Deuteronomy comes from the Greek for “second law,” because much of the book echoes the legal codes we’ve seen already in the Pentateuch.

But Deuteronomy is far more than a repetition of commands and mandates.

• It is the Bible’s

document.

• It is the last book written by Moses.

• It is the summation of the

God made with Israel in the desert.

• It is the

for the rest of the Old Testament.

Context:

Israel was the plains of Moab, just across the Jordan River from the Promised Land.

• It was around 1400BC.

• The first generation that came out of Egypt has died.

• The second generation is poised to enter and occupy Canaan.

This is where Deuteronomy begins.

1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him in commandment to them, —Deuteronomy 1:1, 3

The opening verses tell us what to expect: this is a book of proclamations, or

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.

Redemptive-Historical Context:

Israel is a nation founded by the promises of God that has been sustained by the power of God. They have been,

• Redeemed from slavery.

• Constituted as a nation.

• Brought into covenant with Yahweh.

• Given good laws and a tabernacle where God’s glory dwelt.

And so, possession of the land of Canaan is the last of the puzzle pieces to come together for God to make good on all of his promises to Abraham.

12 so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. —Deuteronomy 29:12–13

Deuteronomy is about the

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!

It is this Mosaic Covenant that is being expounded and ratified here in Deuteronomy. In fact, turn to the back page of your handout and you’ll see that the whole book of Deuteronomy is covenantal in form. That is, it follows the format of a covenant document commonly used in the ancient Near-East.

The heart of the book contains Moses’ second speech which details the covenant stipulations that bind the people:

• General commands in chapters 5-11 about their

relationship to God.

• Specific commands in chapters 12-26 about how to

as God’s people in the land.

In Moses’ third speech, he explains the

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and

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that will result if the people are faithful or unfaithful to the covenant.

The conclusion of the book gives a window into Israel’s

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as the covenant people of God.

Historical Prologue – 1:1-4:49

Deuteronomy 4:35
To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. —Deuteronomy 4:35

39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. 40 Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.” —Deuteronomy 4:39–40

The point? Be

to the faithful God!

General Stipulations: Love and Faithfulness – Chapters 5-11

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. —Deuteronomy 6:4–6

This is the “Shema,” which is the Hebrew word for

.

7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. —Deuteronomy 7:7–8

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he quoted Deuteronomy 6:4.

And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” —Luke 10:27

But, like Israel, we must recognize that we can only love God because he first chose and loved us.

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. —1 John 4:10

With this guiding principle of loving faithfulness in place, Moses proceeds to explain the specific stipulations of the covenant for the nation’s life in the Promised Land, in chapters 12-26.

Specific Stipulations: Justice and Holiness – Chapters 12-26

“These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. —Deuteronomy 12:1

The point of these 15 chapters is that as God’s nation in God’s land, the people were to worship God alone, reflect God’s holiness, and represent God’s justice.

When you read these laws, remember the context - they were given to Israel at a specific point in history.

We know that Christ has already come. Because of that we are in another stage of redemptive history. But, amazingly, it’s a stage that even Deuteronomy anticipates.

“ ‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ —Deuteronomy 27:26

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 on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. —Deuteronomy 21:22–23

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— —Galatians 3:13

In other words, in his death, Jesus bore the curse that all of us who fail to obey God’s perfect standard deserve. For those who trust in Christ, that changes our relationship to the law. The law no longer stands against us, condemning us.

24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, —Galatians 3:24–25

For Christians, the law is not our schoolmaster or supervisor.

The law is still good. Jesus said he came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.

• The law still

God’s flawless character.

• The law still

our need for a Savior.

• The law still

Christians about how to live.

But how do we make this practical?


The answer to that question comes in two stages.

1. Recognize that the entire law has been

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   in Christ.

2. Recognize that the laws we see in the OT roughly fall into 3 categories:

•

•

•

The political nation of Israel and the temple system of worship have found their end point, their fulfillment, in Christ. And so civil and ceremonial laws are no longer binding on Christians.


Three ways we can practically apply the law today:

• We should follow the New Testament’s instruction regarding these laws.

• We should understand what these laws teach us about God’s character.

• We should appreciate Jesus’ perfection because he upheld all these laws.

Covenant Renewal – Chapters 27-30

If Israel does devote their entire heart to Yahweh, the covenant promises great

.

10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. 11 And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. —Deuteronomy 28:10–11

If Israel doesn’t stay faithful to Yahweh, the covenant includes terrible

.

The greatest curse of all was being exile from the Promised Land.

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. 37 And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away. —Deuteronomy 28:36–37

But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. —Deuteronomy 29:4

At the close of this book, God himself makes some astounding promises of grace.

God promises

for those who repent.

and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. —Deuteronomy 30:2–3

God promises

for His people.

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. —Deuteronomy 10:16

And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. —Deuteronomy 30:6

Is the book of Deuteronomy a covenant of works or a covenant of grace?

It’s not that the law was God’s plan A and the gospel was plan B. This law is part of God’s perfect plan to set apart his people and to expose their need.

The law paves the way for the divine intervention that would enable true obedience and a new intimacy with God through the redemption that would come in Christ.

Conclusion: Israel’s Future – Chapters 31-34

The people have affirmed God’s covenant as they prepare to transition into the Promised Land. And now we see a great transition of leadership, as in chapter 31 Moses transfers his authority to Joshua and prepares to die.

But in another sense, this close to the book of Deuteronomy actually functions as a great transition to the rest of the Old Testament.

As you study the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 32 is a great chapter to keep turning back to because, in many ways, it’s the sneak preview for the hundreds of years that are to come.

Israel’s unfaithfulness will not be the last word; after the exile, God will “Rejoice with him, O heavens; bow down to him, all gods, for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries. He repays those who hate him and cleanses his people’s land.” (32:43)

This covenant will not be the last. A new covenant is coming. And that is the hope that propels the rest of the Old Testament forward.

And as we close, there’s one more thing in the final verses of Deuteronomy that should strengthen our hope in this covenant-making and covenant-keeping God.

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. —Deuteronomy 18:18

And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land —Deuteronomy 34:10-11

They’re still waiting for the promised prophet—a prophet who knew the Lord’s face, a prophet who backed up his message with miracles.

This promised prophet is the Lord Jesus Christ!

• Jesus is the Word of God who became

(Jn. 1:14)

• Jesus is the one who spoke all that the Father gave him to say (Jn. 8:28)

• Jesus

his message through miracles (Jn. 14:11).

Just as the great prophet Moses was the mediator of the covenant in Deuteronomy, the greater prophet Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant by his blood. He bore our curse. And we receive the eternal blessing that only he deserved.