WEBVTT 00:01.590 --> 00:04.220 Professor Christine Hayes: You may have heard 00:04.218 --> 00:07.258 that post-biblical tradition hails Moses as ancient Israel's 00:07.259 --> 00:10.709 first and greatest law giver; and certainly the Bible depicts 00:10.710 --> 00:13.760 Moses as receiving law from God and conveying it to the 00:13.759 --> 00:16.219 Israelites. But clearly Moses isn't the 00:16.218 --> 00:19.798 author or compiler of the legal traditions contained in the 00:19.803 --> 00:22.173 Bible. Some of the individual laws we 00:22.166 --> 00:25.416 know are found in very, very, very Ancient Near Eastern 00:25.416 --> 00:29.326 laws: they're part of an Ancient Near Eastern legal tradition. 00:29.330 --> 00:32.100 The collections as a whole clearly date to a much later 00:32.104 --> 00:35.344 period of time--and we're going to see that clearly when we talk 00:35.341 --> 00:38.371 about Deuteronomy today--and they have been retrojected back 00:38.372 --> 00:39.762 to the time of Moses. 00:39.760 --> 00:42.470 But nevertheless, Moses is the central figure in 00:42.471 --> 00:45.591 the biblical narrative, from Exodus all the way through 00:45.586 --> 00:47.486 Numbers and into Deuteronomy. 00:47.490 --> 00:51.720 And he's going to serve as a paradigm for Israel's leaders to 00:51.716 --> 00:54.856 follow. In the biblical view no one can 00:54.856 --> 00:58.976 look upon the face of God and live, and yet Moses, 00:58.980 --> 01:02.580 who spoke with God "mouth to mouth," the text says, 01:02.583 --> 01:04.893 was an exception to this rule. 01:04.890 --> 01:09.370 So why wasn't he permitted to see the fulfillment of his 01:09.367 --> 01:12.037 labors? Why was he not permitted to 01:12.036 --> 01:13.826 enter the Promised Land? 01:13.829 --> 01:17.079 This is a question that plagued ancient Israel, 01:17.080 --> 01:21.040 and the Bible contains the effort of tradition to explain 01:21.037 --> 01:23.507 this great mystery, or tragedy. 01:23.510 --> 01:27.770 When Moses asks God if he can enter the land--that's in 01:27.774 --> 01:32.204 Deuteronomy 3:25--God refuses, and he gives his reason in 01:32.196 --> 01:35.446 Deuteronomy 32:49-52: You shall die on the 01:35.451 --> 01:38.321 mountain that you are about to ascend, and shall be gathered to 01:38.315 --> 01:40.575 your kin, as your brother Aaron died on 01:40.575 --> 01:42.865 Mount Hor and was gathered to his kin; 01:42.870 --> 01:46.630 for you both broke faith with Me among the Israelite people, 01:46.633 --> 01:49.063 at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the 01:49.056 --> 01:52.096 wilderness of Zin, by failing to uphold My 01:52.096 --> 01:54.726 sanctity among the Israelite people. 01:54.730 --> 01:57.600 You may view the land from a distance, but you shall not 01:57.600 --> 02:00.260 enter it--the land that I am giving to the Israelite 02:00.262 --> 02:02.542 people. So what happened at 02:02.544 --> 02:05.484 Meribath-kadesh that made God so angry? 02:05.480 --> 02:07.800 Well you can read the story, it's in Numbers 20, 02:07.795 --> 02:09.465 the incident is described there. 02:09.469 --> 02:11.629 But the answer is still not entirely clear, 02:11.629 --> 02:14.609 it's not clear what Moses did that was so bad as to deserve 02:14.611 --> 02:17.451 this punishment. Perhaps it's Moses' failure to 02:17.447 --> 02:20.997 follow God's instructions to the letter when he is producing 02:21.001 --> 02:23.591 water for the Israelites or demanding water: 02:23.591 --> 02:25.761 perhaps that's what angers God. 02:25.759 --> 02:29.559 But one gets the impression that the story in Numbers 20 and 02:29.558 --> 02:33.548 Deuteronomy's subsequent claim that it was something about that 02:33.549 --> 02:36.639 story that earned Moses God's disapproval... 02:36.639 --> 02:40.069 you get the impression that these are an attempt to explain 02:40.066 --> 02:43.726 what was probably a longstanding tradition about a great leader 02:43.729 --> 02:46.269 who died on the east side of the river. 02:46.270 --> 02:48.650 For that to have happened, for that death to have happened 02:48.645 --> 02:50.765 the writers seem to surmise, he must have sinned; 02:50.770 --> 02:53.800 there must have been some punishment for some sin. 02:53.800 --> 02:57.020 After a very poignant scene in which God shows Moses the 02:57.019 --> 02:59.419 Promised Land, from a lookout point on the 02:59.419 --> 03:03.839 east side of the Jordan River, we then read about the death of 03:03.841 --> 03:07.461 Moses in Deuteronomy 34: God spoke to Moses on 03:07.455 --> 03:09.885 that same day. "Ascend this Mount Abarim, 03:09.893 --> 03:12.423 the peak Nebo, in the land of Moab opposite 03:12.418 --> 03:14.278 Jericho, and look at the Land of Canaan 03:14.275 --> 03:15.905 which I am giving Israel for a holding." 03:15.910 --> 03:18.290 .. So Moses went up from the 03:18.287 --> 03:20.907 plains of Moab to Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah, 03:20.909 --> 03:21.979 opposite Jericho. 03:21.979 --> 03:25.259 And God showed him all the land, from Gilead to Dan [which 03:25.264 --> 03:27.884 is in the north], and all of Naphtali and the 03:27.877 --> 03:31.247 land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all of Judah [in the south] 03:31.249 --> 03:34.689 to the outer Mediterranean Sea; and the Negev [the southern 03:34.692 --> 03:36.932 wilderness]; and the Plain of the Valley of 03:36.926 --> 03:39.566 Jericho, the Palm City, as far as Zoar [the end of the 03:39.571 --> 03:41.201 Dead Sea]. ... 03:41.199 --> 03:44.489 Then Moses the servant of God died there, in the land of Moab, 03:44.489 --> 03:46.929 as God had said, and he buried him in the 03:46.927 --> 03:49.917 valley, in the land of Moab...but no man knows the 03:49.923 --> 03:52.523 place of his burial, to this day. 03:52.520 --> 03:55.820 And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the Plains of Moab 03:55.815 --> 03:59.055 for thirty days...and there never again arose in Israel such 03:59.056 --> 04:01.776 a prophet as Moses, whom God knew face to face, 04:01.777 --> 04:05.117 none like him for all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent 04:05.124 --> 04:08.544 him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, to his household 04:08.537 --> 04:11.147 and to all his land; none like him in respect of all 04:11.151 --> 04:13.831 the mighty power and all the great and terrible deeds which 04:13.828 --> 04:15.678 Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel. 04:15.675 --> 04:18.985 [Hayes translation] There's no other human being in 04:18.994 --> 04:21.244 the Bible who earns such a tribute. 04:21.240 --> 04:25.280 This is unusual for the biblical writer to speak in such 04:25.281 --> 04:28.001 glowing terms of a human character. 04:28.000 --> 04:31.380 I said that Moses becomes a paradigmatic leader in the 04:31.380 --> 04:32.720 biblical tradition. 04:32.720 --> 04:36.000 And the force of Moses as paradigmatic leader of Israel is 04:36.001 --> 04:38.771 apparent in the very first leader to succeed him, 04:38.765 --> 04:40.085 and that is Joshua. 04:40.089 --> 04:44.609 Deuteronomy closes with a transfer of authority from Moses 04:44.608 --> 04:47.568 to Joshua. So in Deuteronomy 34:9 we read, 04:47.568 --> 04:51.328 "Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom 04:51.325 --> 04:54.235 because Moses had laid his hands upon him; 04:54.240 --> 04:57.790 and the Israelites heeded him, doing as the Lord had commanded 04:57.786 --> 05:00.006 Moses." And in several ways Joshua's 05:00.013 --> 05:03.423 going to turn out to be a kind of carbon copy of Moses. 