D varim Words Torah: Deuteronomy 1:1 3:22 God said to Israel, In this world you have been blessed by others, but in the World to Come, I Myself will bless you, as it is said, God be gracious unto us and bless us. (Psalm 67:2) D varim Rabbah 1.9 We now begin not only a new parasha, but also a new book as well. As is the custom in the Torah, the first parasha is also the name of the book; hence, both the book and the parasha are called D varim, which translated into English as Words. Deuteronomy is one of the most critical books of the Tanakh. Because of its importance and popularity we will devote a good portion of this week's commentary to introducing the book in order to help us to gain a better understanding of D varim. Accordingly, this week s study outline is: I. The Title of Deuteronomy II. The Usage of Deuteronomy III. The Structure of Deuteronomy IV. The Contents of Deuteronomy V. The Contents of Parashat D varim I. The Title of Deuteronomy Jewish scholars have called Deuteronomy by several different names. One way in which they have referred to the book is by calling it by the first two Hebrew words elah had varim, ohrcsv vkt (or merely D varim, ohrcs). Another traditional Jewish name for the book is Mishnah HaTorah, vru,v vban, which means, the repetition of the Torah. This name is derived from 17:18,19 which says in English, It shall be that when he [the king] sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself two copies of this Torah in a book... The phrase "two copies" is the words vru,v vban. It would be better translated as a repetition or second copy of this Torah. This last Jewish designation and the passage from which it is derived, is the basis for the standard English name for the book, Deuteronomy. The word Deuteronomy means, second law. It is taken from the Greek in the LXX that calls this book Deuteronomy. We need to remember that it is not a second Torah that Moshe was giving, but merely a repetition of the first one spoken by the Holy One on Mt. Sinai, with a few items added to make it up to date in the life of Moshe. II. The Usage of Deuteronomy Throughout the centuries, D varim was one of the most well known books in the life of those who study the Scriptures. We can see this, for example from the Qumran literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls. D varim was one of the most widely
used books in the sectarian literature of Qumran. i Furthermore, there are over eighty quotations from D varim in the Renewed Covenant. Not only was D varim popular among the ancient Jewish community, but also it is highly influential among today s Jewish community. The influence of this Book of the Farewell Discourses of Moses on both domestic and personal religion in Israel throughout the millennia has never been exceeded by that of any other Book in Scripture. ii III. The Structure of Deuteronomy One of the reasons that Deuteronomy stands out in a class by itself from the other books of the Torah is its unique structure. Since the 1950's an immense amount of study has been devoted to comparing the literary structure of Deuteronomy to that of secular treaty documents in the second millennium BCE. Some of the most important and influential work has been done by such scholars as Meredith C. Kline in his books, Treaty of the Great King and The Structure of Biblical Authority; and G. E. Mendendall's article entitled, Ancient Oriental and Biblical Law found in Biblical Archaeologist (Sept. 1954 issue). Basically, what has been observed is that the way Deuteronomy is organized is very similar to ancient Near Eastern treaties between an overlord and his subjects. Particular comparison has been made between Deuteronomy and the Hittite treaties of the 13 th to 15 th centuries BCE. In these treaties, the great king of the Hittites entered into a covenantal arrangement with the vassal or dependent nation. The treaty delineates what the relationship is between the great king and his subject people. Scholars have given several possible outlines of comparison between Deuteronomy and other ancient Near Eastern treaties. Others, including us, can see in Deuteronomy 1:1 5 a Preamble as well as a Historical Prologue. If that is true, then it is possible to provide the following outline of Deuteronomy based on the Covenant/Treaty format. We will use this outline as our exegetical outline for the Book. I. Preamble 1:1 5 II. Historical Prologue 1:6 3:29 III. Stipulations 4:1 40; 5:1 26:19; (Basic and Detailed) IV. Document Clause 27:1 26 V. Blessings 28:1 14 VI. Curses 28:15 68 VII. Recapitulation 29:1 30:20 VIII. Covenant Continuation 31:1 34:12 2
