DEUTERONOMY
"Deuteronomy" means "second law," as the book was named in the Greek translation. Almost all scholars agree that the book was written probably in the 7th century BCE after the fall of the northern kingdom (Israel) to the Assyrians (722 BCE). Much of the book must have been written after Judah's (King Josiah's) reform era in 622; hence the name "second law," though a better phrase would be "revived law." The book was an attempt to revive a forgotten or ignored way of living. The monarchy (starting with Saul, about 1020 BCE) had allowed great class differences, an increase in poverty and wealth, and other social abuses that follow worldly success. Though obviously not written by Moses, the book needed Moses to give this reminder of the law the same authority that Moses gave the first law. Even the Ten Commandments are repeated here, from Exodus 20. In the same way, Jesus will try a reformed or "second" law, surpassing Moses in his Sermon on the Mount. Like Moses received the Law after 40 days of fasting, Jesus fasts 40 days.
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1: These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness.
"Israel" means "all" the people, past and present (one must remember that this book is being read by people in the 7th century BCE or later, despite the fiction of being written in Moses' time).
17: You shall not be partial in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's; and the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.'
37: The LORD was angry with me also on your account, and said, `You also shall not go in there;
Note that now there's a different reason why Moses will not cross into the Promised Land: the people are blamed, not Moses; though Moses is clearly blamed in Numbers and even at the end of this book.
38: Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter.
39: Moreover your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, shall go in there, and to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.
The irony is repeated: the children will inherit a land their fathers doubted could be won. They "have no knowledge of good and evil," refers back to Genesis and may allow some understanding of what "good and evil" means in that book and here. "Good and evil" suggests all the negative thoughts that destroy us, whether jealousy, fear, envy, greed, pride, anger, etc.
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1: "And now, O Israel, give heed to the statutes and the ordinances which I teach you, and do them; that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, gives you.
15: "Therefore take good heed to yourselves. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb [Sinai] out of the midst of the fire,
16: beware lest you act corruptly by making a graven image for yourselves. . . .
21: Furthermore the LORD was angry with me on your account, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.
22: For I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but you shall go over and take possession of that good land.
Moses reminds the people to keep the Law and predicts the following (of course, when the book was really written, after 622, this had already happened (the book was supposed to have been written in the time of Moses).
27: And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you.
28: And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of men's hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
These are words of hope for those in current exile:
29: But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Note the stress on "heart and soul": this second or reform law must be lived, not talked about. This is part of the Deuteronomist's "theodicy" (explaining God's justice). It is not that God lied or didn't keep his part of the bargain, rather people didn't keep their part of the bargain! That explains the Deuteronomistic History, which begins here and ends with 2 Kings (Joshua, Judges, 1 &2 Samuel, 1 &2 Kings). Though the last book of the Torah, Deuteronomy starts a new cycle influenced by the monarchical abuses of Torah values. Once the nation became secure and wealthy, abuses began.
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1: And Moses summoned all Israel, and said to them, "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your hearing this day, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them.
2: The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
Note Moses' great rhetoric: the covenant is contemporary: it continues to this day. Israel is not then but NOW. The Lord spoke with "YOU." Horeb = Sinai.
3: Not with our fathers did the LORD make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive this day.
4: The LORD spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire,
5: He said:
Now follow a repeat of the 10 Commandments, with minor changes. The most important change is that people are reminded to keep the Sabbath because they were once slaves in Egypt (in Exodus the reference is to God resting on the Seventh day). Exodus explained the Sabbath theologically; Deuteronomy explains the Sabbath (day of rest) historically: you were slaves then, so you should honor your freedom every 7th day.
15: You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out thence with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.
Another important correction: the wife is now treated with more dignity, placed at the beginning instead of in the middle of the list of what not to covet:
21: "`Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.'
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This is one of the most honred verses in the Bible. It's called the Shema (after the first word, "hear"). The point is 1. God is One, not many, 2. There is one God, despite other gods talked about, 3. There is one place of worship. Centralization of worship begins here, though some centralization was suggested in earlier texts. By the time of the kingdoms, people were worhsipping God almost everywhere, including at home. Abuses crept in because of this. God was mixed with native gods. Poor sacrifices were made, etc.
4: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD;
5: and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
Jesus quotes this as one of the two main commandments, along with the law to love one's neighbor as oneself (Leviticus). Note again the "heart and soul" motif: the law must be lived.
