An Overview of Deuteronomy
The Book of Deuteronomy often suffers from a general unfamiliarity, with many people reducing it to a list of laws disconnected from the profound theological and historical significance it carries. Unlike Exodus, where events like the plagues or Mount Sinai stand out, or Leviticus with its focus on sacrificial laws, Deuteronomy is sometimes seen as a collection of random rules. However, when we take a closer look, we find that Deuteronomy does more than present laws—it lays the foundation for covenantal faithfulness and plays a central role in shaping Jewish eschatology and prophetic tradition. In this lesson, we'll explore how Deuteronomy frames history, projects future events, and becomes the basis for understanding God's relationship with Israel.
Laying a Foundation: The Opening to the Book
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. (Detueronomy 1:1, ESV Bible)
The opening of Deuteronomy differs from the Septuagint, where the book is called Deuteronomion, meaning "second law." Deuteronomy is essentially Moses' final address to the new generation of Israelites after 40 years of wandering in the desert. With the previous generation of fighting-age men having passed away, Moses now recounts the key events from Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. It serves as a condensed version of those books, reaffirming that the covenant is still in effect and applies to this new generation. The focus is on the covenant and the law, emphasizing that God has chosen this generation to obey His commands and statutes so they may prosper in the land they are about to enter.
Retelling the Past to Provide Context for the Current Message
The first few chapters of Deuteronomy outline both the purpose and the underlying logic of the book. It's more than just a retelling of the events from Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers; Deuteronomy reframes much of that history. Rather than changing or adding to the story, it presents the past in a way that encourages the Israelites to reinterpret it, motivating them for the future.
This approach of revisiting the past to provide context and significance for a divine message is crucial because it establishes a pattern that recurs throughout the prophetic tradition in the Old Testament. We’ll explore this more in future lessons, but what’s fascinating is how Deuteronomy becomes the foundation for how prophets deliver oracles—divine messages or revelations—to Israel.
"Oracles" refer to messages from God, often delivered through a prophet, containing instructions, warnings, promises, or prophecies. These could be guidance for the present or predictions about the future, depending on whether the people follow God's commands.
In the New Testament, we see a similar method of using the past to frame a message. For instance, Jesus, Stephen in Acts 7, and Paul all recount Israel’s history to provide context for their teachings. Deuteronomy is the first book to use this framework—recasting history so that the oracles and instructions in the latter part of the book make sense. This significance is evident from the very beginning, where Moses offers a brief review of the events from Exodus through Numbers to prepare the people for what’s to come.
The Law is Presented as an Act of Kindness and Grace
One of the most important concepts introduced right at the beginning of Deuteronomy is often overlooked. In Deuteronomy 1, this theme is significant because people often think of the book as just a list of laws—God giving Israel a set of rules and saying, "Here, follow these." It’s easy to fall into the mindset that the laws were impossibly hard, as if the message was, "Good luck—you’ll fail, and that’s why you need to look forward to Jesus." But right from the start, Deuteronomy presents a very different picture. In Deuteronomy 1:30-31, it says:
The Lord your God, who goes before you, will fight for you, just as He did in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, just as one carries a child, all the way you traveled until you reached this place. (Deuteronomy 1:30-31, ESV Bible)
This is not a cold, legalistic list of instructions. Instead, it's an expression of divine grace. God frames Israel's deliverance from the wilderness and His guidance into the promised land as acts of kindness and grace.
This is the true essence of Deuteronomy—it’s not about legalistic observance, which is often how Christian tradition has mistakenly interpreted it. The whole concept of "law versus grace" is really an anachronism, a false dichotomy that arose much later. From the beginning, Israel’s deliverance and God’s relationship with them are depicted as expressions of His grace, benevolence, and generosity. This is how we should view Deuteronomy: not as a burden of laws, but as a testament to God's grace throughout Israel’s history.
