Culp Invited to Know God

The Book of Deuteronomy
1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68359-351-5
Verlag: Lexham Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 128 Seiten

Reihe: Transformative Word

'Goodness like a fetter.' The hymn 'Come Thou Fount' reminds us that God's laws were created to draw us closer to him. But reading the law is intimidating. Deuteronomy is a long and ancient book full of speeches and laws for a wandering people on the cusp of entering a land filled with hostile nations. What could Deuteronomy have to say for modern readers who face vastly different issues? Invited to Know God shows that Deuteronomy is simply about knowing God. The book is a divine portal, drawing people into the ancient presence of God. To understand God better, we need to understand Deuteronomy better. Rather than being a dusty book of ancient laws, Deuteronomy calls those who love God to know Him better, choose the path to life, and flourish under His loving wisdom and guidance. God's laws bind our wandering hearts to him.

A.J. Culp lectures in Old Testament and Biblical Languages at Malyon Theological College in Brisbane, Australia. He has lectured on three different continents and written books, articles, and essays on the Bible.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Culp, A. J.

Leseproben

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INTRODUCING DEUTERONOMY

While we want to know God better, many of us find this difficult in the case of Deuteronomy. The book can seem like a collection of random material, from ancient travel itineraries to ancient laws, none of which appears terribly helpful for life today. As we shall see, though, the book is far from random or antiquated, for it has been crafted for the very purpose of helping each new generation encounter the living God of Scripture. It seeks to do this in two ways. Firstly, and as we’ve already seen, it offers an invitation—calling each generation to come and know God better. Secondly, it provides the means for making good on this invitation. The goal of Invited to Know God is to highlight some of these means of knowing God so that we ourselves might make good on Deuteronomy’s invitation.

Deuteronomy as Sermon

The first step in understanding Deuteronomy is to correct a critical misunderstanding: it is not a book of law. Certainly the book includes law and in some respects revolves around law, but it is not a book of law. The book is rather about love for Yahweh, Israel’s covenant Lord, who delivered Israel from slavery and bound himself in relationship to his people at Mount Sinai. In this way, Deuteronomy stands not in opposition to the gospel but as an example of it. Its logic is the very same: since God has graciously delivered you, you in turn should live in a certain way. This way of living, in Old Testament terms, begins by obeying the law. So Deuteronomy does not merely rehash the law but retells of Yahweh’s goodness in order to motivate obedience to it.

A helpful analogy for what we find in Deuteronomy is the final message of a pastor who has planted a church but now, after many years leading it, learns he is dying. The pastor stands before the people one last time, hoping to provide them with his final words on how they can continue to live before God in his absence. He looks back over their long history together, highlighting God’s provision and their own successes and failures. He draws on Scripture and the church’s constitution, but his point is not to repeat these things. His point is to exposit them—to clarify their substance and motivate people to obey them in his absence. Upon finishing, the dying man presents a copy of his sermon to the elders. The hope is that the elders will keep the sermon safe as their founder’s final exhortation on living life before God.

Despite its reputation, therefore, Deuteronomy is not a book of law. It’s a sermon, an exposition of the law. God has told Moses, Israel’s faithful and long-suffering leader, that he will die before entering the land. Now standing on the plains of Moab, looking over the Jordan River to the hills of Israel, Moses knows his time is short. So he delivers his swan song—his final sermon to Israel. He reiterates the nature and substance of Israel’s covenant relationship with Yahweh and drives home the singular goal of the law—to learn to love the Lord.

More than a one-time event, Moses’ sermon is recorded and stored for a continuing role in the life of Israel. We see a snapshot of that role in Deuteronomy 31:10–11, 24–26, where Moses commands the priests and Levites to place a copy alongside the ark of the covenant and to read it at regular intervals. The placement of the sermon alongside the ark, which contains the Ten Commandments, is a perfect illustration of Deuteronomy’s role: to stand as an ongoing exposition of the covenant, calling Israel to observe its central tenet: “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” (Deut 6:4–5). What each generation will therefore “hear” is the voice of Moses calling the people to love their Lord.

