In Hebrew, Deuteronomy means “repetition of the law”. Deuteronomy locates Moses and the Israelites in the territory of Moab, in the area where the Jordan flows into the Dead Sea. As his final act at this important time of transferring leadership to Joshua, Moses delivered his farewell addresses to prepare the people for their entrance into Canaan. In them, Moses emphasized the laws that were especially needed at such a time, and he presented them in a way appropriate to the situation. In contrast to the matter-of-fact narratives of Leviticus and Numbers, here the words of Moses come to us from his heart as this servant of the Lord presses God’s claims on his people Israel.
The trajectory of the story that unfolds in Genesis-Numbers seems to call for an account of the conquest of Canaan as found in Joshua to bring closure to the movement from promise to fulfillment. But Deuteronomy intervenes as a massive nonchronological interruption. At the end of Numbers, Israel is “on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho” and at the end of Deuteronomy, the people are still there waiting to cross the Jordan.
In Deuteronomy Moses brings renewal to the Sinaitic covenant, reminding Israel what the Lord required of them if they cross the Jordan and take possession of the promised land. They are to enjoy the promise and “rest” in fellowship with the Lord. It was a word Israel needed t hear over and over again. Moses’ message? God promised to be their Protector “if” they would be faithful to him as their covenant Lord and obedient to the covenant stipulations as the people of his kingdom. There would be blessings for such obedience, but curses for disobedience.
Deuteronomy’s purpose was to prepare the new generation of the Lord’s chosen people to be his kingdom representatives in the land he had unconditionally promised them in the Abrahamic covenant. The love relationship of the Lord to his people, and that of the people to the Lord as their sovereign God, pervade the whole book. Deuteronomy’s spiritual emphasis and its call to total commitment to the Lord in worship and obedience inspired references to its message throughout the rest of Scripture.
Joshua will narrates the initial fulfillment of the promises made to the patriarchs and the conclusion to the mission on which Moses had been sent.
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