Out the Remembrance of Amalek! (25:17–19) U. Rituals at the Central Sanctuary (26:1–19) 1. Ritual of the Firstfruits (26:1–11) 2. Ritual of the Third-year Tithe (26:12–15) 3. Be Careful and Do These Commands (26:16–19) VII. Blessings and Curses (27–28) A. Covenant Renewal at Shechem (27:1–26) 1. Yahweh’s Law on Large Stones (27:1–8) 2. Today You Have Become Yahweh’s People (27:9–10) 3. Let the Tribes Ascend the Mountains (27:11–13) 4. Let the People Say “Amen” (27:14–26) B. Blessings and Curses of the Deuteronomic Covenant (28:1–68) 1. If You Obey the Covenant (28:1–14) a) The Six Blessings (28:1–6) b) Victory in Battle, Prosperity, World Respect (28:7–14) 2. If You Do Not Obey the Covenant (28:15–68) a) The Six Curses (28:15–19) b) Disease, Famine, Defeat in Battle (28:20–26) c) Incurable Disease, Madness, Displacement (28:27–37) d) Crop Failure, Impoverishment, Dependent Status (28:38–46) e) Curses of the Siege (28:47–57) f) Egypt Revisited! (28:58–68) VIII. Subscription to the First Edition (28:69[29:1]) IX. First Supplement (29–30) A. The Covenant Is Something You Do (29:1–8[2–9]) B. Enter into the Sworn Covenant! (29:9–28[10–29]) C. When the Blessings and Curses Come upon You (30:1–10) D. The Word Is Very Near You (30:11–14) E. The Two Ways: Life and Death (30:15–20) X. Second Supplement (31–34) A. Moses’ Death Draws Near (31:1–32:52) 1. I Cannot Cross Over This Jordan (31:1–6) 2. Joshua to Head the Army, the Law Entrusted to the Levites and Elders (31:7–13) a) Joshua Receives Charge from Moses (31:7–8) b) A Public Reading of the Law Every Seven Years! (31:9–13) 3. Yahweh Addresses Moses and Joshua (31:14–23) a) Joshua to Receive His Charge (31:14–15) b) Moses to Write a Song (31:16–22) c) The Charge to Joshua (31:23) 4. Moses’ Parting Words about the Song (31:24–30) 5. The Song of Moses (32:1–43) Excursus 3: History of Research into the Song of Moses 6. Take These Words to Heart (32:44–47) 7. Ascend this Mountain (32:48–52) B. Moses’ Departure (33:1–34:12) 1. The Blessing of Moses (33:1–29) 2. Moses’ Death and Burial (34:1–12) Appendix: Citations of Deuteronomy in the New Testament