In these early spring days I decided to read the book of Deuteronomy, from the first to the last verse, all 33 chapters. It was a pleasure. I found quite some golden nuggets therein. All the books of the Old Testament are so down-to-earth and human, that it is nothing but delightful to dig in their dusty grounds, and to play with their mud, and to drink their milk, their wine, and their honey.
The book of Deuteronomy is the last of the five books of Moses. It contains narrative parts, looking back on the Exodus story and the forty years of wandering in the desert of the people of Israel who are now about to cross over the Jordan into the promised land under their new leader Joshua, as well as explications of the law Israel has received through their prophet Moses.
“Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to do, so that you may live and go in and possess the land that ADONAI the God of your fathers is giving you. You must not add to the word that I am commanding you or take away from it – in order to keep the mitzvot of ADONAI your God that I am commanding you. (…)
Deuteronomy 4: 1-8
See, just as ADONAI my God commanded me, I have taught you statutes and ordinances to do in the land that you are about to enter to possess. You must keep and do them, for it is your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.‘ For what great nation is there that has gods so near to them, as ADONAI our God is whenever we call on Him? What great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances that are righteous – like all of this Torah that I am setting before you today?“
I am sharing with you now three earthy instructions I came across while reading the book of Deuteronomy – teachings, statutes, ordinances you maybe have not known yet.
Write it on your heart – and bind it around your hands
“Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love ADONAI your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These words, which I am commanding you today, are to be on your heart. You are to teach them diligently to your children, and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. Bind them as a sign on your hand, they are to be as frontlets between your eyes, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.“
Deuteronomy 6: 4-9
Well, the first of the following passage is well known, I guess, yet the second part unfortunately not so much. The first part is about loving God with all that we are. As for the second part, the Jewish practices of wearing tefillin and of putting mezuzahs with a little Torah scroll hidden inside on the doorposts of one‘s house stem from these verses.
The idea here is that Israel shall continually meditate on the revealed Word of God, in everything they do from morning till evening, instructing their children thereby, and shall always remember their God, and that the people need physical, tangible signs – surrounding them in their houses, and even attached to their body, bound on their hands – to be reminded of their covenant with God.
Not only Israel is weak and forgetful, but every human being is. To work by the aid of certain physically rooted signs and practices against and around our forgetfulness, in order to remember to give God our attention, focus, and love, is in itself already a sign of our love for Him. Israel shall have the Word of God written on their hearts – and have it bound around their hands with which they cook, eat, sow and reap, and give alms. Their whole bodies and their whole lives are supposed to be their worship of praise and offering of love to God.
What we continually lovingly behold and contemplate, and what we continually do with our bodies, or give our bodies over to, from morning till evening, will shape our heart. What our heart has been storing up, we will share, we will hand out to others.
The passage from the book of Deuteronomy we have just read therefore also reminds me of a saying of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Luke, of a verse from a letter by Saint Paul the Apostle, and of a quote by Saint Catherine of Siena:
“Out of the good treasure of his heart the good man brings forth good, and out of evil the evil man brings forth evil. For from the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks.“
Luke 6: 45
“Being manifested, that you are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, and written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart.“
2 Corinthians 3: 3
“Love transforms one into what one loves.“
Saint Catherine of Siena
Rejoice as a family before your God, and rejoice together with the priests
Moses instructs the people of Israel to celebrate their feast days only at “the place ADONAI your God chooses from all your tribes to put His Name to dwell“ (Dt 12: 5). This place is, as other books of the Old Testament teach us, the temple in Jerusalem.