We will see the father-son analogy appear multiple times throughout Deuteronomy. Often, the book is viewed as a set of strict rules for the nation, with statutes and commands being very prominent. But the deeper spirit of Deuteronomy is more akin to how parents set rules for their children—not just for the sake of rules, but because we want them to grow into healthy, well-adjusted individuals who can form positive relationships and thrive in society. That same tone runs through Deuteronomy.
Chapter Four Summarizes the Book - Do These Things and You Will Live Well in the Land
After the first three chapters, which recap much of what happens in Numbers, chapter four provides a summary of the whole book. It focuses on the covenant God is making with Israel and the law He is giving them, which they are meant to follow as they enter the promised land. This vision is forward-looking, meant to guide their future. For instance, Deuteronomy 4:1 says:
"Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and rules I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you." (Deuteronomy 4:1)
The heart of the book is really about their well-being and flourishing—that’s why these rules are being given, to ensure their life and success in the land.
The Land-Centered Focus of Deuteronomy: Living According to God's Law in the Promised Land
Another thing that stands out when reading Deuteronomy is how much more the laws are focused on the land, particularly Jerusalem, compared to Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. While Leviticus is heavily centered on Jerusalem because of the temple, Deuteronomy takes this further by assuming that the people will be living and functioning in the land as a sovereign nation. The laws are framed around the idea that they’ll be structuring their society according to these commands.
Take the example of the Sabbath. In Israel, observing the Sabbath wasn’t an issue—it was simply the law of the land, something everyone, Jew or Gentile, adhered to. But once you move outside of Israel, into the diaspora, things became more complicated. In the Roman world, most people didn’t even recognize a seven-day week, let alone observe the Sabbath. This created an awkward tension for Jews trying to figure out how to live according to God's laws while navigating a completely different cultural framework.
Deuteronomy assumes an ideal scenario where the people are living in the land and walking in God’s ways. It’s important to recognize this, as it helps us understand why some of the legalistic interpretations miss the point. If you realize that the laws are intended for life in the land, a lot of the confusion clears up.
The Covenant, Law, and Land in Deuteronomy
The three key themes—covenant, law, and land—are emphasized repeatedly throughout Deuteronomy. These form the foundation that later prophetic traditions build upon. While Deuteronomy starts pushing these concepts forward, the prophets that follow take these realities and expand on them, weaving them into a more apocalyptic vision. Over time, apocalyptic literature assumes these three elements as fundamental truths.
The irony is that when these central ideas are removed from their Jewish context, they often get stripped from any future-oriented vision. Even in cases where themes like the Day of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead, or final judgment are retained, the covenant, law, and land—the core pillars of Jewish thought—are often overlooked. In Second Temple Judaism (during the time of Jesus), these three realities were at the heart of how apocalyptic events were understood.
The prophetic and apocalyptic traditions continuously develop around the covenant, the law, and the land, taking them as foundational truths. If we lose sight of Deuteronomy as the starting point for these themes, we miss the essential context through which the future vision was understood by the Jews of the first century.
It’s not that covenant, law, and land aren’t discussed earlier in the Torah, but Deuteronomy frames them in a way that later prophetic and apocalyptic traditions really pick up on. This makes Deuteronomy crucial to understanding these concepts.
There’s a section at the end of chapter 4 that really projects this forward into the future. In Deuteronomy 4:25, it says:
"When you have children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image or doing evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him, He will call heaven and earth as witnesses against you, and you will perish from the land." (Deuteronomy 4:25)
This is talking about exile. Then in verse 27:
"The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you’ll be left few in number, serving other gods." (Deuteronomy 4:27)
But in verse 29, it says:
"From there, you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search with all your heart and soul. When you are in distress (tribulation), and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey His voice." (Deuteronomy 4:29-30)
So right here, at the start of the book, Deuteronomy 4 is already projecting a future scenario that gets picked up in the prophetic tradition, by the apostles, and even Jesus in Second Temple literature. This forms the foundation of apocalyptic eschatology.