6: And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart;
7: and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
8: And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
These are called phylacteries. On the doorposts they're called mezzuzahs, small cases in which are deposited verses from Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21 (both versions of the Shema, "to love God with one's whole heart and soul"). (A mezzuzah case, scroll that goes inside the case, and the mezzuzah case as it looks hung on the doorpost are seen in an animated gif file, left.) Yet Jesus criticizes exaggerated displays of devotion among the Pharisees: "Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long. . . ." (MATT 23:5).
9: And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
12: then take heed lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
V. 16 is one of three verses from this book that Jesus quotes to the Devil when he's tempted. Note in v. 21 more reminding of being slaves, as if to say, "God is your only dignity." This remains true today: we are what we love.
16: "You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
20: "When your son asks you in time to come, `What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances which the LORD our God has commanded you?'
21: then you shall say to your son, `We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. . . .
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1: "When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Gir'gashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Per'izzites, the Hivites, and the Jeb'usites, seven nations greater and mightier than yourselves,
3: You shall not make marriages with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons.
4: For they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.
This defends the total destruction of the people, which would be called genocide today. But the writer is writing after the event and knows that the Jews have accepted other values leading to present problems, including exile.
5: But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Ashe'rim, and burn their graven images with fire.
6: "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth.
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2: And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not.
This is like a Jewish Midrash (commentary) on Jewish scripture; not only Christians did this. St. Paul later does this with the same events, using them as allegory, to teach a lesson. "Manna" here taught humility. But Jesus will later use "Manna" as an image of himself as Bread of Life. Both texts imply complete dependence on God alone. Jesus quotes "man does not live by bread alone" to the Devil, as an example of perfect obedience that the other Jews lacked. So Jesus fulfills Israel, as he fulfills the Law, as perfect obedience to the Law. Israel, God, and Law blend in the Jewish mind; so, as today, to worship God and to study Torah (the Law) are the same.
3: And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.
4: Your clothing did not wear out upon you, and your foot did not swell, these forty years.
5: Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you.
6: So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him.
17: Beware lest you say in your heart, `My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.'
18: You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth; that he may confirm his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day.
A reminder that God is the source of all things. Then in chapter 9, v. 5 (next) God reminds Israel that their benefits are not because of their good but because of the evil of others!
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5: Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land; but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
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12: "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
13: and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I command you this day for your good?
"Circumcision" has already begun to be used symbolically, as in image or a change of heart (v. 16). Hebrew makes superlatives (-est) by gentives ("of"): "lord of lords," "song of songs," etc. mean "greatest lord" or "best song," etc. "Holy of Holies," King of Kings," etc. Note how this precedes a reminder to respect foreigners, orphans, etc.
16: Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.
17: For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.
18: He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.
19: Love the sojourner therefore; for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
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18: "You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
19: And you shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
20: And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates,
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This continues the centralization motif: worship can only occur in one place, later identified with Jerusalem.
5: But you shall seek the place which the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there; there you shall go,
6: and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices
8: You shall not do according to all that we are doing here this day, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes;
9: for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the LORD your God gives you.
Note in v. 9 the motif of "REST" (=Sabbath). The writer of Hebrews (the Letter to the Hebrews) uses this idea; also see Psalm 95.
10: But when you go over the Jordan, and live in the land which the LORD your God gives you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from your enemies, so you live in safety,
11: then to the place which the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, thither you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices.
29: "When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land,
30: take heed that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, `How did these nations serve their gods? -- that I also may do likewise.'
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1: "You are the sons of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead.
Note how the confusion will arise later about the meaning of "son of God" as used about Jesus. Most Jews, especially kings, would call themselves sons of God. But as used of Jesus, it has special (literal) meaning (see the Gospel of John where that meaning is clear). Note in the following verses the problem that centralization has caused in a money economy. Tithing must be made, but now allowance is made due to distances; and conversion can be made into money. So we know this is from a more advanced period than that of Moses and obviously in the kingdom period. Note that care is also given to the Levite in this new centralized worship.
22: "You shall tithe all the yield of your seed, which comes forth from the field year by year.
23: And before the LORD your God, in the place which he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstlings of your herd and flock; that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.
24: And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to bring the tithe, when the LORD your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the LORD your God chooses, to set his name there,
25: then you shall turn it into money, and bind up the money in your hand, and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses,
26: and spend the money for whatever you desire, oxen, or sheep, or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves; and you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.