05:03.420 --> 05:07.650 Moses crosses the Reed Sea, the waters stand in a heap, 05:07.653 --> 05:11.733 and the children of Israel cross over on dry land. 05:11.730 --> 05:14.420 We'll see in connection with Joshua that he crosses the 05:14.418 --> 05:16.308 Jordan River into the Promised Land, 05:16.310 --> 05:20.810 the waters stand in a heap, the children of Israel cross on 05:20.805 --> 05:23.435 dry land--that's in Joshua 3:13. 05:23.439 --> 05:26.789 After crossing, the Israelites then celebrate 05:26.789 --> 05:29.909 the Passover, and that makes a strong link 05:29.909 --> 05:34.789 then to the Exodus led by Moses, also at the time of the first 05:34.791 --> 05:37.161 Passover. Moses had a vision of God at 05:37.155 --> 05:38.195 the burning bush. 05:38.199 --> 05:40.939 He was told to remove his shoes, his sandals, 05:40.938 --> 05:42.928 because he was on holy ground. 05:42.930 --> 05:45.210 Joshua is also going to have a theophany--that's a 05:45.211 --> 05:46.981 vision--after he crosses the Jordan. 05:46.980 --> 05:50.370 He'll see a man with a drawn sword who's the captain of the 05:50.371 --> 05:53.181 Lord's host and he tells him to remove his shoes, 05:53.178 --> 05:54.638 he is on holy ground. 05:54.639 --> 05:58.879 Moses is the one to mediate a covenant between God and Israel 05:58.882 --> 06:01.352 at Sinai. Joshua will mediate a renewal 06:01.347 --> 06:03.847 of the covenant at a place called Shechem. 06:03.850 --> 06:06.590 Moses sent out spies to scout out the land; 06:06.589 --> 06:09.779 Joshua also sent out spies to scout out the land. 06:09.779 --> 06:13.209 Moses holds out a rod during battle in order that Israel 06:13.206 --> 06:16.446 prevail over her enemies, and Joshua will do the same 06:16.446 --> 06:19.206 with a javelin. So these are all important 06:19.214 --> 06:22.694 literary parallels and they signal the importance of Moses 06:22.688 --> 06:25.978 in Israelite tradition, as the paradigmatic leader; 06:25.980 --> 06:29.140 so other leaders who are praised will be modeled on 06:29.135 --> 06:31.045 Moses. It's said of Joshua after the 06:31.048 --> 06:33.328 Israelites enter the Promised Land, it's said, 06:33.329 --> 06:36.299 "On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all 06:36.301 --> 06:39.711 Israel so that they revered him all his days as they had revered 06:39.705 --> 06:41.945 Moses." So no greater praise can be 06:41.945 --> 06:45.535 given to an Israelite leader than to be compared to Moses. 06:45.540 --> 06:49.520 But now we're going to take a close look at Deuteronomy and 06:49.517 --> 06:52.327 we'll pick up with Joshua on Wednesday. 06:52.329 --> 06:56.099 So Israel's wanderings in the wilderness end on the Plains of 06:56.098 --> 06:59.488 Moab, which is on the east bank of the Jordan River, 06:59.490 --> 07:02.590 and it's there that the book of Deuteronomy opens. 07:02.589 --> 07:05.839 There Moses is going to deliver three long speeches prior to the 07:05.841 --> 07:08.061 Israelites' entry into the Promised Land, 07:08.060 --> 07:12.920 and these three speeches constitute the bulk of the book 07:12.918 --> 07:16.328 of Deuteronomy. So Deuteronomy differs very 07:16.325 --> 07:20.415 much from the other four books of the Pentateuch because in 07:20.417 --> 07:24.297 those books you have an anonymous narrator who describes 07:24.298 --> 07:28.528 Yahweh as directing his words to Moses to then be conveyed to 07:28.532 --> 07:31.712 Israel. Moses will speak to Israel on 07:31.711 --> 07:34.641 God's behalf. But in Deuteronomy Moses is 07:34.638 --> 07:38.998 going to be speaking directly to the Israelites so that the book 07:38.999 --> 07:42.459 is written almost entirely in the first person, 07:42.459 --> 07:44.329 whereas the first four books of the Pentateuch are not; 07:44.329 --> 07:46.939 they are third person anonymous narrative, narration. 07:46.940 --> 07:50.590 Here we have the bulk of the book in the first person: 07:50.588 --> 07:53.358 direct speech. Now Moshe Weinfeld--I've put 07:53.363 --> 07:57.133 his name on the board as someone who you should associate always 07:57.129 --> 07:59.879 with the book of Deuteronomy--Moshe Weinfeld is 07:59.878 --> 08:03.578 one of the leading scholars of Deuteronomy and he describes the 08:03.584 --> 08:07.174 book as expressing ideology by means of a programmatic speech 08:07.170 --> 08:09.920 put into the mouth of a great leader. 08:09.920 --> 08:12.640 That's a very common practice in later Israelite 08:12.637 --> 08:15.297 historiography, and he says it's happening here 08:15.296 --> 08:17.646 already. And I'll be referring quite a 08:17.645 --> 08:20.665 bit to Weinfeld's work as we talk about Deuteronomy. 08:20.670 --> 08:23.730 Deuteronomy differs from the other books of the Pentateuch in 08:23.733 --> 08:25.013 other significant ways. 08:25.009 --> 08:27.389 So for example, according to the Priestly 08:27.391 --> 08:29.951 writer, Israel received its laws, its Torah, 08:29.952 --> 08:31.622 from God at Mount Sinai. 08:31.620 --> 08:35.370 But in Deuteronomy the laws were given here on the Plains of 08:35.368 --> 08:38.928 Moab, 40 years after Sinai, before the Israelites crossed 08:38.926 --> 08:41.416 the Jordan. At Sinai the Israelites heard 08:41.422 --> 08:44.512 the Decalogue but the remainder of the laws, it would seem, 08:44.506 --> 08:46.576 are delivered on the Plains of Moab. 08:46.580 --> 08:49.210 We can look at the basic structure of Deuteronomy in a 08:49.214 --> 08:51.654 couple of ways. We can do a kind of literary 08:51.649 --> 08:54.369 division, which I have on this side of the board, 08:54.373 --> 08:56.023 according to the speeches. 08:56.019 --> 08:59.369 So to begin we have the first speech which is a sort of 08:59.365 --> 09:02.215 introductory speech in the first four chapters, 09:02.215 --> 09:03.635 going through 4:43. 09:03.639 --> 09:06.759 There's an introduction that gives us the location, 09:06.764 --> 09:09.954 where the Israelites are, and also then Moses' first 09:09.952 --> 09:12.372 sermon. Moses in this sermon is giving 09:12.369 --> 09:14.849 a historical review, and the purpose of this 09:14.847 --> 09:18.077 historical review is didactic; he wants the Israelites to 09:18.078 --> 09:20.328 learn something, to infer something from this 09:20.327 --> 09:23.237 review of their history from Sinai to the present day. 09:23.240 --> 09:25.740 And in that review, as he retells the story, 09:25.740 --> 09:29.230 which we've just been reading about in the previous books, 09:29.230 --> 09:32.730 we see his selective choice of events, we see how he's 09:32.730 --> 09:36.760 describing things in a way that underscores God's faithful, 09:36.759 --> 09:39.549 loyal, fulfillment of the covenantal promise, 09:39.554 --> 09:43.434 and he's using this to urge the Israelites to do their part by 09:43.429 --> 09:44.889 obeying God's laws. 09:44.889 --> 09:50.299 The second speech extends from 4:44 through 28:6. 09:50.299 --> 09:52.899 And this also contains a bit of a historical review, 09:52.900 --> 09:55.810 again retelling some of the narrative of the earlier books 09:55.807 --> 09:59.017 of the Torah and again giving us an insight into this phenomenon 09:59.020 --> 10:01.010 of inner biblical interpretation, 10:01.009 --> 10:04.019 or parts of the Bible that review parts elsewhere are 10:04.016 --> 10:07.486 already beginning to interpret and present that material in a 10:07.485 --> 10:08.695 particular light. 