Today, especially in the Christian tradition, we take that for granted. Every prophecy teacher and commentary on Matthew 24 assumes this, but it all starts here. When Jesus talks about the "great tribulation," He’s not just pulling that out of nowhere. He’s referencing Deuteronomy—specifically, Deuteronomy 4:30.
The Reframing of The Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy
The next significant section in Deuteronomy is the reintroduction of the Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments. What's interesting is that some details in the Decalogue are framed differently here compared to earlier texts, and these nuances are picked up later in other parts of scripture. In chapter 4, we see how the Decalogue is framed: starting in verse 12:
"Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. And He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and He wrote them on two tablets of stone." (Deuteronomy 4:12-13)
Then in verse 14:
"The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you the statutes and rules that you might do them in the land you are going to possess." (Deuteronomy 4:14)
Once again, we see the land-centered focus of Deuteronomy. There are additional nuances in this version of the Decalogue that are significant. For example, in Exodus, the reason for keeping the Sabbath is tied to God resting after creating the heavens and the earth. But in Deuteronomy, the emphasis shifts to God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt.
In Deuteronomy 5:15, it says:
"Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath." (Deuteronomy 5:15)
So the Sabbath is now tied to their deliverance, a different emphasis than in Exodus. In the final commandment, there's an additional detail—you’re not only forbidden from coveting your neighbor’s house but also from coveting your neighbor’s wife. This becomes a paradigm later on, like in Jesus' teachings on lust, where the idea of not coveting your neighbor's wife originates from Torah. So, the Decalogue in Deuteronomy is slightly reframed to fit the direction Deuteronomy is moving toward.
Writing the Laws and Statutes on the Heart
In chapter six, we see the transition into the well-known Shema and the exhortation Moses gives regarding the Ten Commandments and the laws and statutes, which many people are familiar with. In verse 4, it says:
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
Moses places great emphasis on making these commandments an integral part of life—written on the heart. This theme appears repeatedly throughout Deuteronomy, with references to the laws and statutes being written on the heart over 30 times. We also see the concept of the circumcision of the heart in chapter 10, and later in chapter 30, the focus on internal transformation is even more pronounced.
This internal focus challenges the common misconception that Deuteronomy is just a collection of legalistic rules with an outward emphasis. The book is far more concerned with the inward reality of the heart and relationship with God.
When Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, emphasizes the heart, we often think He’s introducing something new. But the Torah, and specifically Deuteronomy, already makes it clear that this is a heart reality. Jesus isn’t innovating by saying, "It used to be about legalistic observance, and now it’s about the heart." No, instead, Deuteronomy from the very beginning focuses on the heart.
While there may have been some legalistic Jews at the time—particularly within the Pharisaical movement—who practiced an outward form of religion, focused on hypocrisy, pride, and pretense, Jesus’ critique was directed at those attitudes. The way we understand Deuteronomy shapes how we view Jesus. We either see Him as a revivalist, calling people back to the true heart of the law, or as a revolutionary, introducing something entirely new. If Deuteronomy is already pressing for an inward heart reality as an expression of divine grace, then Jesus is a revivalist, contrasting what was happening in Judaism at the time. However, many in Christian theological tradition see Jesus as revolutionizing the Jewish faith, which is the more dominant view.
The Election of Israel
Now, moving on to chapter 7—this chapter is significant because it highlights Israel’s election and the reason for their chosenness. In verses 6 through 8, it says:
"You are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more numerous than other peoples that the Lord set His love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers." (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)
This passage emphasizes that Israel was chosen not for their greatness, but because of God’s love and His covenantal promises to Abraham. Israel’s election is tied to the fulfillment of those promises—God chose them so they could ultimately bless the nations. In Christian tradition, this idea often gets muddled, with some thinking that God’s people used to be Israel but are now the church. As we’ve discussed before, this leads to confusion. But here, we see the enduring nature of Israel’s election, a chosenness with a specific role and purpose.
Even in the New Testament, when the term "election" is used, it presumes this understanding from Deuteronomy—that God’s people are chosen for a purpose, to fulfill the promise He made to Abraham and to bless the nations. This is a crucial point in chapter 7.
