Deuteronomy 64

Based on the laws presented in Deuteronomy, aliens (or “sojourners”) are allowed to live amongst God’s chosen people. He forbids the Israelites from oppressing the “strangers” (or non-Israelites/Gentiles)—especially since they—too—were once aliens in the land. They are to be treated fairly and justly—every member of the community should have a fair hearing and judge rightly from one person to another (Deuteronomy 1:16). Anyone who deprives the alien, orphan, or widow from justice is to be cursed (Deuteronomy 27:19). In addition, aliens should be given (ample) food: God instructs the Israelites to give leftover grapes and olives to the foreigners, orphans, and widows (Deuteronomy 24: 20-21).

Introduction to the Hebrew Bible has provided me with a critical analysis of the Hebrew Bible and introduced a wide variety of interpretive strategies, including African American, anthropological, feminist, historical-critical, Jewish, and literary perspectives. These approaches were presented by our author’s, L. Juliana M. Claassens, Peter Enns, Walter Brueggemann, and John L. Collins. Each author provides a unique interpretation to help us comprehend how the text is an expression of one’s interpretive understanding. Having said that, the biggest influence has been how I will seek to present Old Testament scriptures more effectively while remembering the context and the audience in which I am presenting. For example, I believe the greatest lessons that I have been reminded of are, the Old Testaments Scriptures from my childhood, which have become a big part of my relationship with God and are based on a childlike faith, which must now grow in the richness of the different interpretations, it is this message that I can apply to life.

The Old Testament is the largest part of the bible nestled behind the leather binding in the front of the book. Unlike most books, told from one-person or even two this is comprised of multiple, some stories even having two different versions in another point of view; over time it has become a large collection of ancient texts written and re-written by different authors and editors over the many years. The stories show the ancient Israelites, they show the laws, and rituals, which make up their religion and the small embers, which will one day, turn to a flame that is Christianity. The Jewish people view these stories as collected in what they call the Torah, is the collection for what makes up their history and the promise that God gave to them, as well as their laws and what they worship today. For the Christians the Old Testament is still seen as sacred, but most place a stronger importance to the New Testament.

The whole book of Deuteronomy is telling the story of a people that made a deal with God. They made promises to serve him according to the way that he wanted to be served. Deuteronomy laid out all the wonderful things that would happen to them if they were obedient and kept their promises. It also laid out what would happen if they did not keep their promise. It was pretty harsh too.

One of the major differences that A.J. Jacobs illuminates as major differences between the world of the Old Testament and our recent society is that the hundreds of laws listed on the 5 first books of the Old Testament might no longer apply to our contemporary society. Some of the reasons these laws are irrational is because they were harsh and basically impossible to achieve. However, I disagree with him in picking and choosing the right parts of the Bible. This is a dangerous statement because it opens the door to pick and choose what fits our model; therefore justification to sin might occur as a consequence. Nevertheless, these laws were given to one group of people, the Jews.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.

The monotheistic belief of Judaism recognises that God is omnipotent, omnipresent and pure spirit. The concept of the oneness of God, is expressed through the Shema which is an affirmation of faith Jews proclaim, commencing with “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.”- Deuteronomy 6:4. This

This is not meant as a monotheistic statement but better understood as Israel’s complete devotion to only YHWH. This leads into the next verse (6:5) where Israel must love God with all of their heart, mind, and soul, in which love is focusing more on loyalty and not on feelings. Jesus recognizes this commandment and deems it as the greatest commandment. The Lord goes on to tell the people that they are receiving these commandments to put upon their hearts and incorporate them in to their lives. The Jewish people have taken this command literally in their culture as they recite the Shema, which is Deuteronomy 6:4-9, twice a day, teaching it to children as soon as they speak, and reciting it one’s deathbed.

The Law of Moses, or Moses’s Law refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, sometimes call the Pentateuch, or Torah which is a central reference of Judaism. Of the covenants found in the Pentateuch are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These books contained the laws and instruction given by the Lord to Moses which establishes Israel as a nation. All five of the books are believed to be written by MosesIntroduction

The book of Deuteronomy was the last that Moses wrote before he died, just as they were about to enter the promised land. It is a review of the mistakes they had made during their forty years of wandering through the desert, so that they would not repeat them again. But he also looked to the future, teaching them again that if they obeyed God and their laws out of love, they would do well in the land they were going to enter to possess. Actually, the purpose of the book was to get the people to renew their commitment to the Lord. Deuteronomy 1: 9-2: 5 Moses begins the book of Deuteronomy by recalling the years that Israel had wandered in the wilderness.

In Deuteronomy 16:1-17 we see Israel being called together to show generosity and to celebrate, if we look at the first Passover, we see that all families in Israel sacrificed in their own homes in reembrace of the Passover, But in Deuteronomy 16 we see that Israel having entered into the promised land is now undergoing realignment of this sacrifice along with was to be made at the Tabernacle and in the future at the temple in Jerusalem this will bring about a centralization of these religious observances. Indeed they become “pilgrimage feasts” as Gordon Wenham calls them

There are several challenges with the historical background and political setting of Isaiah 40-66 concerning author, date, time and situation of life for the Jews. LaSor notes that traditional views that Isaiah authored the entire book are held by very few scholars. More and more critics are accepting a two book theory with chapters 1-39 as book one and chapters 40-66 as book two. Moreover, there are further refinements resulting in three books, dividing chapters 40-66 into 40-55 (Deutero-Isaiah) and 56-66 (Trito-Isaiah). (LaSor, William 1996., 281)

The first 39 books of the larger work called the Bible, is called the Old Testament. The Bible itself is arguably the best selling and most read book of all time, yet it’s well known to be quite challenging to read through and understand. The Old Testament portion of the Bible, notably the most difficult portion of the Bible for most to study and follow, yields 39 books from multiple authors, and spans over 4000 years of crucial world and church history. If that were not enough to take on, the Old Testament comes our way through multiple styles of authorship and formats, including but not limited to, books of history, law, proverbs, ethics,

Discuss the significance of the books of Exodus-Deuteronomy as they move the storyline from Genesis forward.

It tells us, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (v 4). The Hebrews use the name Elohim as God’s name during this verse, which means “three in one”. This references what the Christians call the Holy Trinity, or the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Even though these three are separate beings they are all one God, each with their own parts to play. God is telling us that their is only one God and that is him. He is the only one that we are supposed to worship and praise. Many times throughout history the Israelites turned from this rule and were punished for it. God is a God who loves us and wants us to love him like he loves us. Adam Clarke in his commentary wrote, “On this verse the Jews lay great stress; it is one of the four passages which they write on their phylacteries, and they write the last letter in the first and last words very large, for the purpose of exciting attention to the weighty truth it contains.” (Clarke’s Commentary Volume 1, 754). This “weighty truth” is the truth that God is the only God that there is, and we shouldn’t have any others before