10:08.700 --> 10:11.290 But then we have a central section of laws being presented, 10:11.288 --> 10:14.228 beginning at about 12; so this is still part of Moses' 10:14.225 --> 10:16.925 second speech, but stretching from Deuteronomy 10:16.934 --> 10:20.204 12 through 26 we have laws, and this is in many ways a 10:20.198 --> 10:23.058 repetition of much of the revealed legislation we've 10:23.059 --> 10:24.349 already encountered. 10:24.350 --> 10:26.830 That central portion of laws, 12 through 26, 10:26.831 --> 10:29.661 is thought to be the earliest core of the book. 10:29.659 --> 10:32.169 We're going to come back and talk about that in a moment. 10:32.169 --> 10:35.839 Now the Greek title for this book, which is Deuteronomy, 10:35.836 --> 10:38.146 deutero nomos, a second law, 10:38.153 --> 10:41.413 a repetition of the law, and that name derives from the 10:41.406 --> 10:44.836 fact that the bulk of the book contains this legal core of 10:44.841 --> 10:47.011 material which reviews the law. 10:47.009 --> 10:52.059 In Chapter 27 we have a covenant renewal ceremony. 10:52.059 --> 10:55.359 It takes place on a mountain near Shechem after the 10:55.358 --> 10:57.798 Israelites have crossed the Jordan. 10:57.799 --> 11:00.009 It describes the ceremony that will take place, 11:00.007 --> 11:02.307 excuse me, after they have crossed the Jordan. 11:02.309 --> 11:06.159 And from ancient Greece we know that in the ancient world 11:06.164 --> 11:08.784 settlers who would colonize a place, 11:08.779 --> 11:11.849 particularly if they colonized a place at divine instigation, 11:11.849 --> 11:14.409 they would perform certain ceremonies that would be 11:14.406 --> 11:17.216 accompanied by blessings and accompanied by curses. 11:17.220 --> 11:19.700 They would write the laws on stone pillars, 11:19.695 --> 11:22.225 they would erect an altar for sacrifices, 11:22.230 --> 11:26.420 they would proclaim blessings and curses for those who obey 11:26.424 --> 11:30.624 and disobey--very similar to what happens in chapter 27; 11:30.620 --> 11:34.400 all of these elements appear in chapter 27. 11:34.399 --> 11:38.579 Chapter 28 lists the material rewards that will accrue to 11:38.579 --> 11:41.639 Israel if she is faithful to God's law, 11:41.639 --> 11:44.379 and the punishments if she should disobey--and some of 11:44.377 --> 11:45.717 these are very creative. 11:45.720 --> 11:49.190 But the importance of the Deuteronomist's view of history 11:49.189 --> 11:52.349 in which Israel's fate is totally conditioned on her 11:52.349 --> 11:56.249 obedience to the covenant--this is something that will occupy us 11:56.253 --> 11:58.363 repeatedly at a future date. 11:58.360 --> 12:01.430 I mention it here but it's something we will need to come 12:01.431 --> 12:03.951 back to. The third speech of Moses is in 12:03.949 --> 12:05.219 Chapters 29 and 30. 12:05.220 --> 12:09.430 This speech emphasizes the degree to which evil fortune is 12:09.426 --> 12:12.226 the responsibility of the community. 12:12.230 --> 12:16.190 Moses enumerates additional misfortunes and sufferings that 12:16.194 --> 12:18.454 will befall Israel if she sins. 12:18.450 --> 12:22.760 But he emphasizes the choice is Israel's: God has been clear 12:22.756 --> 12:26.856 regarding what's required, and it's not beyond Israel's 12:26.859 --> 12:29.579 reach to attain life and prosperity. 12:29.580 --> 12:30.580 She needs to only choose. 12:30.580 --> 12:34.020 And this is all set out in a speech in Chapter 30. 12:34.020 --> 12:37.370 I'll read from verses 11 to 20: Surely, 12:37.372 --> 12:40.882 this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too 12:40.876 --> 12:43.486 baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. 12:43.490 --> 12:45.790 It is not in the heavens, that you should say, 12:45.788 --> 12:48.798 "Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and 12:48.801 --> 12:51.101 impart it to us, that we may observe it?" 12:51.100 --> 12:53.460 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 12:53.463 --> 12:56.453 "Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it 12:56.454 --> 12:59.104 for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?" 12:59.100 --> 13:02.430 No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your 13:02.432 --> 13:03.712 heart, to observe it. 13:03.710 --> 13:06.880 See, I set before you this day life and prosperity, 13:06.883 --> 13:08.283 death and adversity. 13:08.279 --> 13:10.549 For I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, 13:10.551 --> 13:12.781 to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, 13:12.779 --> 13:14.779 His laws, and His rules, that you may thrive and 13:14.781 --> 13:17.381 increase, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land 13:17.380 --> 13:19.510 that you are about to enter and possess. 13:19.509 --> 13:22.849 Listen to the cadences of this kind of language in Deuteronomy. 13:22.850 --> 13:25.200 We haven't heard language like this before but it's what people 13:25.201 --> 13:27.251 often think of when they think of biblical language. 13:27.250 --> 13:29.080 It starts here in Deuteronomy. 13:29.080 --> 13:31.230 But if your heart turns away and you give no heed, 13:31.231 --> 13:33.541 and are lured into the worship and service of other gods, 13:33.539 --> 13:36.929 I declare to you this day that you shall certainly perish; 13:36.929 --> 13:39.599 you shall not long endure on the soil that you are crossing 13:39.596 --> 13:41.156 the Jordan to enter and possess. 13:41.159 --> 13:44.259 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: 13:44.262 --> 13:47.592 I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. 13:47.590 --> 13:50.840 Choose life--if you and your offspring would live--by loving 13:50.844 --> 13:53.004 the Lord your God, heeding His commands, 13:52.995 --> 13:54.535 and holding fast to Him. 13:54.539 --> 13:57.889 For thereby you shall have life and shall long endure upon the 13:57.887 --> 14:00.847 soil that the Lord your God swore to your ancestors, 14:00.850 --> 14:03.160 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to 14:03.164 --> 14:05.424 them. So all has been given. 14:05.419 --> 14:09.159 It's simply Israel's choice to take it or not. 14:09.159 --> 14:12.549 The last section of the book, chapters 31 to 34, 14:12.547 --> 14:15.427 is a sort of miscellany of appendices. 14:15.429 --> 14:18.809 There's some ancient poetry that's found in chapter 32, 14:18.813 --> 14:21.573 which is referred to as The Song of Moses; 14:21.570 --> 14:23.560 scholars refer to it as The Song of Moses. 14:23.559 --> 14:27.159 We have the blessings of Moses recorded in chapter 33, 14:27.157 --> 14:30.417 and then chapter 34 is the story of Moses' death: 14:30.415 --> 14:32.515 I read part of that to you. 14:32.519 --> 14:36.899 Now centuries ago already scholars of the Bible noted that 14:36.900 --> 14:39.590 Deuteronomy opens with the verse, 14:39.590 --> 14:44.070 "These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel on the 14:44.072 --> 14:46.992 other side of the Jordan," that is to say the 14:46.991 --> 14:48.761 trans-Jordan, on the other side of the 14:48.761 --> 14:50.781 Jordan. So that line is obviously 14:50.779 --> 14:54.719 written from the prospective of someone who is inside the land, 14:54.720 --> 14:56.950 saying Moses said that when he was over there, 14:56.951 --> 14:58.991 outside the land, on the other side of the 14:58.985 --> 15:00.815 Jordan--so he's looking eastward. 15:00.820 --> 15:04.020 And so that's a line that one would think could not be written 15:04.020 --> 15:07.120 by Moses because Moses did not ever enter the land and would 15:07.115 --> 15:10.045 not be in a position to talk about something being on the 15:10.053 --> 15:11.683 other side of the Jordan. 