Reflecting on Israel's Wilderness Journey
The next few chapters—chapters 8 through 11—reflect on Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness, continuing Deuteronomy's role of framing Israel’s history from the Exodus onward. In chapter 8, Moses becomes particularly intentional, urging the people to reflect on their history and consider its meaning for the future. He’s essentially saying, "Think about it. What does this history tell you as you move forward?" Chapters 8 and 9 contain some familiar passages, especially because Jesus references these in the wilderness during His 40 days of fasting.
For example, in chapter 8, starting in verse 2, it says:
"You shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not." (Deuteronomy 8:2)
This theme of God testing their hearts to see if they were truly obedient is significant. Later on, during the farewell and commissioning of Joshua, the Lord even says to Moses and Joshua, "I already know what's in their hearts." Moving on in chapter 8, it continues:
"He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers knew, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these 40 years. Know in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God was disciplining you." (Deuteronomy 8:3-5)
Moses is essentially reminding them that, yes, they faced hunger and challenges, but it wasn’t because God lacked the power to provide. Instead, God was teaching them a lesson, proving a point—that they were not yet prepared for long-term obedience. He wanted them to understand that their survival and prosperity depended on more than just physical sustenance; it depended on their obedience to God's word. In a way, Moses is urging them to take their lives and their relationship with God more seriously, as a father disciplines his child to train them in the ways of righteousness.
There are so many themes from Deuteronomy that Jesus picks up during His 40 days of fasting, but these are often misinterpreted. People commonly say, "Jesus is fulfilling Israel’s history and, in doing so, invalidating it." In reality, Jesus is identifying with that history. He’s reinforcing and confirming the ideas in Deuteronomy as Israel’s Messiah, showing how they are being projected toward their ultimate fulfillment. By resisting the temptations in the wilderness, Jesus is demonstrating His trust in God to bring about this fulfillment.
When Satan challenges Him with, "If you are the Son of God, turn these stones to bread," Jesus responds by quoting Deuteronomy 8. The point isn’t that He’s fulfilling or replacing Israel’s story, but rather that He’s echoing the same message God gave to the Israelites: trust in God to carry you through. Jesus is saying to Satan, "I trust in God to anoint me on the day of the Lord"—as seen in Psalm 110 and Psalm 2, where God declares, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father." Jesus believes God will anoint Him to judge the living and the dead.
This theme continues in Deuteronomy 8, where, after the people enter the land, Moses warns them in verses 16-18 not to say in their hearts, "My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth." Instead, they are to remember that it was God who gave them the ability to gain wealth, to humble and test them, and to do them good in the end.
The message in Deuteronomy is the same one Jesus draws from: God’s faithfulness to His covenant people, His provision, and the future He has planned for them. Jesus isn’t introducing something new but is drawing these truths into their ultimate apocalyptic context, affirming the covenant and God’s ongoing plan for Israel. The book of Matthew seems especially focused on identifying Jesus with Israel. Jesus Himself was deeply concerned with this identification. In Deuteronomy, Moses is telling the people that the Lord led them through the wilderness to teach them that man can only truly live by the promises of God—by the words that come from His mouth. This is exactly what Jesus echoes in His response to temptation.
God's Faithfulness Over Human Righteousness
In chapter 9 it says:
Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. (Deuteronomy 9:4-5, ESV Bible)
This emphasizes a key theme: God is not acting because of Israel's greatness or their righteousness. First, He is removing the nations due to their wickedness, and second, He is fulfilling the promise He made to the patriarchs. It’s a reminder that Israel’s role isn’t based on their merit but on God's faithfulness and love for the fathers.
These themes are strongly reflected in Paul’s writings, especially when discussing righteousness in the context of the coming judgment. Paul often points back to the idea that "the gifts and promises are irrevocable." God has always operated this way—Romans 4 highlights this. It’s not by your own righteousness that you were delivered from slavery, and similarly, it’s not by your own righteousness that you are saved from the wrath to come.
