Deuteronomy 9 begins by emphasizing that Israel’s
“status as a treasured people depends on actions: faithfulness to the covenant.
Israel is not intrinsically better than anyone. What is special about Israel is
rather that it has been given a singular opportunity to follow a path that will
ultimately bring blessing to all the families of the earth.”[1]
Deuteronomy 9:9 mentions a miracle not mentioned
in Exodus, namely that Moses survived on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty
nights without food or water. Perhaps it is mentioned here to underscore the
point that while the Israelites were complaining in the wilderness about food
and water, if they had simply trusted YHWH, he would have performed miracles to
help them survive.
Another new point, made in Deuteronomy 9:20, is
that YHWH was angry at Aaron over the golden calf incident. Moses has not
mentioned this before, perhaps because it would have caused the Israelites to
doubt the wisdom of Aaron standing as high priest. Now that Aaron is dead it is
safe to mention it.
Friedman notes a parallel between the golden calf
incident under Aaron and something that takes place later in the history of
Israel:
The parallels between Aaron’s golden calf and those of
Jeroboam I, king of Israel, are unmistakable. Jeroboam erects golden calves at
Dan and Beth-El (1 Kings 12:26-30). On that occasion he says, “Here are your
gods, Israel, which brought you out from the land of Egypt”—which are the same
words that the people say at the golden calf in Exodus. Jeroboam’s sons are
Nadab and Abiyah; Aaron’s sons are Nadab and Abihu. And King Josiah destroys
the high places where Jeroboam’s golden calf stood at Beth-El, and, like Moses,
“he burned it thin as dust” (2 Kings 23:15). Also like Moses, Josiah casts the
dust of pagan altars into a wadi (23:6,12)…. In the terms of the full Tanak as it now stands, the parallel
would suggest that history repeats itself. This is also one of many parallels
between Josiah and Moses that serve to single out Josiah as the best of the
kings of Israel, the one who comes closest to the standards that Moses taught
by commandment and example. Thus the Torah says at the end of Moses’ life: “And
a prophet did not rise again in Israel like Moses” (Deut 34:10); and the Tanak says at the end of Josiah’s life:
“And after him one did not rise like him” (2 Kings 23:25)—and these are the
only two occurrences of the expression “did not rise like him” in the Bible.
Again the embroidery of connections through the Tanak is apparent.[2]
Deuteronomy 10:1 points out another difference
with the record in Exodus. Moses says that he made the ark of the covenant
while Exodus says that Moses had Bezalel do it. Here the text says Moses made
it right away whereas Exodus indicates it took longer to make the ark. The
explanation of this discrepancy may simply be found in the fact that these two
accounts were written by different authors.
Deuteronomy 10:16 makes an important point about
inward and outward obedience. Here the Israelites are told they must circumcise
the foreskin of their hearts. Friedman notes:
This concept occurs in two books of the Torah (Deut
10:16; 30:6; Lev 26:41) and in two of the prophets (Jer 4:4; Ezek 44:7,9). The
sign of the Abrahamic covenant, and probably the most commonly observed of the
commandments by Jewish families for centuries, is circumcision. But the Torah commands the circumcision of one’s heart
as well. It establishes that outward fulfillment of practices without also
feeling it in one’s heart is insufficient. The concept of circumcising one’s
heart, moreover, unlike physical circumcision, applies to both women and men.[3]
This is a concept that Paul will emphasize in the
New Testament as well (Romans 2:25-29).
In Deuteronomy 11, we are told that the Promised
Land is like a garden that YHWH cares for. It is contrasted with Egypt.
Friedman notes:
Because the Nile’s water is commonly present, the human’s
role is simply to get it to the plants, by conveying or irrigation. But in
Israel much of the land is dependent on rain as its source of water; it “drinks
water by the skies’ showers” (11:1). And so one feels more dependent on God.
But, Moses assures the people, God “cares about” the land, and God’s “eyes are
always on it” (11:12).[4]
At the end of chapter 11 the oaks of Moreh are
mentioned. Friedman points out the significance of this….
The first place to which Abraham comes when he moves to
Canaan is the oak of Moreh (Gen 12:6). There YHWH is said to appear to him for
the first time (which is also the first time that God is said to have appeared
to anyone in the Bible). There YHWH
says for the first time that He will give the land to Abraham’s descendants.
And there Abraham builds the first altar to YHWH in Canaan. Now the oaks (or
oak; the Septuagint has the singular) of Moreh are mentioned just before a
statement that those descendants are now about “to come to take possession of
the land.” It is thus another signal that the merit of the ancestors is a
source of protection and well-being for Israel many generations later. In this
case, because Abraham listened to God’s first command and left his home for a
new land, his descendants now come to the land.[5]
Deuteronomy 12 makes the important point that
there will be one place for sacrifice in the Promised Land. Friedman offers
some helpful comment on this….
This is the central point: There are not to be Temples of
YHWH all over the world, or even all over Israel. There is to be only one
place. I understand this to be a physical, visible expression of the principle
of monotheism: one God, one place of worship. (This does not preclude the
post-biblical Jewish practice of having synagogues, nor the Christian practice
of having churches, as places of prayer, study, and gathering. It just means
that worship involving sacrifices can
be done only in the one sanctioned place.)
Deuteronomy 12:5 talks about YHWH’s name being
set or tented in a certain place. Friedman explains….
This is known as the Deuteronomistic Name Theology. The
concept is that God cannot be contained in all of the universe, so how can a
name be contained in the structure. The divine name becomes almost a tangible
entity, and it is connected to the structure; that is, to the Tent of Meeting.
The visible symbol of the presence of the divine name is the ark. And so every
occurrence of this expression in Deuteronomy refers to the place where the ark
is. Later the ark and the Tent of Meeting will be moved to the Temple that
Solomon builds in Jerusalem (1 Kings 8:4), and on that occasion Solomon will
use some of these same terms to convey that the Name is now housed in the
Temple (8:12-30). For prayer and sacrifice, Israelites are to focus their
attention in the direction of the place where the name of YHWH is housed.[6]
Obviously, there are many important concepts
discussed in these chapters. Perhaps, for our purposes, the most important is that
of the circumcision of the heart. The question is: how do we circumcise our
hearts before the Lord so that we are faithful to God and worship him wherever we go, not just in one place for one hour every week? Any ideas?
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