15:11.679 --> 15:15.289 Likewise the last chapter which describes Moses' death and 15:15.286 --> 15:17.876 burial probably was not written by him. 15:17.879 --> 15:20.419 So as we shall see, these and many other textual 15:20.424 --> 15:23.784 features point to the period of composition for Deuteronomy, 15:23.779 --> 15:27.039 which was many centuries after the time that Moses would have 15:27.039 --> 15:30.679 been supposed to have lived, if we are to assume he was a 15:30.680 --> 15:32.260 historical character. 15:32.259 --> 15:35.449 And so through careful analysis you have scholars like Moshe 15:35.446 --> 15:38.466 Weinfeld and many others--I think Bernard Levinson is the 15:38.471 --> 15:41.171 one has written about Deuteronomy in your Jewish 15:41.171 --> 15:43.741 Study Bible, and that's a wonderful 15:43.736 --> 15:47.176 introduction to read there, so I encourage you to please 15:47.177 --> 15:51.057 make sure you look at that--but analyses of scholars like these 15:51.057 --> 15:54.367 have led them to draw the conclusion that the original 15:54.373 --> 15:57.943 core of Deuteronomy emerged in the eighth century, 15:57.940 --> 15:59.960 and this is now where my interesting little 15:59.956 --> 16:02.496 mountain-shaped diagram is going to come into play. 16:02.500 --> 16:08.140 It was probably a scroll of laws known as the Book or the 16:08.143 --> 16:10.363 Scroll of the Torah. 16:10.360 --> 16:15.590 Deuteronomy refers to itself that way in Deuteronomy 16:15.591 --> 16:18.361 17:19-20. And so we think it was probably 16:18.356 --> 16:21.046 something roughly equivalent to chapters 12 to 26; 16:21.049 --> 16:22.749 maybe there was a little introduction, 16:22.749 --> 16:23.759 a little conclusion. 16:23.759 --> 16:28.239 And eventually these laws were put into the framework of a 16:28.242 --> 16:31.942 speech by Moses: maybe chapters 5 through 11 and 16:31.937 --> 16:34.597 maybe 28; maybe that would've been in the 16:34.604 --> 16:35.934 eighth, seventh century. 16:35.929 --> 16:38.709 And then at some later point several things happened, 16:38.712 --> 16:41.122 and I will say them in the following order, 16:41.120 --> 16:43.310 but that doesn't mean they happened in this order, 16:43.308 --> 16:44.378 we really aren't sure. 16:44.379 --> 16:46.119 At some point several things happened. 16:46.120 --> 16:48.900 You have framing chapters, Deuteronomy 1 through 4, 16:48.896 --> 16:51.946 the sort of introductory frame and historical review, 16:51.950 --> 16:55.480 as well as the appendices at the end, chapters 31 and 16:55.477 --> 16:56.967 34--those get added. 16:56.970 --> 17:00.890 You also have laws being updated, passages being 17:00.889 --> 17:04.809 expanded, to reflect the experience of exile. 17:04.809 --> 17:09.449 You'll remember that as of 586, Jerusalem is destroyed and the 17:09.452 --> 17:12.422 Israelites are in exile in Babylonia. 17:12.420 --> 17:15.740 Additionally at some point Deuteronomy is appended to the 17:15.743 --> 17:17.943 other four books of the Pentateuch. 17:17.940 --> 17:21.780 Genesis through Numbers is made to precede this. 17:21.779 --> 17:26.199 It's serving therefore as their conclusion, and by being joined 17:26.197 --> 17:29.757 to them it confers its title as a book of Torah, 17:29.759 --> 17:32.259 as a scroll of Torah, to that material as well. 17:32.259 --> 17:36.729 They don't use the word "Torah" in that way, in those books; 17:36.730 --> 17:39.360 only Deuteronomy uses the word Torah to speak of God's 17:39.362 --> 17:41.152 instruction or revelation overall. 17:41.150 --> 17:44.160 So by being appended now to Genesis through Numbers, 17:44.158 --> 17:46.868 all of this perhaps comes to be known as Torah, 17:46.872 --> 17:49.942 as well. And then finally during the 17:49.935 --> 17:53.505 exile or sorry, probably during the period 17:53.513 --> 17:56.513 after the exile--no, during the exile, 17:56.510 --> 17:59.540 down to the end of the sixth century, Deuteronomy was 17:59.539 --> 18:02.919 incorporated into a larger narrative history that runs from 18:02.917 --> 18:05.647 Joshua through Judges, First and Second Samuel, 18:05.648 --> 18:07.628 First and Second Kings: that's all a unit, 18:07.626 --> 18:09.746 as we'll come to see in the next lecture. 18:09.750 --> 18:12.800 And so Deuteronomy in a way served as an introduction to 18:12.797 --> 18:16.397 that material looking forward; so a conclusion to the previous 18:16.400 --> 18:19.590 four books but also an introduction to a long narrative 18:19.588 --> 18:23.188 history that's going to run through to the end of 2 Kings. 18:23.190 --> 18:26.280 Now there's a lot of debate over the precise timing of these 18:26.276 --> 18:29.306 events and this process by which this material grew and was 18:29.309 --> 18:31.929 expanded, but in the post-exilic period, 18:31.931 --> 18:33.871 at some point, the entire unit, 18:33.872 --> 18:36.462 the Genesis through Numbers material, 18:36.460 --> 18:39.530 Deuteronomy, and then the lengthy historical 18:39.530 --> 18:43.600 narrative, all the way through 2 Kings, was solidified. 18:43.599 --> 18:47.389 The Deuteronomistic history is sort of an odd conclusion to the 18:47.390 --> 18:51.180 Genesis through Numbers material because it doesn't really have 18:51.181 --> 18:53.261 the expected narrative climax. 18:53.259 --> 18:56.369 You sort of expect the story to end with the entry of the 18:56.369 --> 18:59.199 Israelites into the land, and hopefully under Moses, 18:59.200 --> 19:00.700 and that doesn't occur. 19:00.700 --> 19:04.750 Some scholars have suggested that deferring Israel's 19:04.748 --> 19:09.348 possession of the land to the future may have reflected the 19:09.351 --> 19:13.731 historical experience of exile, an experience which challenged 19:13.729 --> 19:16.929 the very idea of the possession of the land as central to the 19:16.927 --> 19:18.577 maintenance of the covenant. 19:18.579 --> 19:22.229 So if you are in exile, then perhaps a more satisfying 19:22.232 --> 19:26.162 ending is to have Israel not in fact entering the land. 19:26.160 --> 19:30.360 The complex process by which Deuteronomy was formed 19:30.359 --> 19:35.649 underscores the fact that modern notions of authorship cannot be 19:35.650 --> 19:38.170 applied to biblical texts. 19:38.170 --> 19:41.320 We think of an author, we tend to think of an author, 19:41.316 --> 19:44.766 as a discrete individual who composes a text at a specific 19:44.765 --> 19:46.675 time, but this isn't the way that 19:46.677 --> 19:48.797 texts came into being in the ancient world, 19:48.803 --> 19:50.883 particularly important communal texts. 19:50.880 --> 19:55.000 As Weinfeld points out, the biblical authors were what 19:55.002 --> 19:58.502 we would call collectors, compilers, revisers, 19:58.502 --> 20:02.472 editors, and interpreters of ancient tradition. 20:02.470 --> 20:06.690 Ancient texts were generally the product of many hands over 20:06.694 --> 20:09.394 the stretch of many long centuries, 20:09.390 --> 20:12.440 and during that time modifications and 20:12.441 --> 20:15.081 recontextualizations occurred. 20:15.079 --> 20:19.009 And so we refer to those who transmit and develop a text in 20:19.011 --> 20:22.341 this way as a school; but you need to understand that 20:22.335 --> 20:25.065 we are using that in a relatively informal way. 20:25.069 --> 20:27.909 So when we talk about the Deuteronomic School or the 20:27.908 --> 20:30.878 Deuteronomistic School, we're really talking about the 20:30.881 --> 20:34.261 fact that we have a set of texts that all seem to share a certain 20:34.255 --> 20:37.585 sort of ideology or orientation; and yet we know that parts of 20:37.593 --> 20:40.223 them seem to date from very, very different times. 