Deuteronomy's Legal Framework: God's Grace, Israel's Identity, and the Misunderstanding of the Law
In our next section of Deuteronomy, we come to what is probably the largest portion of the book, covering chapters 12 through 26. When most people think of Deuteronomy, this is likely the section they recall, as it contains a wide range of instructions and laws. These chapters lay out how Israel, as a nation, is to function—how they are to remain loyal to God, honor Him in worship, and how their leadership should operate. Essentially, God is setting the cultural foundation for how Israel is to live once they settle in the land. This whole section is focused on that.
These themes really emphasize life in the land versus life in exile. Deuteronomy assumes that Israel will be living in the land, and many of these laws should be understood in that context. These aren’t just religious laws; they are the legal code for the nation. For example, when we think about the king in chapter 17 or the prophet in chapter 18, these figures held tremendous influence and power in the ancient world. Prophets were feared not only in Israel but also in surrounding nations—like Balaam, who we see in Numbers 22-24.
In most cultures, the power of kings and prophets was taken for granted, but the law in Deuteronomy specifically limits their authority. For instance, the laws concerning the king are designed to curb his influence, because if a king becomes corrupt, the entire culture risks falling into corruption. Similarly, with prophets, even though they could command great fear due to their oracles, the law insists that only God is to be feared. The prophet’s words must be weighed against God’s law, so the people aren’t misled.
So, a large portion of this section consists of laws that govern society, including protocols for worship and guidelines for leadership. But the dominant theme is how Israel, living in their own land with their own sovereignty, should function as a just and faithful nation.
God governs His people through the law. This is a significant concept that we often take for granted because much of Western legal systems are built on Deuteronomic and Sinaitic principles. But in many parts of the world, this is not the case. For instance, in some parts of the world, the law is highly flexible, often subject to the will of a single person. If you defy that person, you can disappear—thousands of people just vanish into prisons with no trace. If you want to circumvent the law, there’s usually a way to do it.
In much of the ancient world, power was centralized in the king, with prophets and magicians surrounding him as divine appointees. Everything revolved around the king’s will, and the law was merely an extension of his authority. But in Deuteronomy, the situation is radically different. The law applies to everyone, from the highest to the lowest. A good example is in chapter 17, where it speaks about the king. It says:
"When you enter the land and have a king, he must write for himself a copy of the law, approved by the Levitical priests. He shall keep it with him and read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord by keeping all the words of the law and its statutes, and so that his heart may not be lifted above his brothers." (Deuteronomy 17:18-20)
This ensures the king remains humble and does not stray from God's commands. It’s about leveling the playing field, making even the king accountable to the law.
We have to remember that this entire section of legal code is part of how God is setting Israel apart from the other nations, making them distinct. These laws for worship, leadership, and society aren’t burdensome obligations—they are expressions of God’s grace. He’s giving Israel a unique identity so they can be a holy people, distinct from the surrounding nations, through whom the world will be blessed.
As we've discussed before, this isn’t just about giving Israel a set of rules to test their obedience. The purpose of these laws is to allow them to live in the land as the people God has called them to be. It’s a gracious act, a demonstration of God's kindness in guiding them to fulfill their calling.
The challenge we often face when looking back at the law is that we struggle to see it as a legal code or the law of the land. Instead, we tend to view it through the lens of religion, much like Luther did. Luther interpreted Judaism as a religion where the commandments were seen as a way for people to try and reach God. But that’s just not what was happening.
It’s not like we think speed limits are legalistic, or that people are trying to earn salvation by not cheating on their taxes. The law in Deuteronomy was not about religious rituals to get closer to God. By Luther’s time, though, Judaism had been displaced from the land of Israel for centuries, especially during the Middle Ages. As a result, Judaism became more of a religion because it had been caught up in the cultures of other religious groups.
Christianized Rome, in particular, started to define what "religion" was, and other groups—including Judaism—were seen through that lens. Since the Jewish people had been scattered and weren't an organized nation, Luther viewed Judaism primarily as a religion. So, he treated the scriptures and commands as if they were a legalistic way for people to approach God, which is simply not the case.
