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Deuteronomy...contextual puzzles and the heart of Deuteronomistic Theology
It's been an interesting few days in our Deuteronomy readings. Indeed, these final chapters are full of timeless essentials and truths, vivid blessings and curses, and wildly contextual...surprises.
For example, we've wrapped up chapters 12-26, the Deuteronomic Code, which some scholars believe is in essence the scroll that Josiah found when the Temple was cleansed in the 7th century, leading to sweeping reforms. We've been reading more and more overt Deuteronomistic Theology... Those blessings and curses (more curses than blessings, actually) that are the consequence of being true to or breaking the Covenant.
The curses described are thought to be part of the later redaction of Deuteronomy, reflecting the realities of the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BCE (of which we will read much more when we get to Lamentations). The the hope of restoration expressed in Deuteronomy 30 echoes other prophetic writings related to the Restoration from Babylonian Exile...the same Babylonian Exile that many theorize was the context for much of the redaction of the Pentateuch. And we concluded chapter 30 with this beautiful passage:
Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?' Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?' No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
There it is...the heart of Deuteronomistic Theology.
And along the way, as we've been traipsing along not blending fibers in our fabrics, neither cross dressing, nor (hopefully) getting hit with our own sandals, we've run into some passages that seem really random, such as Deuteronomy 25:11-12, which, if one's not ready for it (and who ever is, really?) can make one's reading come to a screeching halt. What? Seriously? That's in scripture? Why? Really, why? There's gotta be a story behind it. There simply must be. Just when we think that the greatest virtue for a woman in Hebrew Scripture is loyalty to her husband, we learn that loyalty can be taken too far...
We wrap up Deuteronomy in the next two days, and so conclude our journey through the Pentateuch. As we continue our reading through the Hebrew Bible we'll encounter some voices that seem to agree with the view of the Deuteronomist, and others that will seem to contradict, from Prophets to Sages. I'll be interested to hear whose voice rings truer to you.
Our Psalms have been interesting lately, as we've seen some of the notations intended for the musical directors. I love Psalm 62 for its refrain
For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
This Psalm includes a pattern of rhetorical emphasis we will see much more of when we read Wisdom Literature such as Proverbs. The pattern is
X......; X+1.........
for example:
Once God has spoken;
twice have I heard this...
Just something to tuck away for later in our journey!
Meanwhile, in Luke, we see things heating up for Jesus. The story of Zacchaeus has always been a favorite of mine-- perhaps because of the Sunday School song that always gets in my head when I read it (Zaccaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he. He climbed up in the sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see...). And we've read Luke's version of the entry into Jerusalem, the cleansing of the Temple, of Jesus teaching in the synagogue, and the tensions building between Jesus and the authorities. Hold on tight. These final chapters are intense. No doubt they will be echoing in our ears even as we hear Mark's version of the story on Palm Sunday, in just two short weeks.
Thank you for being on this journey,
Peace,
Paige+
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