Moses makes it clear that the God of Israel has a dwelling, a habitation, a tabernacle, a holy and dedicated altar – He is not “placeless“, not like a “ghost“ roaming around, in sharp contrast to the gods of the nations who can be worshipped “under every green tree“:
“You must utterly destroy all the places where the nations that you will dispossess served their gods – on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. You are to tear down their altars, smash their pillars, burn their Asherah poles in the fire and cut down the carved images of their gods, and your are to obliterate their name from that place. You are not to act like this toward ADONAI your God. Rather you are to seek only the place ADONAI your God chooses from all your tribes to put His Name to dwell – there you will come.“
Deuteronomy 12: 2-5
Alongside the offerings the people bring to the temple on their high holidays for the priestly sacrifices, they shall remember to celebrate together, in community, with festive meals “before the Lord“, being thankful for the blessings their God has bestowed on them, and finding joy in all the fruits of their hands. Joy in togetherness, circling around a meal that gladdens the body, is a command here, something that needs to be done rather than felt.
“There you and your households will eat before ADONAI your God and rejoice in every undertaking of your hand, as ADONAI your God has blessed you.“
Deuteronomy 12: 7
“Then the place ADONAI your God chooses to make His Name dwell, there you are to bring all that I command you – your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes, the offering of your hand, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to ADONAI. Then you will rejoice before ADONAI your God – you and your sons and daughters, your slaves and maids, and the Levite in your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance among you.“
Deuteronomy 12: 11-12
“Be careful that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live on the earth.“
Deuteronomy 12: 19
Who are the Levites again? They are the descendants of the tribe of Levi, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. Both Moses and Aaron, the two brothers, were descendants of Levi. The whole tribe of Levi was dedicated to serve in Israel’s practice of worship. The priests – the “kohanim“, including the high priest, the “kohen gadol“ – had to come specifically from the line of Aaron. All the other Levites, who were not priests, served as temple guards or temple musicians or had tasks like reading out the Torah and teaching the people.
The tribe of Levi did not receive a portion of the land of Israel, when the area was distributed among the twelve tribes, and it was forbidden for them to own land – because “the fire offerings of ADONAI God of Israel are his inheritance“ (Joshua 13: 14). The other tribes were expected to give tithes for their priestly class.
So when the book of Deuteronomy talks about the Levites here, one can think of all the various servants in God‘s temple, including the priests. Moses in his final blessing before his death speaks thus about the tribe of Levi:
“They will teach Jacob Your judgments and Israel Your Torah. They will put incense in your nose and whole burnt offerings on Your altar. ADONAI, bless his resources, find favor in the work of his hands. Crush the loins of those who rise against him and hate him, so they do not rise again.“
Deuteronomy 33: 10-11
Therefore one can read the line in Dt 12: 19 also as saying, “Be careful that you do not neglect the priest as long as you live on the earth“. That means giving the tithe for him, of course, so that he may receive all that he needs, but it also means, as we have seen in the verses above, to include him in the joyful communal celebration meals. His portion and inheritance are the God of Israel, and all the people of Israel, who are to be mindful of their priestly servants.
The newly-wed man shall give joy to his wife
“When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year (…).“
Deuteronomy 24: 5
The newly-wed man is exempt from serving in Israel‘s army. And also no other duty shall him make leave his new home. For a whole year. But why? You won‘t guess… Because I love what follows next so much and find it so refreshing, I will present it to you here in various different translations:
“(…) He is to be free at home for one year and make his wife happy.“
Deuteronomy 24: 5, Tree of Life Translation
“(…) he shall be free at home one year, to be happy with his wife whom he has taken.“
Deuteronomy 24: 5, Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
“(….) but he shall be free at home without fault, that for one year he may rejoice with his wife.“
Deuteronomy 24: 5, Douay-Rheims Translation
“(…) he shall be free at home one year and shall cheer his wife whom he has taken.“
Deuteronomy 24: 5, Amplified Bible Classic Edition
“He and his wife may spend that year happily together in their home.“
Deuteronomy 24: 5, The Voice Translation
“He must be free to spend one year at home, bringing happiness to the wife he has married.“
Deuteronomy 24: 5, New Living Translation
The God of Israel through his prophet Moses commands newly-wed men to make their wives happy, to spend a whole year with their wives in honeymoon. It is almost like a sabbath year in communion, indeed a year of enjoying milk and honey together, that is commanded here for newly-weds.