20:40.220 --> 20:43.280 And so we think of that text as being preserved, 20:43.284 --> 20:46.944 transmitted and developed by many hands who share certain 20:46.936 --> 20:49.286 commonalities, common ideologies, 20:49.286 --> 20:50.656 we call it a school. 20:50.660 --> 20:53.110 It's not that we know of the existence of a Deuteronomistic 20:53.111 --> 20:55.101 school, and we say, oh, well then they must have 20:55.097 --> 20:56.067 produced this text. 20:56.070 --> 20:57.040 It's the other way around. 20:57.039 --> 20:59.989 We have a text, and its features suggest to us 20:59.993 --> 21:03.803 a longstanding tradition of scholarship, that preserved and 21:03.801 --> 21:06.231 transmitted the text in that way. 21:06.230 --> 21:08.910 Same with the Priestly school: we're speaking about the 21:08.905 --> 21:11.875 Priestly materials which clearly have evidence of originating 21:11.878 --> 21:14.328 from the eighth, seventh, sixth and fifth 21:14.328 --> 21:17.788 centuries, and so there must have been a common stretch of 21:17.792 --> 21:21.202 scholarship that would have preserved and transmitted and 21:21.195 --> 21:25.625 developed those traditions, and we call that the Priestly 21:25.632 --> 21:27.262 school. The legal core of 21:27.263 --> 21:30.713 Deuteronomy--so really from 5 to 26, because 5 is where some of 21:30.706 --> 21:33.426 the legal material begins--contains first of all a 21:33.426 --> 21:36.476 somewhat expanded version of the Ten Commandments, 21:36.480 --> 21:39.600 you have that in Deuteronomy 5, and then other laws, 21:39.601 --> 21:42.301 really from 12 to 26, that resemble the legal 21:42.295 --> 21:45.285 material that's found in Exodus--the collection of 21:45.294 --> 21:48.114 material we've called the Covenant Code. 21:48.109 --> 21:51.289 And they also seem to bear some relationship to the laws in 21:51.285 --> 21:52.595 Leviticus and Numbers. 21:52.599 --> 21:54.669 But the question is, what is the relationship 21:54.666 --> 21:57.246 between the different versions of the legal material? 21:57.250 --> 22:00.710 Some of these laws will parallel each other quite 22:00.711 --> 22:02.731 closely and others do not. 22:02.730 --> 22:06.570 So are Deuteronomy's legal traditions a direct response to 22:06.573 --> 22:10.083 or modification of the laws in Exodus and Numbers, 22:10.079 --> 22:13.149 or are they best understood as just different, 22:13.148 --> 22:16.898 independent formulations of a common legal tradition? 22:16.900 --> 22:20.300 Weinfeld has argued that Deuteronomy is dependent on the 22:20.304 --> 22:22.784 previous traditions of the Pentateuch, 22:22.779 --> 22:27.099 that Deuteronomy revises and reforms them according to new 22:27.097 --> 22:31.337 ideas: its new notion of a centralized cultic worship, 22:31.339 --> 22:35.179 and secondly its humanitarian spirit. 22:35.180 --> 22:38.580 Those are two controlling ideologies he says that shape 22:38.580 --> 22:41.100 its revision of pre-existing material. 22:41.099 --> 22:43.839 He specifically argues that Deuteronomy is dependent on the 22:43.841 --> 22:46.771 E source, the source that some scholars think is pretty hard to 22:46.772 --> 22:48.712 isolate or find in the biblical text. 22:48.710 --> 22:52.690 But in E, Sinai is referred to as Horeb, and in Deuteronomy 22:52.690 --> 22:54.200 Sinai is also Horeb. 22:54.200 --> 22:57.540 The author of Deuteronomy limits the revelation at Sinai 22:57.544 --> 23:01.014 to the Decalogue and seems to assert that the full law was 23:01.011 --> 23:03.991 given to Moses for the Israelites on the plains of 23:03.991 --> 23:06.721 Moab. In Weinfeld's view this means 23:06.719 --> 23:09.279 that Deuteronomy, with its revisions, 23:09.275 --> 23:12.385 would have been seen, would have been presented as 23:12.394 --> 23:15.434 and would have been seen as an updated replacement of the old 23:15.427 --> 23:18.307 Book of the Covenant, rather than its complement. 23:18.309 --> 23:21.529 It exists side by side in our text now, but I think in his 23:21.534 --> 23:24.764 view those who promulgated it were understanding it as the 23:24.759 --> 23:28.379 updated replacement of the laws of the Book of the Covenant. 23:28.380 --> 23:31.480 For the most part Deuteronomy doesn't really contain much in 23:31.481 --> 23:32.691 the way of civil law. 23:32.690 --> 23:35.040 It tends to focus on the moral-religious 23:35.044 --> 23:38.554 prescriptions--kind of the apodictic law in Israel--and the 23:38.546 --> 23:42.226 few civil laws that are there tend to be reworked in line with 23:42.229 --> 23:43.979 Deuteronomy's humanity. 23:43.980 --> 23:46.440 So, for example, the laws of the tithe, 23:46.441 --> 23:49.551 the laws of the seventh year release of debts, 23:49.549 --> 23:52.409 the rules for the release of slaves, the rules for the three 23:52.410 --> 23:54.350 festivals--these are all ancient laws; 23:54.349 --> 23:57.189 they occur in Exodus but they appear in Deuteronomy with 23:57.192 --> 23:59.522 modifications, modifications about things that 23:59.517 --> 24:02.687 concern the Deuteronomists, and some of you have discussed 24:02.694 --> 24:04.064 some of these in section. 24:04.059 --> 24:08.789 So in Deuteronomy the Israelite debt slave comes out of his or 24:08.790 --> 24:12.050 her servitude, with generous gifts from the 24:12.047 --> 24:14.257 owners. This is not something that 24:14.257 --> 24:15.247 appears in Exodus. 24:15.250 --> 24:18.040 Or as another example, Deuteronomy extends the 24:18.039 --> 24:21.509 Covenant Code's prohibition against afflicting a resident 24:21.510 --> 24:23.470 alien. In Deuteronomy there's the 24:23.468 --> 24:26.348 insistence that the Israelites must not just refrain from 24:26.351 --> 24:28.511 afflicting them, but must love the resident 24:28.513 --> 24:31.033 alien. It goes so far as to provide 24:31.033 --> 24:33.763 concrete legal benefits, food and so on, 24:33.755 --> 24:35.565 for the resident alien. 24:35.569 --> 24:39.839 So while the relationship of D to some of the laws in the 24:39.839 --> 24:43.729 Covenant Code is often--not always but often--one of 24:43.728 --> 24:46.698 revision, the relationship between D and 24:46.699 --> 24:50.059 the laws in the Priestly source is more difficult to 24:50.064 --> 24:52.754 characterize. The Priestly source seems to 24:52.754 --> 24:56.144 represent an equally early set of laws, legal traditions, 24:56.140 --> 24:58.980 that just emanated from a very different circle and had 24:58.976 --> 25:00.076 different concerns. 25:00.079 --> 25:03.149 It tends to deal with sacral topics, or if it's dealing with 25:03.146 --> 25:06.366 other topics it will deal with the sacral implications of those 25:06.368 --> 25:09.148 topics. Like D, P often updates and 25:09.147 --> 25:12.007 revises laws of the Covenant Code. 25:12.009 --> 25:15.329 We can see that in the fact that the Priestly source 25:15.334 --> 25:19.184 abolishes Israelite debt slavery altogether and insists that 25:19.180 --> 25:23.030 slaves must be acquired only from the nations around Israel: 25:23.026 --> 25:26.216 no Israelite can enslave another Israelite. 25:26.220 --> 25:29.830 Nevertheless Weinfeld argues that on occasion Deuteronomy 25:29.828 --> 25:32.468 contains laws that are also found in P, 25:32.470 --> 25:35.210 but presents them in a more rational manner, 25:35.209 --> 25:38.139 is the word he uses, or desacralized manner. 