Deuteronomy then gets misinterpreted as if God gave this whole law just to prove that the people couldn’t keep it, all to make a point later about justification by faith. It’s such a strange concept if you really think about it. If we follow that logic, Deuteronomy would suggest that God gave the law, brought curses, enemy oppression, starvation, and exile—sacrificing millions of Jewish lives—just to teach Christians that they couldn’t follow the law. It seems like there would be a much better way to teach human depravity than through so much suffering. And, as we’ll see later, this entire perspective is thoroughly refuted in Deuteronomy 30. Paul even draws on Deuteronomy in Romans 10 to directly address this idea, making it clear just how flawed this interpretation is.
The common argument is that "the law is just too hard," and that God used Israel’s history to show Christians 2,000 years later that they couldn’t keep it, leading to the conclusion, "I’m so grateful for a Savior who came to free me from the law."
But starting in verse 11, Deuteronomy 30 says:
"This commandment that I give you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, so we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it." (Deuteronomy 30:11)
I mean, you can’t get more explicit than Deuteronomy itself, saying that the Torah—the law—is not too hard to follow. And if those words sound familiar, they’re from Romans 10. So if it seems like Romans 10 is saying the opposite of what we just read, there’s a good chance you’ve misunderstood Romans 10. We’ll go into more detail later about Paul’s rhetoric, especially regarding the forced conversion of Gentiles, which is what he’s really addressing. His argument against Torah observance for Gentiles often gets misapplied as a broad critique of the entire law, and that’s where the confusion happens. The idea that Deuteronomy was given to prove we can’t keep the law is simply wrong. The entire Sermon on the Mount is Jesus saying, "Keep the law in truth, as Deuteronomy instructs, without hypocrisy or pretense."
Blessings, Curses, and the Covenant: Deuteronomy’s Role in Israel’s Future and Prophetic Tradition
As we move into Deuteronomy 27 and 28, we come to the sections on blessings and curses, which are especially significant in Deuteronomy 28 and the events at Mount Ebal in chapter 27. These chapters play a major role in shaping eschatological themes moving forward. However, as we’ve discussed before, they also held immediate relevance for the people of Israel as they prepared to enter the land. The blessings and curses are tied to their obedience to God's commands. This concept of blessings and curses related to a covenant was common in the ancient Near East.
A representative passage is Deuteronomy 28:1-2, which says:
"If you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey the voice of the Lord your God."
But then in verse 15, it continues:
"If you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, or be careful to do all His commandments and statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you."
By verse 64, the theme of exile becomes prominent:
"The Lord will scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known."
This theme of exile is picked up repeatedly throughout prophetic literature and even projected into the New Testament. A notable example is Daniel 9, where Daniel reflects on Israel’s exile in Babylon, recalling the curses of Deuteronomy 28. In Daniel 9:13, he prays:
"As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us, yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord by turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by Your truth."
So, these blessings and curses are a massive part of this section of Deuteronomy, with implications that stretch across the prophetic writings and into the New Testament.
In the next lesson, we’ll spend more time discussing the future of the covenant and the law, how it was broken, the coming restoration, and the final blessing. We’ll also look at how these themes play out in apocalyptic literature and their ultimate conclusion. That’s really how the book of Deuteronomy ends. While we could identify a few more sections, what follows the blessings and curses is often referred to as the Covenant Renewal. Though the title might not be entirely accurate, it projects what life could look like now that the blessings and curses are on the table. For instance, in chapters 27 and 28, the blessings and curses are presented as possibilities, but after this, there’s a shift toward more certainty.
Before we even get to Joshua, chapter 30 begins with:
"When all these things have happened to you—the blessing and the curse I have set before you—and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you..."
Here, the idea is that once the blessings and curses come upon them, reflecting on these events will make Israel realize they happened because of their disobedience. So while at first the blessings and curses seem like possibilities, the text moves to a point where, once they’ve occurred, reflection on them will lead the people back to God.
