Valuable background to Deuteronomy

The Harper Collins Study Bible/New Revised Standard Version, which I think is the one Madelon Maupin* favours, has excellent notes. It has introductions to each book and notes on verses. The notes are at the bottom of the text so are very much to hand.

So, in the Introduction to Deuteronomy I found a definition of Torah or Pentateuch: “… the sense of comprehensive and divinely sanctioned instruction.” It carries on: “In the context of the book, it may be characterized as the authoritative, inspired “polity” (or, “political constitution”) that Moses, unable himself to lead Israel across the Jordan, enacts for the people as a normative guide to their corporate existence in the land they are about to occupy.”

A little further along I find: “...as Mosaic instruction par excellence Deuteronomy is the interpretative key to the Pentateuch understood as a whole to mediate the abiding revelation of God’s will for the ongoing life of the covenant people.”

And: “In its dual character of both remembering Israel’s past and anticipating its future, the book occupies a pivotal position, both literarily and theologically, in the canon of the Hebrew Bible.”

Maybe it could be called a textbook!

This brings to mind the fact that Moses was prohibited from crossing the Jordan into the promised land with the Exodus crowd because he had disobeyed God. –

From Classroom: “Moses’ sin is detailed in Numbers 20:2-12. While wandering in the desert lands of Zin, the Israelites needed water, so God instructed Moses to gather the people and then to speak to the rock. Instead, Moses struck the rock twice with his staff. God’s response to Moses was immediate: "Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them." It was both a literal act of disobedience, by disobeying God's instructions, and a symbolic one involving the rock (foundation of faith) and water (source of life).”

I thought he had been in trouble for breaking the Ten Commandment tablets.

This Introduction is very valuable for the scholar. I mustn’t quote the whole thing!

Joyce Voysey

* Bible Roads.com: Madelon’s goal is to help others unlock the Bible in a non-denominational way so that they can discover the Scriptures’ spiritual meaning and application to their lives. By delving into the history, politics, geography, customs, and culture of all the Biblical periods and books, she aims to enable readers and listeners to dive deep into these subjects themselves so they can find their own spiritual answers.