25:38.140 --> 25:40.390 So D's treatment, Deuteronomy's treatment of 25:40.388 --> 25:42.848 sacrifice, we'll see in a moment, is going to be 25:42.845 --> 25:44.775 different, for example, from P's. 25:44.779 --> 25:47.549 They have different concerns and different foci in their 25:47.548 --> 25:49.158 presentation of that material. 25:49.160 --> 25:51.210 In any event, many scholars through their 25:51.208 --> 25:54.128 analysis of these texts have been led to conclude that the 25:54.127 --> 25:57.197 Deuteronomistic School updated and revised earlier laws, 25:57.200 --> 26:00.200 particularly laws in the Covenant Code, 26:00.198 --> 26:04.378 but sometimes also in the older legal stratum of P; 26:04.380 --> 26:08.130 and they did so in keeping with the circumstances of the eighth 26:08.130 --> 26:09.280 to sixth century. 26:09.279 --> 26:12.779 So Deuteronomy exemplifies a phenomenon that occurs at 26:12.775 --> 26:16.465 several critical junctures in Israel's history--and we're 26:16.468 --> 26:20.158 going to see this as we move forward through the biblical 26:20.161 --> 26:23.521 text--and that is the modification and re-writing of 26:23.524 --> 26:27.484 earlier laws and traditions in the light of new circumstances 26:27.481 --> 26:31.641 and ideas. So Deuteronomy is itself an 26:31.644 --> 26:37.654 implicit authorization of the process of interpretation. 26:37.650 --> 26:40.630 And the notion of canon, or sacred canon, 26:40.627 --> 26:44.497 that's exemplified then by biblical texts is one that 26:44.497 --> 26:48.887 allows for continued unfolding and development of the sacred 26:48.889 --> 26:52.049 tradition. And that's an idea that I think 26:52.050 --> 26:55.800 differs very much from modern intuitions about the nature of 26:55.799 --> 26:59.129 sacred canons. I think a lot of people have 26:59.132 --> 27:03.562 the intuition that a sacred canon means that the text is 27:03.556 --> 27:05.986 fixed, static and authoritative 27:05.993 --> 27:09.353 because it is fixed and static, or unchanging. 27:09.349 --> 27:13.519 That's not the biblical view or ancient view of sacred canon. 27:13.519 --> 27:17.719 Texts representing sacred revelation were modified, 27:17.723 --> 27:21.173 they were revised, they were rephrased, 27:21.170 --> 27:24.930 they were updated and they were interpreted in the process of 27:24.926 --> 27:26.926 transmission and preservation. 27:26.930 --> 27:31.060 It was precisely because a text or a tradition was sacred and 27:31.062 --> 27:34.642 authoritative that it was important that it adapt and 27:34.644 --> 27:38.854 speak to new circumstances; otherwise it would appear to be 27:38.849 --> 27:41.379 irrelevant. So it's a very different notion 27:41.382 --> 27:44.682 of what it means for something to be canonical and sacred, 27:44.680 --> 27:47.780 from what I think some moderns have come to understand those 27:47.779 --> 27:50.449 terms to mean. So what are the special 27:50.446 --> 27:55.446 circumstances and concerns that guide Deuteronomy's revisions of 27:55.447 --> 27:58.277 tradition? One of the primary changes--you 27:58.279 --> 28:01.709 probably heard in section as well by now--is the emphasis on 28:01.705 --> 28:03.965 worship at a single, central shrine. 28:03.970 --> 28:07.790 That's going to represent a great change in Israel's 28:07.787 --> 28:09.357 religious practice. 28:09.359 --> 28:11.979 According to Deuteronomy the central sanctuary will be 28:11.984 --> 28:14.764 located in a place that God himself will choose--it's not 28:14.757 --> 28:17.627 named in Deuteronomy--or in a place where he will cause his 28:17.629 --> 28:20.249 name to dwell; that's the other phrase that's 28:20.253 --> 28:22.093 used. Jerusalem is never explicitly 28:22.088 --> 28:24.738 mentioned as the site in question but Jerusalem will 28:24.741 --> 28:27.381 later, in fact, fulfill this function, 28:27.375 --> 28:29.815 according to other biblical texts. 28:29.819 --> 28:32.719 Now there are striking similarities between 28:32.715 --> 28:36.985 Deuteronomy's religious program and the major religious reforms 28:36.989 --> 28:41.469 that were carried out in the eighth century by King Hezekiah, 28:41.470 --> 28:46.110 but even more so in the seventh century by King Josiah, 28:46.107 --> 28:48.337 around 622: King Josiah. 28:48.339 --> 28:52.869 This is a reform that's reported in the book of 2 Kings, 28:52.871 --> 28:56.561 in 2 Kings 22. This reform has long been 28:56.562 --> 29:02.352 noticed and provides scholars with a basis for dating the core 29:02.352 --> 29:07.072 materials of Deuteronomy, dating them to the late seventh 29:07.071 --> 29:09.591 century. According to the story in 2 29:09.588 --> 29:13.848 Kings, during temple repairs that were being done in the time 29:13.851 --> 29:16.891 of King Josiah, the scroll of the Torah--that's 29:16.894 --> 29:20.424 how it's phrased--the scroll of the Torah was found and when it 29:20.424 --> 29:23.904 was read the king was distressed because its requirements were 29:23.897 --> 29:25.147 not being upheld. 29:25.150 --> 29:26.600 Now this term, the scroll of the Torah, 29:26.596 --> 29:28.686 as I said, does not occur in Genesis through Numbers; 29:28.690 --> 29:32.310 it is a phrase that occurs in Deuteronomy, in Deuteronomy 17. 29:32.309 --> 29:38.159 Then continuing the account in 2 Kings, Josiah is said to take 29:38.157 --> 29:40.337 action. He assembles the people, 29:40.341 --> 29:43.531 he publicly reads the scroll, the people agree to its terms 29:43.533 --> 29:45.463 and then Josiah's reforms begin. 29:45.460 --> 29:48.880 We hear that he purges the temple of vessels that had been 29:48.875 --> 29:51.985 made for Baal and Asherah, that were in the Temple of 29:51.990 --> 29:54.610 Yahweh. He removes all foreign elements 29:54.609 --> 29:57.079 from the cult, he prohibits sacrifice to 29:57.075 --> 30:00.105 Yahweh anywhere but in the central sanctuary. 30:00.109 --> 30:03.589 He destroys all of the high places--this refers to sort of 30:03.588 --> 30:06.458 rural shrines that were scattered throughout the 30:06.455 --> 30:09.745 countryside where local priests and Levites might offer 30:09.751 --> 30:13.351 sacrifices for people--ritual shrines and pillars being used 30:13.351 --> 30:16.591 in the worship of Yahweh: these are deemed to be quite 30:16.585 --> 30:19.265 legitimate in the J and E sources. 30:19.269 --> 30:21.749 The patriarchs are doing this sort of thing all the time, 30:21.746 --> 30:23.556 building altars all around the country, 30:23.559 --> 30:26.769 but it's Deuteronomy that contains commandments to destroy 30:26.770 --> 30:30.090 the worship, first of all the worship of other gods but also 30:30.094 --> 30:33.534 the worship of Yahweh in high places or in rural shrines. 30:33.529 --> 30:36.979 So this is evidence again that what Josiah found to base his 30:36.979 --> 30:40.079 reforms on was something like the Book of Deuteronomy: 30:40.078 --> 30:43.638 it's Deuteronomy that contains the prohibitions of high places 30:43.644 --> 30:46.084 and so on. After these reforms it's 30:46.084 --> 30:48.784 reported that the Passover was celebrated. 30:48.779 --> 30:51.819 It was celebrated not as a family observance in individual 30:51.822 --> 30:54.402 homes; it was celebrated as a national 30:54.395 --> 30:57.505 pilgrimage festival, celebrated by everyone in 30:57.510 --> 30:59.910 Jerusalem. That's how its celebration is 30:59.907 --> 31:01.867 described in the Book of Deuteronomy. 