Then in verse 4, chapter 30 continues:
"Even if your exiles are at the ends of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you from there and bring you back."
Verse 6 adds, "Moreover, the Lord will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants," a theme later picked up in Jeremiah’s discussion of the new covenant. The distinction here is important. Earlier, in chapter 10, verse 16, God commands the people to "circumcise your own hearts," removing obstacles to obedience. But in chapter 30, there’s a future moment where God Himself will perform this work, removing the barriers to their obedience. We’ll dive into this more in the next lesson.
This same idea carries forward in chapter 31, where Joshua is commissioned. What began as a possibility and then became more certain is now taken for granted. In verse 16, the Lord tells Moses:
"Soon you will rest with your ancestors, and this people will begin to prostitute themselves to foreign gods in the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I have made with them."
At this point, it’s almost inevitable that this will happen.
As we’ll see in prophetic and apocalyptic traditions, the breaking of the covenant and the resulting curses on the land are assured to play out until the end of the age, before the final restoration takes place.
The Final Section of Deuteronomy: The Song of Moses and Divine Foreknowledge
Now we come to the final section of Deuteronomy, which concludes with the account of Moses’ death (which, as you can imagine, Moses didn’t write) and the final blessing. While we could delve more into the significance of the final blessing, for now, we’re just outlining the different sections. Another key part of this section is chapter 32, which contains the Song of Moses. The song is introduced in chapter 31, where Moses is told:
"You will lie down with your ancestors, and the people will forsake me and break the covenant."
In verse 21, it says:
"When many terrible troubles come upon them, this song will confront them as a witness because it will not be forgotten from the mouths of their descendants. For I know what they are inclined to do, even now, before I have brought them into the land I promised them."
That very day, Moses wrote the song and taught it to the Israelites. What’s fascinating is that the Song of Moses is framed as something not necessarily relevant to their immediate context, but something they had to memorize for future situations. It’s almost like Deuteronomy itself—a retelling and reframing of their history with a projection into the future.
The Song of Moses does just that in one chapter: it reframes Israel’s past and then projects it forward, dealing with cycles of restoration, a cataclysmic end, and even hinting at the resurrection. It’s a powerful piece. To truly understand the apostles, you have to understand Jesus. But to understand Jesus, you need to understand the prophets. And you can’t grasp the prophets without the Book of Deuteronomy. If you want to dive into Deuteronomy, start with chapter 32—that’s the key.
Another aspect to highlight is the theme of divine foreknowledge that emerges at the end of Deuteronomy. It’s not foreknowledge to prove a theological point but to emphasize the eventual restoration of the covenant after it’s broken. The purpose of divine foreknowledge here is to reinforce the covenant with Israel, anticipating their future disobedience but also their eventual return.
Conclusion
There’s still much more to cover. In the next lesson, we’ll dig deeper into the covenant, the theme of election, and why God specifically chose Israel. We’ll also explore how the covenant, Israel’s election, and the law become the mechanisms that drive history forward and play out in eschatology. As we’ve touched on in this lesson, these themes in Deuteronomy form the foundation for what later becomes the Second Temple literature and the apocalyptic eschatology of the New Testament.
Apocalyptic eschatology isn’t built on abstract theological ideas—it’s rooted in the covenant and the specific instructions given to Israel. God set them apart to fulfill the promises made to Abraham, so they could be a blessing to the nations. This narrative is not redefined by Jesus and the apostles but rather affirmed and reinforced by them.
It’s clear that the book of Deuteronomy is far more than a set of ancient laws. It establishes a framework for understanding Israel’s role in God’s plan and introduces themes of covenant, land, and law that echo throughout prophetic and apocalyptic literature. Next, we’ll explore how these concepts evolve in Jewish thought, focusing on the covenant’s future and how the law guides Israel’s destiny. The foundations laid in Deuteronomy provide a key to understanding Jesus, the apostles, and the future vision of God's kingdom.