27: And you shall not forsake the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.
Note in this reformed (second) law there's more reference to the poor, a kind of early socialism. Every 3 years a tenth is given to the poor as well as the Levite (remember, of the 12 tribes, Levites received no inheritance: the idea was to keep the priestly class pure from ownership).
28: "At the end of every three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your produce in the same year, and lay it up within your towns;
29: and the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled; that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.
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1: "At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release.
2: And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the LORD's release has been proclaimed.
Note this is a new law, of the heart as well as of the flesh (v. 10). The giver must give in the right mind. Jesus will develop this idea. Jesus also refers to v. 11. Below the giver is warned not to resist giving to the poor because the Sabbath (7th) year is near, and thus the giver will lose his profit.
9: Take heed lest there be a base thought in your heart, and you say, `The seventh year, the year of release is near,' and your eye be hostile to your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the LORD against you, and it be sin in you.
10: You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him.
11: For the poor will never cease out of the land; therefore I command you, You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in the land.
Note how the motif of Rest (Sabbath) is developed; slavery is limited to 7 years. Again, this goes back to Genesis and the dignity of Creation, which involves rest.
12: "If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.
13: And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed;
14: you shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your wine press; as the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.
15: You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.
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5: You may not offer the passover sacrifice within any of your towns which the LORD your God gives you;
Centralization of worship again. Before, people celebrated Passover in their homes. Note the ambiguity or unclear meaning of God "making his name to dwell" in a place, repeated several times in this book. Apparently the writer felt uncomfortable with the idea of God dwelling, so now only his name dwells. Even before this book, God's dwelling was fudged as "tabernacled" or "tented"; as if the God of all the earth was above living someplace.
6: but at the place which the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the passover sacrifice, in the evening at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt.
19: You shall not pervert justice. . . .
20: Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you.
Syncretism (mixing religions) was more dangerous than outright apostasy, or turning away from God. Because it was more difficult to see. Asherah was one of many fertility goddesses (Asheroth in plural). Obviously people worship those goddesses because everyone wants children or Nature's fertility in the form of rain (hence Ba'al worship).
21: "You shall not plant any tree as an Ashe'rah beside the altar of the LORD your God which you shall make.
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14: "When you come to the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and dwell in it, and then say, `I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me';
15: you may indeed set as king over you him whom the LORD your God will choose. One from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
Apparently Jews were trading people for horses. Later verses may refer to Solomon's abuses as king:
16: Only he must not multiply horses for himself, or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, `You shall never return that way again.'
17: And he shall not multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply for himself silver and gold.
18: "And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, from that which is in the charge of the Levitical priests;
19: and it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them;
20: that his heart may not be lifted up above his brethren, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left; so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.
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These verses are sometimes used, typologically, of Jesus:
15: "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren -- him you shall heed --
18: I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
19: And whoever will not give heed to my words which he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
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15: "A single witness shall not prevail against a man for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed; only on the evidence of two witnesses, or of three witnesses, shall a charge be sustained.
16: If a malicious witness rises against any man to accuse him of wrongdoing,
17: then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days;
18: the judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely,
19: then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.
20: And the rest shall hear, and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you.
21: Your eye shall not pity; it shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
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These military rules are not only humane, but also insure that only people willing to fight will be in the army; their hearts and souls will think about the fight, not about their brides, homes, gardens, etc.
1: "When you go forth to war against your enemies,
5: Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying, `What man is there that has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it.
6: And what man is there that has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man enjoy its fruit.
7: And what man is there that has betrothed a wife and has not taken her? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her.'
8: And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, 'What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house, lest the heart of his fellows melt as his heart.'
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10: "When you go forth to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God gives them into your hands, and you take them captive,
11: and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you have desire for her and would take her for yourself as wife,
12: then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and pare her nails.
13: And she shall put off her captive's garb, and shall remain in your house and bewail her father and her mother a full month; after that you may go in to her, and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.
14: Then, if you have no delight in her, you shall let her go where she will; but you shall not sell her for money, you shall not treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her.
St. Paul later refers to this curse of being hung from a tree to explain the curse that Jesus assumed by hanging from a tree (cross):
22: "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,
23: his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is accursed by God; you shall not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.
