Overview ofDeuteronomy

Presented by Christopher R. SmithTo Capital City Vineyard, Lansing, Michigan

March 10, 2013

To communicate His word to us in the Bible,God used existing human languages.

Hebrew and Aramaic Greek

To communicate His word to us in the Bible,God also used existing human literary forms.

Cry for Help Save me, O God, by your name; vindicate me by your might.

Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my

mouth.

Complaint Arrogant foes are attacking me; ruthless people are trying to kill

me— people without regard for God.

Statement Surely God is my help; of Trust the Lord is the one who sustains me.

Petition Let evil recoil on those who slander me; in your faithfulness destroy

them.

Vow of Praise I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you; I will praise your name, LORD,

for it is good.

You have delivered me from all my troubles,

and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.

Psalm 54(part of a book):A Psalm of Supplication

Sometimes the literary form makes up a whole book.

2 John(a whole book):Epistle

The elder,

To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth— and not I only, but also all who know the truth— because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.

It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.

I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

The children of your sister, who is chosen by God, send their greetings.

OPENING

MAIN BODY

CLOSING

Sender’s name

Recipients

Good wish

Business of letter

Travel plans

Greetings

A well-known literary form in the ancient worldwas a treaty between an emperor (“great king”)

and a subject king.

1. Great king’s name and titles

2. What the great king has done for the subject king

3. First term: exclusive allegiance

4. Additional terms: tribute, passage of armies, etc.

5. Blessings for keeping treaty, curses for breaking it

6. Safekeeping of treaty copies

Because the emperor or great king was also known as a suzerain,

this literary form is sometimes called a suzerainty treaty covenant.

“But how is that supposed to help me understand the Bible?

I haven’t read any ‘suzerainty treaty covenants’ lately.”

Actually, you have . . .

The Ten Commandments:A Suzerainty Treaty Covenant

1. Great king’s name and titles ➞

2. What the great king has done for ➞the subject king

3. First term: exclusive allegiance ➞

4. Additional terms ➞

5. Blessings and curses ➞

6. Safekeeping of treaty copies ➞

“I am Yahweh your God”

“Who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery”

“You shall have no other gods before me”

(The other nine commandments)

Worked into the commandments: “That it may go well with you,” “The Lord will not hold anyone guiltless,” etc.

Commandments written on stone tablets, kept in the ark of the covenant

We’ve already seen that existing literary forms can make up part of a book,

or all of a book.

After suzerainty treaty covenants were discovered in the mid-20th century, a brilliant Old Testament scholar named Meredith G. Kline realized that the entire book of Deuteronomy was in that form!

He published his interpretation in the 1963 book Treaty of the Great King: The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy

As you read through Deuteronomy,you can follow this literary form

1. Names and titles of the great king (1:1-5)(Name and qualifications of Moses, his agent)

2. What the great king has done for his subjects: historical prologue (1:6-3:29)

A special appeal by the great king's representative (4:1-43)

3. First term of the treaty: exclusive allegiance (4:44-11:32)

4. Other terms of the treaty:• How exclusive allegiance is to be lived out practically (12:1-14:21)• Offerings and festivals (14:22-16:17)• Community leaders (16:18-18:22)• Safeguards of justice (19:1-21)

• Warfare (20:1-20)• Laws on various subjects (21:1-22:12)• Sexual relations (22:13-30)• Exclusion from the sanctuary (23:1-14)• Laws on various subjects (23:15-26:19)

5. Blessings for keeping the treaty and curses for breaking it (27:1-30:18)

6. Securing the treaty• Witnesses (30:19-20)• Succession (31:1-8)• Custodians of the treaty copies (31:9-29)• A song of witness (32:1-52)• Epilogue: A blessing on the tribes (33)

Death of Moses (34)

The theme passage of Deuteronomyis found in the section on exclusive allegiance

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Deuteronomy 6:4

“Love” in the Bible and in other texts of the ancient world means loyalty between covenant partners, whether the covenant is political, marital, or religious.

John KohlenbergerRead Through the Bible in a Year, p. 18

The theme passage goes on to explainhow we cultivate that covenant loyalty:

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9

Reading and reflecting on the book of Deuteronomy

can help us understand and practice the way of life

that expresses our exclusive allegiance to the Great King.