What is the book of Deuteronomy all about? 

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)

Deuteronomy closes the Pentateuch, or Torah (the first five books of the Bible, traditionally understood to have been compiled by Moses). It picks up where the book of Numbers ends, right on the cups of the Promised Land – after that 40-year journey that should only have taken a couple of weeks (see Deuteronomy 1:2). And it ends on a cliffhanger, still on the edge of the Promised Land. But does it end with a change of heart in God’s rebellious people?


What do we need to know to read Deuteronomy?

The book of Deuteronomy is actually one long sermon given by Moses, as a kind of farewell speech. When he’s finished, he climbs the mountain, takes one look at the Promised Land, and dies (see chapter 34). Last words are crucial, and they can mark their hearers for life. Just think about that scene in Saving Private Ryan, where a dying Captain Miller says to Private Ryan, “Earn this! Earn it…” The final scene in the film takes place decades later: a tearful Ryan standing at Miller’s grave, saying, “Every day I think about what you said to me on the bridge. I’ve tried to live my life the best I could. I hope that was enough. I hope that at least in your eyes I’ve earned what all of you have done for me…” Thankfully both Miller and Ryan totally misunderstood grace! But it goes to show the power of last words to shape the lives of the hearers. This is the power we hope and pray comes through the book of Deuteronomy, both to its first hearers, and it subsequent readers down the centuries.

So, what does Moses cover in his sermon?
 

First, he reminds the people who God is

He spends the first three chapters reminding the people of what they have learnt about God’s character, His power, His righteousness, His grace, through their own experience in the desert. This is the God who rightly judged these people’s parents for failing to trust and obey Him by entering the Promised Land 40 years before. Interestingly there’s a little comment tucked away in chapter 3 about how they had defeated Og, king of Bashan, despite the fact that he was a giant man (see 3:11), and yet they had wimped out at facing the supposedly big and strong people in the Promised Land! But this is also the God who has continued in patience and repeated forgiveness of His rebellious people, giving them the ongoing blessing of His presence with them.
The next few chapters (4-11) are all about the character of God that leads people to live His way. This is a God who cannot be seen, but who speaks clearly to His people and acts powerfully on behalf of His people in a way that should have been the envy of all the nations (see chapter 4).
Chapter 6 features one of the key verses not just of Deuteronomy but of Jewish faith: “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (verse 4). That is, He is the one true God, the only God. If God is the only God, then He is the only One who deserves our worship, our obedience, our primary love. As such, the laws in these chapters follow naturally. “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (verse 5), the Ten Commandments that are restated in chapter 5, and all the following laws in the next section.
 

Second, he reminds the people who God calls them to be

In the middle chapters (12-26) Moses expounds and expands on the laws given in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers governing God-honouring worship (chapters 12-16), godly leadership (chapters 16-18) and godly living in the community (chapters 19-26). In many ways this is just an expansion and application of 6:4-5 – responding to the one true God with heartfelt love.

 

Third, he reminds the people what is at stake

Another key verse of the book is found in chapter 30: “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (v19-20). These are genuinely matters of life and death! This is not just because of the blessings and curses God sets out based on obedience or disobedience in chapter 28. More crucially it is a statement of fact: with God is life, fullness, blessing, joy and satisfaction; turning away from God amounts to cutting ourselves off from the Source of all that blessing and life.

The trouble is, as Moses says in 31:24-29, the people are bound to continue in rebellion. Nevertheless we see God’s grace on offer again: at the beginning of chapter 30 Moses reminds the people that when (not if!) they rebel and experience the covenant curses of God, they have only to turn back to God and He will restore them. What a comfort!

Give Deuteronomy a read, and let Moses’ rallying cry to turn to the one true God sear itself into your heart: choose life!