Deuteronomy: What and Why it is
Sinai covenant, Law of Moses, Moab covenant, Levite Levites,
Levitical Priesthood,
Moses, curses of the covenant, covenant confirmation, the Law
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"These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on this side of the Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain opposite Suph... (vs. 3) in the Fortieth year in the eleventh month...Moses spoke, according to all that the Lord had given him as commandments to them" (Deu 1:1-3).
So
just slightly over two months before they crossed the Jordan, (about the 10th
day of Abib, the first month) Moses assembled Israel
and "spoke... according unto all that the
Lord had given him...". He did not read the entire five books
of the law, but spoke the 'Words' by and large of Deuteronomy, which is a
pretty good summary of the adventures of Israel and all the instruction Moses
had received from God, particularly that which applied to the general
population.
The
conclusion of this address starts about chapter 29 with:
"These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded
Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides
the covenant which He made with them in Horeb" (Deuteronomy 29:1). "24So
it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book,
when they were finished, 25that Moses commanded the Levites, who
bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying: 26Take
this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of
the LORD your God, that it may be there as a witness against you"
(Deuteronomy 31:24-26).
The
Hebrew name for Deuteronomy is 'Davarim' which
means 'Words', as in 'words of the covenant'. The core of the Moab covenant was significantly larger than the core
of the Sinai covenant. It was
addressed to a people that were unable to understand the spirit or intent of
the Covenant of the Lord, confirmed in Exodus 24.
If
the Covenant of the Lord, which the Sinai judgments helped clarify, was to be
replaced, modified, enlarged or enhanced, the original tablets should have
been removed from the arc of the covenant. Deuteronomy 31:24-26 is quite clear. They were not. The words of the
Moab covenant were placed beside the arc of the covenant of the Lord, as a
covenant under which Israel was also to live. It was not the covenant
of the Lord or it would have been in the arc which contained the covenant
of the Lord. The words of the Covenant of the Lord did not change,
since they, alone, were in the arc containing the covenant of the Lord. Since one doesn't add to a covenant, and
considering all the problems, and dead brethren, Israel left in its wake, the
Creator set forth a second covenant to help them remain connected with
Him. Otherwise their sins would have
demanded their death.
A
major purpose for this covenant was to help Israel stay in compliance with
especially the Covenant of the Lord, but also the whole Sinai covenant. Deuteronomy confirmed a human priesthood in Levi, those
who stood with Moses in the episode of the golden calf . The people of Israel would have a local
representative with whom they could consult on matters of appropriate
conduct. This was not God's original
intent. He wanted them all to be His
representatives, priests (Ex 19:5-6), but He recognized they could not do
this (Deut 5:29, 29:4). They didn't
have the heart to obey even though the patriarch's did.
This
covenant of Moab also established guaranteed forgiveness with the offering of
an appropriate sacrifice. It also
allowed for punishments or curses in the event of non-compliance. Under the Sinai covenant death would have
been the likely penalty.
"The Covenant of the Lord" was in the ark. 'This
covenant', the Moab covenant, was outside, beside the arc, not
necessarily attached to the ark in any physical way. It did not replace the Covenant of the Lord
nor was it merged with the Covenant of the Lord, but it was made binding on
Israel as the Covenant of the Lord was binding.
The Hebrew word zo'th translated 'this' covenant, in
Deuteronomy 29:9, 14 & 5:3 is not a passive word. It denotes a specific thing. It is a 'Demonstrative Pronoun'. In Hebrew, "It is used to point out and
designate certain objects in distinction from others." (emphasis
ours) (The Complete Word Study of the
Old Testament" p.2274) It is
intended to identify and isolate something specific. 'THIS covenant', as distinct from
the Covenant of the Lord, or Horeb covenant with
which they were already familiar. The
demonstrative pronoun in English is typically used to distinguish objects in
relation to the speaker or listener. So 'this' does not convey the exact sense of the Hebrew word zo'th.
Deuteronomy 29:20, 21,
30:10 & 31:26 designate 'this book'. Deuteronomy 29:29, 31:9, 11, 12 & 24
designate 'this law'. Also 'these
words' in ch. 31:1 & 28 are handled the same
way, as is "These are the Words" in Deuteronomy 1:1 & 29:1, and
"observe these statutes" in Deuteronomy 26:16. The references to the Covenant of the Lord
in Deuteronomy 29:25, 31:9, 16, 20, 25 & 26, are not distinguished this
way. Israel was already familiar with
that covenant and that law. 'These
Words, this book, this law are being distinguished from the
Covenant of the Lord and any other words, book or law, with which they may
have already been familiar.