“I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey. I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, o friends, drink, yes, drink your fill, O lovers!“
Song of Songs 5: 1
Truly, “what great nation is there that has gods so near to them“ (Dt 4: 7) as this God? What nation has a God who is such a friend to us human beings, to us sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, a God always looking out for our well-being, seeking our best and not his own, and giving us wise and wholesome, gentle and strong instructions?
“There is none like God, Jeshurun, riding through the heavens to your aid and through the skies in His majesty. A refuge is the ancient God, and underneath are everlasting arms. He drove out the enemy before you and said, ‘Destroy!‘ So Israel rests in safety, untroubled is Jacob’s fountain in a land of grain and new wine. Yes, his heavens drip dew. Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by ADONAI, the Shield of your help and the Sword of your triumph?“
Deuteronomy 33: 26-29
Post scriptum: Life and death, blessings and curses
Moses tells the people of Israel that they have a choice to make: between keeping or breaking the covenant with their God, between life with Him and death without Him.
“See, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil. What I am commanding you today is to love ADONAI your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His mitzvot, statutes and ordinances. Then you will live and multiply, and ADONAI your God will bless you in the land you are going to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away and bow down to other gods and worship them, I tell you today that you will certainly perish! You will not prolong your days on the land, where you are about to cross over the Jordan to go in to possess.
Deuteronomy 30: 15-20
I call the heavens and the earth to witness about you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live, by loving ADONAI your God, listening to His voice, and clinging to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell on the land that ADONAI swore to your fathers – to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob – to give them.“
Moses tries to encourage them to stick with their God, and to convince them that walking in obedience to Him is indeed possible. At the same time he prophecies with drastic words that the people of Israel will fall away, yet also that God‘s mercy will triumph.
“For this mitzvah that I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far off. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, ‘Who will go up for us to the heavens and get it for us, and have us hear it so we may do it?‘ Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross over for us to the other side of the sea and get it for us, and have us hear it so we may do it?‘ No, the word is very near to you – in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.“
Deuteronomy 30: 11-14
Saint Paul the Apostle is quoting this passage in his letter to the Church at Rome:
“Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for Israel is for their salvation. (…) For Messiah is the goal of the Torah as a means to righteousness for everyone who keeps trusting. (…) But the righteousness based on faith speaks in this way: ‘Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will go up into heaven?‘ (that is, to bring Messiah down), or, ‘Who will go down into the abyss?‘ (that is, to bring Messiah up from the dead).‘ ‘The word is near, in your mouth and in your heart‘ – that is, the word of faith that we are proclaiming: For if you confess with your mouth that Yeshua is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart it is believed for righteousness, and with the mouth it is confessed for salvation.“
Romans 10: 1-10
“But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked – you got fat, you grew thick, you gorged! He forsook God who made him. He mocked the Rock of his salvation. They made Him jealous with strangers, with abonimations they angered Him. They sacrificed to demons, a non-god, gods they had not known – to new ones who came in lately, ones your fathers had not dreaded. The Rock who birthed you, you ignored. You forgot God who brought you forth.“
Deuteronomy 32: 15-18
“ADONAI saw, and He spurned his sons and His daughters out of vexation. He said, ‘I will hide My face from them, I want to see their hereafter. For they are an upside down generation, children with no faithfulness in them. They made Me jealous with a non-god. They vexed Me with airy idols. So I will make them jealous with a non-people. (…) I will heap calamities upon them. With My arrows I will finish them. (…)‘
Deuteronomy 32: 19-39
‘See now that I, I am He! There are no other gods beside Me. I bring death and give life, I have wounded but I will heal, and none can rescue from My hand.‘“
Again, there is a reference to these verses from the book of Deuteronomy in the very same epistle of Saint Paul:
“I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! (…)
Romans 11: 1-11
I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their false step salvation has come to the Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy.“
The concrete blessings and curses that are attached to keeping or breaking the covenant established through Moses are just as earthy and tangible as everything else we have read so far. In the following, I‘d like to share the parts I find especially interesting.
