Deuteronomy

Here are a couple of brief thoughts to review for class that will be good introductions for grasping the power of Deuteronomy.

· Imagine if marriage vows came with a death penalty for the person who broke them. How would this change both the ceremony and the relationship which followed?

· The Torah at times represents Israel as a baby who has been born and delivered to God. As you read through the Deuteronomy 29-30 (31-32 are also good and important if you have time to read them as well) think of how you educate a child. How you will set up very basic categories of good and bad, right and wrong, etc. that allows a child to then grasp more complicated ideas. Think of how this might be working to shape the peoples’ understanding of how the world works and how they are to live in it.

· What sort of implications do you see for Deuteronomy mimicking a political treaty between a king and their subjects?

· Read Deuteronomy 6:4-5. These verses, also known as the shema, form a prayer which is one of the most important prayers within Judaism, and also within Christianity. Why do you think that is? I know this is an open ended question but this prayer has been one of the foundational blocks of faith in YHWH for over 3,000 years.


Here are just a couple of other thoughts to get us rolling for Sunday.

The name Deuteronomy is derived from two greek words and roughly translates to “Second Law.” This comes from the fact that simply skimming the book gives the impression of simply rehashing what we have already read in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. This is the furthest thing from the truth and Deuteronomy in fact is one of the most important books in the Bible and not simply a retelling of old news. Its importance is due largely to how it portrays the relationship between God and Israel and it is this understanding that allows us to make sense of why most of the Old Testament looks the way that it does. The books of Judges through II Kings is called the ‘Duetoronomic History” because it is a history seen in light of Deuteronomy’s teachings concerning life and death, blessing and cursing, holiness and sin, good and bad.

Think of the great speeches given over the course of human history (“I have a dream,” “we have nothing to fear but fear itself,” “a day that will live in infamy,”). Think of those men and women who have stood before crowds, microphones, firing squads, etc. and have uttered words which have changed the world. What made them great? What has caused them to continue to ring in our memories? How do we use their words now? Would Martin Luther King Jr. have ever dreamt all the ways people would borrow his words to give power to their own? We will talk more about this in class as it relates to nature of the book and dating but for the time being focus on the power of “words” (This is the Hebrew name for the book).