Deuteronomy makes
reference to the covenant made at Horeb, or Sinai a
number of times besides those just indicated above. Often it is clearly designated as having
been made in the past. There is no
indication that His covenant is one and the same covenant as 'this
covenant' that is being made that day in Deuteronomy. (Deut 4:13, 23, 9:9,
8:18)
Of
all the scrolls found in the Dead Sea area, the book of Deuteronomy is second
in number only to Psalms. (The Dead Sea Scroll Bible, by Abegg, Flint & Ulrich, P.145) This is a reasonable indication of the
importance placed on this book by Jews of the first century AD/CE. They recognized the completeness of the
instruction and its application to them. It contained all the important precepts of the law and the essence of
the Sinai covenant as well. They
evidently didn't find any of the other books quite so practical.
Deuteronomy is very
much in the format of a covenant between a people and their Lord, from the prologue,
all the way down to and including the final chapters. This is well described in Treaty of the
Great King, by Meredith G. Kline. Mr. Kline states, "For
Deuteronomy 31-34 is consistently concerned with the continuity and
perpetuation of the covenant relationship and all the elements in this
section serve to corroborate the identification of Deuteronomy in its
entirety as a unified suzerainty treaty." (p 34) The Sinai covenant fits the pattern of a
covenant to a large degree as well.
The
Creator made two covenants with Israel in the wilderness. Deuteronomy is the Words of the second
covenant, distinct from the Horeb covenant, which
was completely based on the Covenant of the Lord. The Words of the Horeb
covenant are the words Moses read from the book of Exodus 20-23 (Ex 24:7-8). The Words of the Moab covenant are the book, Words, Davarim,
known to English speakers as Deuteronomy. The purpose of the Book of Deuteronomy is to lay out in detail the
conduct God expected of Israel in the Promised Land and make it of equal weight
with the Sinai covenant. It allowed them to live as opposed to being “consumed” after the Golden calf.
The
name 'Deuteronomy', comes from the name given the book when it was translated
into Greek, 'Deuteronomion', which is a
composite of 'deutero' meaning second and 'nomos' meaning custom or law, (Arndt & Gringich). So 'deuteronomion' would typically mean 'second
law'. Some think this became the name
of the book because 'deuteronomion' is
used in Deuteronomy 17:18 in the Septuagint text. However, this is hardly a pivotal scripture
in the book, deserving of the entire book being named in its honor. It is far more likely that the translators
simply translated another common Hebrew reference to this book, 'mishneh torah', or second law.
'Mishneh torah' can also designate a repetition or copy of the Torah as in
Deuteronomy 17:18. To make a 'second'
of a particular document (this Torah) would certainly imply a copy. However, if you make a 'second law' this
implies an additional law. It is
evident that Deuteronomy is not a repeating of the Sinai torah, but another
set of instructions that add a number of things nowhere indicated by the
Sinai covenant and sometimes runs contrary to the intent of the Sinai
covenant. Hence 'mishneh
torah' and the Greek translation Deuteronomion,
'second law'.
It
is indeed a second law. It assumed the
existence of the other books of Moses and thus included the text of the Sinai
law. Over the years it all became
known as simply 'the Law'.
In
some cases it seems to simply clarify pieces of the Sinai covenant, i.e.
Sabbaths. In other cases it recommends
actions nowhere indicated by the Sinai covenant, i.e. sin offerings. In still other cases it runs against the
intent of the Sinai covenant, i.e. the designation of a particular tribe as
the priestly tribe. The terms of the
Sinai covenant had been fixed and could not be changed (Ex 24:1-8, Gal
3:15). If God is going to propose a
new plan with new regulations for Israel and options for the Creator, it
could not simply be tacked on to the previous agreement. A second covenant is the only option.
Deuteronomy is the 'words' of the Moab covenant just
as Exodus 20-23 are the words of the Sinai covenant. It assumed the existence of
the rest of the law, Genesis though Numbers, for some of the details. Moses did not speak all detail, but only
generally "according to all that the LORD had given him as
commandments to them" (Deu 1:3c). 'This
Book of the Law' referred to in Deuteronomy 31:24, was the final
book of the Law, Deuteronomy.
How does that fit with
the New
Testament?
What relationship does
all this have with the covenants of the Patriarch's?