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They are to declare their history when they arrive in the land, recounting their rescue from Egypt.
Prayers of thanksgiving are also to be made.
SABBATH
Up until the time of Moses, nobody had a Sabbath. It is a new provision for slaves who have previously worked seven days a week, but who are now given one day a week free from work.
FEASTS (ALL PILGRIM EVENTS)
Passover.
Weeks (Pentecost).
Tabernacles.
SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS
If there is a murder, and the perpetrator cannot be found, a heifer is to be sacrificed to declare the innocence of the community.
EXCLUSIONS FROM THE ASSEMBLY
Those with mutilated or castrated genitals are excluded from the assembly of the Lord.
Children of forbidden unions (up to the tenth generation) are also forbidden to enter.
Ammonites and Moabites are explicitly forbidden.
Edomites (from the third generation) are permitted to enter.
VOWS
Whatever we vow we must do. Vows are freely made, so should be followed through. If you make a vow to God you must keep it.
SEPARATION
No mixing of seeds is allowed.
A donkey and an ox should not be yoked together.
Clothes of wool and linen may not be mixed.
These laws of separation may seem very strange, but they were connected to the old fertility cult which was widespread in the land. The pagans believed that by mixing such things they were producing fertility. God was emphasizing that he gives fertility: they did not need to practise such superstition.
2. Government
KING
There are laws here for a king, even though they were not to have a king for centuries.
God is their king – kingship is a concession, not part of his plan.
When a king comes to the throne he has to write out the laws of Moses in his own handwriting and read them regularly.
The king is instructed not to have many wives, many horses, or much money.
JUDGES
Rules for conducting law courts are given, including provision for a court of appeal. Interestingly, the penalty for contempt of court given here is death.
There are also rules for justice: no bribes and no favouritism. An alien, an orphan and a widow must get exactly the same treatment as the richest businessman.
There must be at least two or three witnesses who agree totally on what they have seen or heard. If they bear false witness they must suffer exactly what the person would have suffered if they were found guilty. If my false testimony in court gets someone fined £1,000, then when I am discovered to be a false witness I am fined £1,000. ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’
There are regulations covering the administration of punishments. Floggings are to be a maximum of 40 strokes (they usually made it 39 to make quite sure they did not break the law). Excessive flogging is dehumanizing – the criminal is treated like a lump of meat. When a person is executed, the body must not be left hanging on the tree after sunset. (The apostle Paul applies that to Jesus on the cross in Galatians.) There is no imprisonment.
3. Special crimes
AGAINST PERSONS
Murder always carries the death penalty, unless it was manslaughter and unintended. Six cities of refuge, three either side of the Jordan, are to be set up where a man who has killed accidentally can run to escape the death penalty.
Kidnapping also carries the death penalty.
Death is the penalty for rapists if the attack took place in the country, but both parties are to be put to death if the attack took place in the town, because the victim could have cried out.
AGAINST PROPERTY
There are laws against theft and the removing of boundary markers around land.
4. Personal rights and responsibilities
Injuries and damages.
Masters and servants: slaves have rights; workers should be paid on time.
Credit, interest and collateral. Debts are to be cancelled after seven years by every creditor cancelling loans made to fellow Israelites. Interest must not be charged.
Weights and measures. Properly weighted scales are to be used at all times.
Inheritance. It is the responsibility of the next of kin to continue the family line.
5. Sexual relations
Marriage. Strict instructions concerning the marriage bond, for those married, those pledged to be married, and those raped.
Divorce. Divorce on the grounds of the husband ‘disliking’ his wife is prohibited. Remarriage to the original husband following a divorce is forbidden to protect the innocent woman.
Adultery. Both parties should be put to death.
Transvestism. Cross-dressing is detestable to God.
6. Health
For leprosy there is a careful procedure to follow if anyone suspects they may have the disease, involving examination by the priest.
There are laws against eating animals that are found dead.
Strict rules govern ‘clean and unclean food’. Camels, rabbits, pigs and certain birds must not appear on the menu.
Meat and milk are not to be cooked together.
This last point is a law which has been misunderstood by almost every Jew: ‘You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.’ On the basis of this one verse the Jews have erected a ‘kosher’ system of diet whereby they have (effectively) two kitchens with two completely different sets of pots and pans and sinks to wash them in – in order that dairy products are kept separate from meat products, which Abraham never did, offering veal and butter to his visitors. They have totally misunderstood the purpose of the law, which once again was connected to a rite of the pagan fertility cult. The Canaanites believed that cooking a kid in its mother’s milk caused it to have incest with its mother, which then promoted fertility.
7. Welfare
Benevolence is not just encouraged, it is commanded. Sheaves of corn are to be left in the corner of the field for the poor to pick up.
Parents should expect respect and support from their children: a stubborn, rebellious son is to be put to death.
Neighbours whose animals have strayed are to be assisted.
Animals are to be treated well: no one should muzzle an ox when it is treading out grain; it is permitted to take birds’ eggs from the nest, but the mother should not be removed – she is to be left so that she can lay some more eggs.