Deuteronomy as Treaty

There is one more important piece to hearing Deuteronomy as the voice of Moses: the form of the text. It is not obvious to our modern eyes, but Deuteronomy is shaped according to the conventions of an ancient document called a vassal treaty. In the ancient world, vassal treaties were forged between two parties: a more powerful party (the suzerain, or overlord) and less powerful party (the vassal, or slave). Empires often used these treaties to manage relationships with smaller people groups. The treaty itself formalized the nature of the relationship, outlining the parties’ past history together and the expectations going forward.

From approximately 1600 BC to 1200 BC the Hittite empire stretched across modern-day Turkey and down into Syria. The Hittites administered their affairs through various forms of written communication, many of which were inscribed on clay tablets and kept in the archives of the cities. Today archaeologists have uncovered some 30,000 clay tablets from the capital city of Hatussa alone, and among these were treaties between the Hittites and the kingdoms under their power. These treaties are valuable because they provide a historical backdrop for understanding Deuteronomy as literature, since Deuteronomy seems to have been modeled after their form:

HITTITE TREATY ?Preamble ?Historical Overview ?General Stipulations ?Specific Stipulations ?Deposit of Text ?Public Reading ?Witnesses ?Blessings ?Curses

DEUTERONOMY ?1:1–5 ?1:6–4:49 ?5–11 ?12–26 ?1:24–26 ?31:10–13 ?31:19, 26, 28 ?28:1–14 ?28:15–68

Deuteronomy is unique, though, in that it uses this political treaty form for religious reasons, namely to depict the relationship between Yahweh and Israel. Yahweh is portrayed as the suzerain and Israel as his vassal, and the book of Deuteronomy proceeds accordingly. Chapters 1–4 recount the history of the relationship between Yahweh and Israel. It begins in Egypt with Yahweh’s deliverance of Israel and carries on right up to the present moment at Moab, as the people stand overlooking the promised land. During this historical overview, two portraits emerge: Yahweh as a good and faithful partner and Israel as a stubborn and wayward one.

In light of the history of the relationship, chapters 5–26 move to outline the general (chs. 5–11) and specific (chs. 12–26) stipulations. It is no accident that the Ten Commandments are at the head of these stipulations (ch. 5), for they serve as a constitution for the covenant people. And it is no accident that the Ten Commandments and the stipulations sections all begin with the worship of Yahweh before moving on to ethics (5:6–11; 6:4–5; 12:1–32). This shows the fundamental idea in Deuteronomy that right worship is the fountainhead for right living.

Chapters 27–28 follow on logically from the stipulations section, giving instructions for a covenant renewal ceremony upon entering the land (ch. 27) and outlining the blessings and curses attached to the covenant (ch. 28). If Israel continues to love Yahweh and obey his law, they will enjoy the blessings of a life of flourishing in the land. If Israel does not, however, they will incur the curses—human suffering, a barren land, and eventual banishment from the land. The final important piece of the treaty is the so-called document clause, which details how the treaty is to be stored and then read aloud periodically. This ensured the relationship would be kept fresh, when at regular intervals the treaty was read aloud and the people recommitted themselves to the suzerain. In Deuteronomy, we find these elements in 31:10–13, 24–26, which dictate that, at the very least, the treaty (Deuteronomy) would be read before the people every seven years.

Of these, two elements are perhaps most enlightening in regard to the relationship between Yahweh and Israel: the historical section (Deut 1–4) and the blessings (Deut 28). The reason these are enlightening is because they reveal how Yahweh sought to motivate obedience to himself. There were different treaty options in the ancient world. One option was the Assyrian style, which included neither the historical section nor the blessings—it only used threat of punishment and curses. This treaty is known for being based on fear: it used terror to motivate people’s obedience. Another style of treaty was the Hittite version, which, while employing curses, more prominently featured the historical section and the blessings. As such, it is known for seeking to motivate loyalty through devotion; by reminding the people of the overlord’s past benevolence and promise of future blessing, the treaty inspired the people to continue loving and trusting the overlord.

In using the historical section and the blessings, therefore, Deuteronomy indicates the relationship between Yahweh and Israel is one built on love. Time and again the book answers the question of why people should obey Yahweh, “Because he loved your ancestors and chose...