Kathy’s opening
thoughts for our study of Deuteronomy
September 1, 2015:
Starting our Study
of Deuteronomy, let’s look at how this book is “situated” in the whole of
Scripture.
·
In terms of old and new Testament echoes, all of
what we notice about Deuteronomy will turn out to be relevant when we turn to
the gospel of Matthew next semester.
There Jesus is the “new Moses” – so this semester we should let the
character and voice of Moses sink into our minds and hearts – his importance as
the great leader of Israel, and the bearer of God’s revelation of Torah.
·
In Hebrew scripture, the book of Deuteronomy
turns up as part of the story in the
book of 2 Kings. This dovetails with
what we learned about Isaiah last year:
the people of Israel and Judah processing the REASON why they went into
exile. What is known as the “Deuteronomist
history” says that it is because of the faithlessness of Israel, their turning
to “other gods” that the exile ultimately happens.
·
Throughout the book of Kings, there is a
pattern, and Deuteronomy, “the book of the law” turns up as a break in this
pattern.
Read
and listen to:
2Kings 16: 1-4
2Kings
17:1-8
2Kings
18:1-8 (a bright spot: Hezekiah –
remember where we encountered him in Isaiah?)
2Kings
21:1-2
Then we come to 2 Kings 22:1- 23:4
Let’s
read the whole story of the finding of the book of the law
What’s going on, politically? How do the kings and the people understand
their relationship to God?
The book of
Deuteronomy, the 5th book of the Torah, is understood to be this
“book of the law” that is found in the time of King Josiah, before the
exile.
Josiah’s
reign is a brief bright spot and then the unfolding of history continues –
Assyria has already conquered Israel and Samaria; the Babylonia exile is coming inevitably -- and all of this is understood as a result
of Israel’s faithlessness, especially serving other gods and buying into the
customs and activities of the surrounding “nations”
Deuteronomy
re-tells the story of the Exodus – as a series of discourses by Moses just as
Israel is about to enter the promised land.
Deuteronomy’s reputation is that it is a collection of nit-picky, but
I’m going to suggest that we step back and read it a bit more carefully for
what it is: a gloss on the law, i.e. the
ten commandments, reflecting on what a life lived in accordance with that
commandment will actually look like.
Always looking on 3
levels at least:
1. How
did this passage speak to the reforming era in King Josiah’s time
2. This book was edited and canonized in
the period following the exile when Israel was being re-established as the people
of God. What does it tell us about their
self-understanding as a community – as called out of Egypt in Exodus and as
called out of exile in the 6th century?
3. Most relevant for us: How does this book speak to US as people who
desire to live as the people of God?
What does it say about our relationship with God?
The setup: Moses assembles the people of Israel, in Chapter
4, and reminds them of all that God had done for them (double vision: this is
the exodus story, and also Josiah, assembling all the people in 2 Kings 23).
Read together Deuteronomy 4:1-8
Other key texts
for Deuteronomy include Hosea and other prophetic books that portray God as the
betrayed lover, and the image of adultery is always loaded in these texts – the
people are going “whoring” after other gods, being unfaithful to the
“marriage-covenant” with Israel.
2 core texts that we will return to that are at the heart of
Deuteronomy’s message: Almost everything
in this book can be read through the lens of these 2 passages that frame Moses’
long discourse on the law.
Deuteronomy
6: 4-9
Deuteronomy
30:15-20
This should give us a start:
Here’s a rough outline of what we’ll be talking about going
forward.
September 15: the 10 commandments; Deuteronomy5:1-21 (and
compare Exodus 20:1-17). Thought question:
which commandments seem most compelling to you? Which one have you not
thought about much?
October 6: The “shema” , chapter 6: 1-24, and
succeeding chapters which provide a (sometimes disturbing) further analysis and
gloss on this commandment (especially chapters 7 -10 which recounts Moses’
history with the people and exhorts them to a radical and sometimes violent
faithfulness). Let’s also keep track of
what we find disturbing in this and start a file of troubled and troubling questions
to explore.
October
20: Social relations (commandments 5-10: How does the community’s life identify these
people as “set apart” as people of God
(suggest that people read ahead and come in with ideas about parts that just
DON’t work for us but speculate on their purpose. Look together at 12:29-32; and dietary laws
in 14: 1-21. Also a lot of regulation
of marriage & sexual behavior: think
about all this in the frame of being “set apart” from the surrounding nations.
November
3: Social justice and economics for the people
of God: 14:22-29 and 15 (the Jubilee,
forgiveness of debts etc.) Also what false witness and "coveting"
look like in our time and what it means to be the people of God
November
22 : Harvest and the duty of thankfulness: 26: 1-15
December
6:
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 (“choose life” ) –
what does this mean for us? And also 34:
10-12 – the very end of Deuteronomy and a good lead-in to Matthes and Jesus as
the “new Moses” (you might start with this in the new year.
12/20 –or on a weekend in December – Christmas party?
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