31:01.869 --> 31:04.659 It's described as a family celebration in individual homes 31:04.663 --> 31:06.333 in the other books of the Bible. 31:06.329 --> 31:09.389 So again this is another basis for the conclusion that the 31:09.387 --> 31:12.327 scroll of the law, found by Josiah and guiding his 31:12.330 --> 31:15.890 reforms, was something like the legal core of Deuteronomy. 31:15.890 --> 31:18.520 Scholars now think that that legal core of Deuteronomy was 31:18.516 --> 31:20.126 produced in the Northern Kingdom, 31:20.130 --> 31:23.170 the Northern Kingdom of Israel which fell in 722, 31:23.167 --> 31:25.767 you'll recall. It was probably produced there 31:25.766 --> 31:28.406 in the eighth century, and that is supported by the 31:28.410 --> 31:31.370 fact that Deuteronomy has affinities with the writings of 31:31.371 --> 31:34.331 some prophets we'll be looking at later from the Northern 31:34.333 --> 31:37.533 Kingdom of the eighth century, such as the prophet Hosea, 31:37.534 --> 31:40.074 and we'll see this when we look at Hosea's writings. 31:40.069 --> 31:43.369 It also has affinities with the E source, which is also 31:43.374 --> 31:45.704 connected with the Northern Kingdom. 31:45.700 --> 31:49.380 In the ninth and eighth century, the Northern Kingdom 31:49.376 --> 31:52.906 was the site of a struggle, a struggle against Baal 31:52.911 --> 31:55.561 worship. It was also home to certain 31:55.559 --> 31:59.419 prophets such as Elijah and Elisha, who are known for their 31:59.424 --> 32:02.094 zealotry and their exclusive Yahwism. 32:02.089 --> 32:05.679 So some scholars think that was going on in the ninth/eighth 32:05.680 --> 32:09.550 century in the north, the sort of Yahweh-only party 32:09.551 --> 32:14.581 that was working hard and struggling against Baal worship. 32:14.579 --> 32:16.999 And they think that those Yahweh-only traditions were 32:16.996 --> 32:19.096 brought south; after the fall of the Northern 32:19.096 --> 32:21.176 Kingdom in 722, you have refugees coming south, 32:21.175 --> 32:23.115 they brought these traditions with them. 32:23.119 --> 32:25.899 Some of these written materials were put into the Temple and 32:25.902 --> 32:28.562 then about a century later, during Josiah's time, 32:28.562 --> 32:32.012 when the Temple was being refurbished, they were found. 32:32.009 --> 32:36.349 Possibly this material was then worked into a larger scroll, 32:36.348 --> 32:40.248 given its Mosaic introductions and so on, and that all 32:40.246 --> 32:42.816 contributed to Josiah's reform. 32:42.819 --> 32:46.719 So the centralization of the cult also needs to be understood 32:46.724 --> 32:50.374 against the larger political backdrop of the late seventh 32:50.369 --> 32:53.309 century. The Assyrian threat loomed 32:53.308 --> 32:55.388 large. You have to remember that the 32:55.389 --> 32:58.179 Northern Kingdom has already been completely destroyed: 32:58.180 --> 33:00.920 ten tribes exiled, deported, and essentially lost. 33:00.920 --> 33:04.560 The Southern Kingdom managed to escape destruction but only by 33:04.561 --> 33:06.951 paying tribute as a vassal to Assyria. 33:06.950 --> 33:10.740 So Judah, the Southern Kingdom, is a tribute-paying vassal 33:10.737 --> 33:12.927 state to the Assyrian overlord. 33:12.930 --> 33:15.640 And of course there's a great deal of Assyrian cultural 33:15.639 --> 33:18.499 influence and religious influence in Judah as a result. 33:18.500 --> 33:22.420 So 2 Kings tells us that there were foreign forms of worship 33:22.417 --> 33:25.137 being introduced right into the Temple. 33:25.140 --> 33:28.680 Josiah's reforms have been interpreted by some as an 33:28.679 --> 33:32.909 attempt to assert the political and the cultural and religious 33:32.913 --> 33:34.443 autonomy of Judah. 33:34.440 --> 33:38.730 Unregulated worship throughout the land was no longer going to 33:38.725 --> 33:41.435 be acceptable; the people were going to be 33:41.442 --> 33:44.332 united around a central, standardized Yahweh cult, 33:44.332 --> 33:47.702 which would be purged of any Assyrian influence or foreign 33:47.695 --> 33:50.055 influence. And this was deemed as 33:50.059 --> 33:54.429 necessary to stand up against or to survive the Assyrian threat. 33:54.430 --> 33:58.190 So it's in that context that we can look at the very strong 33:58.193 --> 34:02.283 parallels that exist between the Book of Deuteronomy and certain 34:02.282 --> 34:05.812 Assyrian treaties, from the seventh century. 34:05.809 --> 34:10.149 We already talked about the Hittite vassal treaties as a 34:10.148 --> 34:14.328 model for the Israelite covenant, when we were talking 34:14.329 --> 34:17.489 about Exodus. But Deuteronomy is clearly 34:17.489 --> 34:21.479 dependent on another model and that is the Assyrian vassal 34:21.480 --> 34:26.220 treaty. The best exemplars of these 34:26.217 --> 34:35.487 treaties are the treaties of the Assyrian emperor Esarhaddon. 34:35.489 --> 34:40.549 He was a seventh century ruler of Assyria, down to about 669. 34:40.550 --> 34:42.610 These treaties were discovered about 50 years ago, 34:42.611 --> 34:44.761 and Moshe Weinfeld is one of the people who's done a 34:44.756 --> 34:46.856 tremendous amount of work with these treaties. 34:46.860 --> 34:50.560 He's argued at great length that Deuteronomy reworks the 34:50.560 --> 34:54.130 second-millennium Hittite model in accordance with the 34:54.127 --> 34:58.097 covenantal patterns that are evident in the first-millennium 34:58.097 --> 35:00.517 vassal treaties of Esarhaddon. 35:00.519 --> 35:04.669 We see history being used as a motivational tool and we see 35:04.674 --> 35:08.224 laws being reinforced by curses; and it's fascinating, 35:08.224 --> 35:11.254 if you line up some of the curses in Esarhaddon's treaties 35:11.248 --> 35:13.848 with the curses in Deuteronomy, there's an amazing 35:13.848 --> 35:16.498 correspondence. Deuteronomy also includes 35:16.500 --> 35:19.070 blessings; the Assyrians didn't do that. 35:19.070 --> 35:22.400 Weinfeld notes that the Assyrian treaties are really 35:22.399 --> 35:25.209 loyalty oaths that are imposed upon vassals, 35:25.206 --> 35:27.226 rather than true covenants. 35:27.230 --> 35:30.080 And Deuteronomy is also something of a loyalty oath, 35:30.078 --> 35:33.258 except that the people are pledging their loyalty to a god 35:33.262 --> 35:35.052 rather than to a human king. 35:35.050 --> 35:37.470 So you have the exhortation to love the Lord your God--and 35:37.470 --> 35:39.930 think back to some of that language that we heard as I read 35:39.934 --> 35:42.614 Deuteronomy 30 -- he exhortation to love the Lord your God, 35:42.610 --> 35:44.670 to go after God, to fear God, 35:44.671 --> 35:48.651 to listen to the voice of God: these are all typical of 35:48.646 --> 35:51.896 pledges of loyalty, and they are paralleled in the 35:51.896 --> 35:54.746 Assyrian treaties where the vassal has to love the crown 35:54.751 --> 35:56.981 prince, he has to listen to the voice 35:56.975 --> 35:58.205 of the crown prince. 35:58.210 --> 36:00.590 The same phraseologies are used. 36:00.590 --> 36:04.990 So it is a political literary form, but it's borrowed and it's 36:04.991 --> 36:08.601 referred to God. The Assyrian treaties also will 36:08.603 --> 36:12.713 warn against prophets or ecstatics or dream interpreters 36:12.708 --> 36:15.318 who will try to foment sedition. 