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4: You shall not see your brother's ass or his ox fallen down by the way, and withhold your help from them; you shall help him to lift them up again.
5: "A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.
6: "If you chance to come upon a bird's nest, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young;
7: you shall let the mother go, but the young you may take to yourself; that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.
8: "When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if any one fall from it.
10: You shall not plow with an ox and an ass together.
12: "You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your cloak with which you cover yourself.
Hence in the Gospels a woman who can't stop her bleeding touches the hem of Jesus' garment (v. 12 above).
25: "If in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die.
26: But to the young woman you shall do nothing; in the young woman there is no offense punishable by death, for this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor;
27: because he came upon her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her.
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American abolitionists must have valued v. 15, which justified not returning escaped slaves from the southern states:
15: "You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you;
16: he shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place which he shall choose within one of your towns, where it pleases him best; you shall not oppress him.
24: "When you go into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your vessel.
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5: "When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, to be happy with his wife whom he has taken.
6: "No man shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge; for he would be taking a life in pledge.
7: "If a man is found stealing one of his brethren, the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.
Most of these laws are humane, defending the dignity of people even though they're poor.
10: "When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to fetch his pledge.
11: You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you.
12: And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge;
13: when the sun goes down, you shall restore to him the pledge that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and it shall be righteousness to you before the LORD your God.
14: "You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brethren or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns;
15: you shall give him his hire on the day he earns it, before the sun goes down (for he is poor, and sets his heart upon it); lest he cry against you to the LORD, and it be sin in you.
16: "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
17: "You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow's garment in pledge;
18: but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.
19: "When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow; that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
20: When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.
21: When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.
22: You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.
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11: "When men fight with one another, and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts,
12: then you shall cut off her hand; have no pity.
13: "You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small.
14: You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small.
15: A full and just weight you shall have, a full and just measure you shall have; that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
16: For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the LORD your God.
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Most scholars agree that the Jewish covenantal laws were based on international vassal covenants at the time: weaker nations agreed to follow stronger kings and guaranted both blessings and curses (should they break the contract). But here God is the King of Kings. And remember, when this was written, prophecy had already happened, since many had already been conqured and exiled:
15: "If you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
25: "The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies.
26: And your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth; and there shall be no one to frighten them away.
30: You shall betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, and you shall not use the fruit of it.
32: Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all the day; and it shall not be in the power of your hand to prevent it.
36: "The LORD will bring you, and your king whom you set over you, to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known; and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone.
49: The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you do not understand.
52: They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the LORD your God has given you.
53: And you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you.
64: And the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
This is the Jewish Diaspora (or dispersion).
65: And among these nations you shall find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of your foot; but the LORD will give you there a trembling heart, and failing eyes, and a languishing soul;
66: your life shall hang in doubt before you; night and day you shall be in dread, and have no assurance of your life.
The following is the final insult: the people God freed from Egypt will return to Egypt freely (to escape the Babylonians).
68: And the LORD will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey which I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no man will buy you."
30
1: "And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you,
2: and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you this day, with all your heart and with all your soul;
3: then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes, and have compassion upon you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.
19: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live. . . .
31
1: So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel.
2: And he said to them, "I am a hundred and twenty years old this day; I am no longer able to go out and come in. The LORD has said to me, `You shall not go over this Jordan.'
7: Then Moses called Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and of good courage; for you shall go with this people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall put them in possession of it.
8: It is the LORD who goes before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you or forsake you; do not fear or be dismayed."
24: When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book, to the very end,
25: Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD,
26: "Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.
30: Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the ears of all the assembly of Israel:
32
1: "Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
3: For I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Ascribe greatness to our God!
4: "The Rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he.
5: They have dealt corruptly with him, they are no longer his children because of their blemish; they are a perverse and crooked generation.
39: "`See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand."
In this theodicy, God causes everything, good and evil. In such a monotheism, this must be so. Later the idea of the Devil creeps into Jewish thought and by the time of Jesus, the Devil owns the world and offers it to Jesus!
34
1: And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land,
4: And the LORD said to him, "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, `I will give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go there."
5: So Moses the servant of the LORD died in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD,
9: And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him; so the people of Israel obeyed him, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses.
10: And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.
V. 10 is another of those "tell-tale" lines, showing the text was written much later than in Moses' time, since it is written: "And there has not arisen a prophet since. . . ." meaning a long time ago.