8. Warfare
Preparation is vital. War is not for the faint-hearted. Those afraid can go home.
During a siege the soldiers must not cut down the trees around a city.
A toilet area should be set up outside the camp and all waste covered up.
A soldier who has recently been married can stay at home for a year before he has to go to war again. No one should go to war at the expense of a marriage at home.
What are we to make of all this?
1. SCOPE
God is interested in the whole of our lives. Living right is not just what you do in church on Sunday but concerns the whole of life. There is a right way to do everything. God wants people to be right in every area of their lives.
2. INTEGRATION
These laws show an amazing integration. We move, say, from a law about not eating camels to a law about observing a feast day. This is not pleasing to the modern western mind. We feel we must somehow classify all these laws. But God is saying that there is no division in life – there is no sacred/secular divide; all of life is for God.
3. PURPOSE
There is a clear purpose for all these laws. It was not to spoil the people’s fun, or to hedge them about with restrictions. A recurrent phrase throughout the book is ‘that it may be well with you and that you may live a long life in the land’. God wants us healthy and happy, so he gave us laws. Some people picture God sitting in heaven saying ‘don’t’ and ‘thou shalt not’. But his purpose for prohibition is always for our good. He is concerned for our ‘welfare’.
Third Discourse (27:1–34:12) Future
The third and last discourse given by Moses is in two parts.
1. Covenant affirmed (27:1–30:20)
In the first part he tells the Israelites that they are to ratify the law for themselves. After crossing the Jordan they are to stand below Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. The mountains are directly next to each other and form an amphitheatre with the valley in between. The leaders are to shout the blessings from Mount Gerizim and the curses from Mount Ebal. After each sentence they are to respond with an ‘amen’ – i.e. ‘this is certain!’ These curses and blessings are all included in Deuteronomy 28 (and, incidentally, in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, to be recited every Lent).
Words are powerful. The rest of the history of the Old Testament hinges on Israel’s response to these blessings and curses. When we read Deuteronomy 28, it is like reading the whole history of Israel for the last 4,000 years.
2. Continuity assured (31:1–34:12)
Joshua is appointed as Moses’ successor at the age of 80. Moses then gives the written law to priests, who place it beside the ark. He commands that the whole law be recited every seven years.
Moses finishes his message with a song. Like many prophets he was also a musician. His sister Miriam sang following the crossing of the Sea of Reeds, and now Moses recites the words of a song before his death. The song details the faithfulness of God and his just dealings with Israel. He is a rock, utterly dependable, unchangeable, totally reliable. After the song is finished, Moses blesses the 12 tribes and includes prophetic glimpses into the future.
Finally comes the death and burial of Moses – the only part of the five books of Moses that he did not write! Presumably Joshua added the details. Moses died alone, with his back against the rock on the top of Mount Nebo, looking across the Jordan to the land that had been promised, but in which he would never set foot.
Centuries later, we read in the Gospels that Moses spoke with Jesus on top of one of the mountains, but he never entered Canaan in his earthly life. He was also buried on Mount Nebo, though not by his fellow people. In the New Testament Jude tells us that an angel came to bury him. When the angel got to Moses, the devil was standing on the other side of him. The devil pointed out that this man was his because he had murdered an Egyptian. But the archangel Michael said to the devil, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’ and so Moses was buried by the angel. It was an amazing end to an amazing life. The people mourned him for one month before preparing to cross the River Jordan.
The importance of Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy is the key to the whole history of Israel. Unable and unwilling to expel the Canaanites from the land when they first arrived, very soon they had intermarried and were involved in the same evil practices as the pagans. In fact it took them a thousand years, from the time of Abraham to the time of David, finally to inhabit the land promised to them. In the following 500 years they lost it all, as we shall see in the book of Kings. The whole history of Israel can be summarized in just two sentences. Obedience and righteousness brought them blessing. Disobedience and wickedness brought them curses. All this is made abundantly clear in the book of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy plays a huge part in the New Testament too. It is quoted 80 times in just 27 books.
Jesus
Jesus was the prophet foretold by Moses in Deuteronomy.
Jesus knew Deuteronomy very well. When he was tempted in the wilderness he used the Scriptures to defend himself, and each time he quoted from Deuteronomy.
In the Sermon on the Mount we are told that not ‘one jot or tittle’ will pass from the law.
When Jesus was asked to summarize the law of Moses, he summarized it in words from Deuteronomy: ‘Love the LORD your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength,’ and Leviticus: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’
Paul
Paul used Deuteronomy when he wrote about the importance of our hearts being changed.
He used Jesus’ death as an example of one who was cursed.
He quotes the law about muzzling the ox as a principle to be applied when supporting preachers.
Christians and Moses’ law
How, then, should Christians today read the law of Moses?
Particular precepts
We are not under the law of Moses, but under the law of Christ. We need to find out, therefore, whether each Old Testament law is repeated or reinterpreted in the New Testament.