Beyond providing a neat outline for the book, this covenant structure also provides us with the correct perspective with which to interpret Deuteronomy. Moreover, it also has tremendous implications for our understanding of the entire document of Torah as well. A. Law vs. Grace Invalid! Many believers in Yeshua pose a rather stilted, if not altogether erroneous comparison between the Tanakh and the Renewed Covenant. They say that the Older Testament is Law and the Newer Testament is Grace. Or, to put it another way, The Older Testament is an expression of God's judgments and the Newer Testament is an expression of God's love. Dr. Louis Goldberg aptly summarizes the issue for us when he observes, Too often Christians regard the law merely as a set of legalisms, and they view the Jewish people as trying to follow the letter of the law. On the one hand, these very Christians will then proclaim that the new covenant describes how God works in grace to redeem His people and shower His love on them. In no way should such compartmentalization exist between Old and New Testaments. Indeed, Deuteronomy itself describes how God blessed Israel and shared His love with them because of His grace and mercy. What the Lord expected from Israel in return was an outpouring of love. While some people misappropriated God's intentions and developed a legalistic substitute, a remnant in every generation always, deeply loved, honoured, and served the Lord their God. iii If we examine the Torah in the light of other Near Eastern treaties/covenants, we will not fall prey to the false dichotomy about which Dr. Goldberg warns us. We will see that the form in which it is cast (not to mention the very contents themselves!) implores us not to think of the Torah, as a list of do's and don'ts to be legalistically followed. Consequently, the issue of law in the Tanakh and grace in the Renewed Covenant just blows away like a straw man. Furthermore, the contents and structure of Deuteronomy do not even permit us to think of it as a Law Code, per se. To be sure, there is much comparison made between ancient Near Eastern Law Codes, such as the famous Code of Hammurabi, with the Torah, especially Deuteronomy. However, if we examine Deuteronomy (as well as the whole of Torah) in light of the covenant structure, we can conclude at least two things. First, the Torah is not a law code; it is a covenant. When we compare the Torah with the ancient law codes such as that of Hammurabi and the older one that was found at Ur Nammu (earlier that the Code of Hammurabi), we can easily see that while some of the stipulations are similar, the explicit covenant formulation of Exodus [chapters 19 24] and Deuteronomy stands strong, direct evidence that this is a treaty or covenant and not a code of law. iv The second thing we can conclude is that the concept of covenant shows that all of the Torah material must be understood as the grace of God. v 3
B. Israel's National Constitution If we are correct in finding similarities between the book of Deuteronomy with other ancient New Eastern covenantal documents, then it easily becomes evident that we are to view the book of Deuteronomy as a covenant document, too. We have already seen in our studies of Exodus that the Torah serves as a Divine Marriage Covenant, a Divine Ketubah. Observing the structure of Deuteronomy leads us to see the Torah as a second kind of a covenant, a National Constitution for the people of Israel. (Not the modern State, but the Biblical one!) Accordingly, this nation is birthed, preserved, legislated, and protected by their God, who does so by oath. Thus, the Torah is both a Divine Marriage Covenant and a National Constitution for Israel. C. But The Renewed Covenant Says... Having thus described the nature of the Torah, based on the formal covenantal structure of Deuteronomy, we can just hear some well-meaning objections: But the Renewed Covenant says the law is a schoolmaster to lead us to Messiah. But the Renewed Covenant says that the law gives us knowledge of our sin. But the Renewed Covenant says that through the law no one shall be justified. All of these statements, of course, are true. But, upon closer examination, we will find that according to the Renewed Covenant writings, there are more purposes for the Torah than just those. To those who do not know the Lord through the atoning sacrifice of Yeshua the Messiah, any legal system including the Torah can only function as a system of condemnation. Moreover, never at any time (except with Adam) did God set up a system or covenant of works. Since the fall of Adam bringing subsequent mankind into the dominion of sin and death, God has always decreed that sinful man can only properly relate to Him on the basis of faith through grace by means of a sacrificial atonement. Thus, obedience to Torah was never set up as a means of justification. It was, instead, a Covenant of relationship for those who were already redeemed. The Torah was also designed to be a primary revelation of the Person and Work of Messiah. Yeshua Himself taught this in Luke 24. Thus, the Torah is a schoolmaster to lead people to Messiah. It helps to reveal our sins. But it is also much more. It is a Divine covenant formally instituted with His Redeemed Community to act as the standard and guide of that relationship between God and His People. Understanding Deuteronomy as a reflection of the standard covenantal/treaty format in the late to mid second millennium BCE will also help to clarify one last additional scholarly problem. It helps to confirm the fact that Moshe was the one who wrote it! 4
i Louis Goldberg, Deuteronomy, p. 11. ii iii J. H. Hertz, Pentateuch and Haftarahs, p. 735. Goldberg, op. cit., p. 12. iv John Fischer, Covenant, Fulfilment & Judaism in Hebrews, an unpublished paper, p. 7. v Ibid, p. 8. 5