The Word of God is “living and active“ (Hebrews 4: 12) – from the first to the last page it can always speak to us, to you and me, right here and now to give us understanding. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches,
“The Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value, for the Old Covenant has never been revoked.“
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 121, 123, 129
“Christians venerate the Old Testament as true Word of God. The Church has always vigorously opposed the idea of rejecting the Old Testament under the pretext that the New has rendered it void (Marcionism).“
“Christians therefore read the Old Testament in the light of Christ crucified and risen. Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible content of the Old Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value as Revelation reaffirmed by our Lord himself. Besides, the New Testament has to be read in the light of the Old. Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old Testament. As an old saying put it, the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.“
“Now if you listen obediently to the voice of ADONAI your God, taking care to do all His mitzvot that I am commanding you today, ADONAI your God will set you on high – above all the nations of the earth. Then all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you listen to the voice of ADONAI your God: Blessed will you be in the city, and blessed will you be in the field. Blessed will be the fruit of your womb, the produce of your soil, and the offspring of your lifestock – the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed will be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed will you be when you come in, and blessed will you be when you go out. (…) ADONAI will establish you as a holy people for Himself, just as He swore to you – if you keep the mitzvot of ADONAI your God and walk in His ways. Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of ADONAI and they will stand in awe of you. (…) ADONAI will make you the head and not the tail, and you will be only above and not below – if you listen to the mitzvot of ADONAI your God that I am commanding you today, careful to do them, and do not turn aside from any of the words I am commanding you today, to the right or the left, to go after other gods in order to serve them.“
Deuteronomy 28: 1-14
“But if you will not listen to the voice of ADONAI your God, to take care to do all His mitzvot and statutes that I am commanding you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you: Cursed will you be in the city, and cursed will you be in the field. (…) Cursed will you be when you come in, and cursed will you be when you go out. ADONAI will send on you cursing, confusion and frustration in every undertaking of your hand that you will do (…). ADONAI will strike you with madness, with blindness, and with confusion of heart. You will grope at noon as the blind person gropes in darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways. You will be only oppressed and robbed all the time, and there will be no one to save you. (…) Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you. Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while your eyes look on, longing for them all day – but your hand will be powerless. (…) You will become a horror, a proverb, and a byword – among all the peoples where ADONAI will drive you. Much seed will you take out to the field – but little will you bring in, for the locust will eat it up. (…) The outside who is in your midst will rise up higher and higher above you, and you will go down lower and lower. He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he will become the head and you will become the tail. (…) Sons and daughers you will father – but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity. (…) Instead of serving ADONAI your God with joy and goodness of heart, out of the abundance of everything, you will serve your enemies, whom ADONAI will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and lacking everything; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you. (…) You will be left few in number, instead of being like the stars of the sky in number – because you did not listen to the voice of ADONAI your God. (…) Your life will hang in the balance before you; you will be afraid night and day, and you will have no assurance of your life. In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!‘ and at evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!‘ – from the fear of your heart that you will fear and the sight of your eyes that you will see.“
Deuteronomy 28: 15-67
Moses is instructing the people of Israel which path is the path leading to happiness and rest, to a full storehouse of treasures blessing many generations, and which one – at least in the long run – leads to the very opposite.
“Indeed, man wishes to be happy, even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.“
Saint Augustine of Hippo
“God is not greater if you reverence Him, but you are greater if you serve Him.“
Still, despite the long list of “curses“ for breaking the covenant and the prophecy about how God‘s own people will make Him jealous by their unfaithfulness, the book of Deuteronomy closes on a positive note:
“Now Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So Bnei-Yisrael listened to him and did just as ADONAI had commanded Moses.“
Deuteronomy 33: 9
And so with Joshua, they… we enter the promised land… a land full of abundant blessings.