Nielsen’s Nook

Deuteronomy is the transliterated Greek title (Δευτερονόμιον) of the fifth and last book of the Pentateuch (as compared with אלה הדברים - these are the words or sayings). The Greek transliteration comes from δεύτερος meaning second or subsequent and νόμος meaning law, specifically referring to the Mosaic Law. So how did we get from “These are the Words” to this is the book about the second giving of the Law? There is quite an interpretation in rendering the title of the book as Deuteronomy, as I think you can see.

The Hellenistic Jews who translated the Tanak or Old Testament into Greek from Hebrew were the ones who made this interpretation that has stuck with us from before the time of Jesus of Nazareth. This translation is called the Septuagint, abbreviated LXX. The English speaking world does not know the last book of the Pentateuch as “These are the Words” but as “Deuteronomy”.

In entitling the book “Deuteronomy”, the translators of the LXX it seems were trying to account for the reiteration of the Law in Deuteronomy 5 and perhaps the nuances to the commandments as found in Exodus 20. While these are important considerations, it seems to project tertiary concerns of the translators rather than the primary concern of the book itself.

Covenant Remembrance and the Second Giving of the Law

I suggest in this opening of a short series of reflections on Deuteronomy that this interpretative rendering of the title of the book as Deuteronomy seems to be a bit ambiguous and therefore confusing.

On the one hand, the “Second Giving of the Law” as a title might reflect the immediate context of the covenant renewal through which Moses was leading the People of God. In this way, even today, the church of God always looks to the written Law, and each Sunday comes to renew the covenant that God has made with them and they have broken in many ways during the week. In this way, Deuteronomy would seem to reflect the idea of “Zecherayberith” ( בְּרִית + זֶכֶר) or the Book of Covenant Remembrance.

On the other hand Deuteronomy self-consciously looks beyond itself. The words in Moses’ mouth teach us this:

¹⁵“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— ¹⁶just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ ¹⁷And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. ¹⁸I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. ¹⁹And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. (Deuteronomy 18:15-19, ESV)

So there is to be a prophet raised up who will speak everything that the LORD commands. That is, unlike Moses who was the greatest of the Prophets, this prophet will communicate everything that the LORD commands. While Moses was barred from entering the Land of Promise because he communicated something contrary to what the LORD had commanded Him, the future prophet of whom Moses speaks will not do such a thing.

This prophet does come and does present perfectly all that the LORD commanded him to communicate. John 1:18 teaches us that Jesus, the Word of God, was the explanation of God. Colossians 1:15-20 shows us that Jesus who was the image of God, came in the likeness of God, and restored fellowship with God through the blood of his Cross. So perhaps as we telescope Deuteronomy’s trajectory out to its ultimate fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus, we see again that the book looks forward to a time when covenant will be renewed once and for all on account of the blood of Jesus’ cross.

Jesus as Deuteronomy

If the book of Deuteronomy then is all about covenant renewal and covenant renewal is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus who is the explanation of God; then we must also consider the aspect of covenant renewal that includes the reiteration of the terms or parameters of the covenant. This is why the Ten Commandments are recited and reapplied to the historical context that the Israelites found themselves in forty years after the Ten Commandments were given to them as represented in Exodus.

The Ten Commandments are most definitely imperatives for us; however, they have a greater weightiness for us than just being imperative. They are primarily descriptive to us of who God is and correlatively they describe humanity, those created in God’s image. The imperative force is seen when we who are created in the image of God, whom the Law describes, rebel against God and correlatively deny ourselves and walk in unlikeness to God. We walk as self-contradictions when we rebel against God’s Law, having lost our referent that gave us any objective dignity.

In this way, we find that Christ Jesus has come and perfectly kept the Law of God. In other words, Jesus demonstrated the likeness of God perfectly. He reiterated the Law in his words and life as he labored to renew the covenant we sinners broke with God. In so far as Jesus is the final expression and iteration of the Law of God, he is the second giving of the Law, truly he is Deuteronomy.