36:15.320 --> 36:18.120 If you'll notice in Deuteronomy 13 we have something quite 36:18.118 --> 36:21.208 similar: a warning against false prophets who will try to foment 36:21.211 --> 36:23.641 sedition, and lead the people to the 36:23.643 --> 36:25.233 worship of other gods. 36:25.230 --> 36:28.400 Some scholars refer to Deuteronomy as a kind of counter 36:28.398 --> 36:30.098 treaty, if you will, right? 36:30.099 --> 36:33.829 A subversive document that's trying to shift the people's 36:33.829 --> 36:36.759 loyalty from the Assyrian overlord to God, 36:36.760 --> 36:40.050 the true sovereign, and it's part of a national 36:40.052 --> 36:43.372 movement. Deuteronomy differs in style, 36:43.369 --> 36:47.209 in terminology, in outlook and in theological 36:47.206 --> 36:51.476 assumptions from the other books of the Torah. 36:51.480 --> 36:55.440 As a series of public speeches it adopts a highly rhetorical 36:55.439 --> 36:58.319 tone, a very... sometimes an almost artificial 36:58.315 --> 37:01.465 style. It's a style of a very skilled 37:01.471 --> 37:05.121 preacher almost. It employs direct address: 37:05.117 --> 37:07.337 you, you; sometimes in the singular, 37:07.342 --> 37:09.912 sometimes in the plural, but Moses is constantly 37:09.914 --> 37:12.764 speaking in a very personal tone, direct address. 37:12.760 --> 37:15.230 And there are all sorts of hortatory phrases, 37:15.225 --> 37:18.245 phrases that exhort you: to do this with all your heart 37:18.251 --> 37:20.441 and soul, do this in order that it may go 37:20.435 --> 37:22.895 well with you. The land is described as a land 37:22.902 --> 37:26.032 where milk and honey flow, and if only you will obey the 37:26.028 --> 37:27.618 voice of Yahweh your God. 37:27.619 --> 37:29.879 This is the kind of language that's used here, 37:29.880 --> 37:31.740 and not so much in the other books. 37:31.739 --> 37:35.969 So let's isolate now some of the major themes of Deuteronomy, 37:35.973 --> 37:39.223 before we close our study of the Pentateuch. 37:39.219 --> 37:42.459 First of all as I've mentioned, the centralization of the cult: 37:42.457 --> 37:45.587 that's a key theme in the book of Deuteronomy and it had very 37:45.591 --> 37:46.741 important effects. 37:46.739 --> 37:51.289 It brought Judean religion closer to monotheism because you 37:51.287 --> 37:55.287 have the insistence of worshiping one god in his one 37:55.285 --> 37:57.005 central sanctuary. 37:57.010 --> 38:00.770 Sacrifice was offered only on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 38:00.773 --> 38:04.473 which meant that slaughter of animals for meat in the 38:04.465 --> 38:08.365 countryside no longer has a sacral component to it. 38:08.369 --> 38:12.129 It's just ordinary, common, profane slaughter. 38:12.130 --> 38:15.170 There's evidence that that wasn't true before this reform, 38:15.167 --> 38:18.307 that if you wanted to kill an animal for meat you had a kind 38:18.311 --> 38:20.871 of a makeshift altar out there in the field, 38:20.869 --> 38:24.479 and you would pour out the blood and give it back to God 38:24.481 --> 38:26.551 and so on. You might still pour out the 38:26.549 --> 38:28.739 blood, obviously, but there was previously a more 38:28.743 --> 38:29.843 sacral element to it. 38:29.840 --> 38:33.040 Now slaughter in the countryside was simply common, 38:33.039 --> 38:34.319 profane slaughter. 38:34.320 --> 38:37.290 As a result you have a lot of rural Levites who are out of 38:37.286 --> 38:39.516 business now, a lot of people who would have 38:39.524 --> 38:42.804 officiated at local shrines, and they're out of business: 38:42.798 --> 38:46.298 that probably explains the fact that Deuteronomy makes special 38:46.302 --> 38:49.522 provision for the Levites and includes them in its... 38:49.519 --> 38:52.149 in legislation, sort of social welfare 38:52.146 --> 38:54.496 legislation. There are provisions that are 38:54.504 --> 38:56.954 made for the Levites, who are not going to be able to 38:56.952 --> 38:59.402 earn their income anymore at these local shrines. 38:59.400 --> 39:02.600 So many of them would have gone up to Jerusalem and a real 39:02.604 --> 39:05.754 tension is going to develop between the Jerusalem priests 39:05.751 --> 39:08.451 and this class of Levites who are newcomers; 39:08.449 --> 39:11.559 and we'll see some of that tension played out in some other 39:11.560 --> 39:13.370 texts. So centralization of the cult 39:13.372 --> 39:15.282 and that has some social ramifications. 39:15.280 --> 39:19.280 We also have a greater abstraction of the deity; 39:19.280 --> 39:22.210 this is something many people point to in the Book of 39:22.212 --> 39:25.602 Deuteronomy because Deuteronomy and books that are related to 39:25.596 --> 39:28.746 it--those that are going to follow--consistently refer to 39:28.754 --> 39:32.254 the sanctuary as the place where Yahweh chose to cause his name 39:32.251 --> 39:35.611 to dwell. God himself isn't said to dwell 39:35.610 --> 39:39.020 in the temple, nor is the temple described as 39:39.016 --> 39:41.846 a house of God. The temple is always the 39:41.849 --> 39:43.169 dwelling of his name. 39:43.170 --> 39:45.460 The house is built for his name. 39:45.460 --> 39:49.220 Weinfeld asserts that this is in order to combat the ancient 39:49.215 --> 39:52.965 popular belief that God actually dwells in the sanctuary. 39:52.969 --> 39:55.759 Likewise to eradicate or guard against the idea, 39:55.762 --> 39:58.082 which is implicit in earlier sources, 39:58.079 --> 40:02.289 that God sits enthroned on the cherubim, on the cherubim, 40:02.287 --> 40:05.817 who guard his ark, Deuteronomy emphasizes that the 40:05.822 --> 40:08.842 function of the ark is exclusively to house the 40:08.838 --> 40:10.718 tablets, the tablets of the covenant; 40:10.720 --> 40:11.950 that's its purpose. 40:11.949 --> 40:14.759 The ark cover isn't mentioned, the cherubim aren't mentioned. 40:14.760 --> 40:17.520 We don't have the image of this as a throne with the ark as 40:17.522 --> 40:20.592 God's footstool. So it seems to be a greater 40:20.590 --> 40:22.720 abstraction of the deity. 40:22.719 --> 40:25.699 Some abstraction is also apparent in the shift from 40:25.700 --> 40:28.200 visual to aural imagery in describing God's 40:28.204 --> 40:30.534 self-manifestations or theophanies. 40:30.530 --> 40:34.210 One hears God but one doesn't see God, in Deuteronomy. 40:34.210 --> 40:37.760 And that's very different from earlier texts where we're seeing 40:37.758 --> 40:40.218 a sort of a cloud encased fire and so on. 40:40.219 --> 40:44.439 So the sanctuary is understood to be a house of worship, 40:44.442 --> 40:47.132 as much as it is a cultic center, 40:47.130 --> 40:50.350 in which Israelites and foreigners alike may deliver 40:50.350 --> 40:52.750 prayers to God who dwells in heaven. 40:52.750 --> 40:55.870 So he is in heaven; this is a place of worship. 40:55.869 --> 40:58.149 That's not to say that sacrifice is abolished, 40:58.151 --> 41:00.591 it's not to say that sacrifice isn't important to 41:00.585 --> 41:04.195 Deuteronomy--very far from it, it's an essential part of God's 41:04.203 --> 41:05.733 service for Deuteronomy. 41:05.730 --> 41:10.230 But Deuteronomy is less interested in cultic matters and 41:10.227 --> 41:14.887 in any event when it focuses on sacrifices it focuses on a 41:14.887 --> 41:18.237 different aspect of those sacrifices. 41:18.239 --> 41:21.429 The sacrifices it talks about consist primarily of offerings 41:21.429 --> 41:24.239 that are consumed by the offerer in the sanctuary, 41:24.239 --> 41:27.069 or are shared with the disenfranchised in some way: 41:27.065 --> 41:30.695 the Levite, the resident alien, the orphan, the widow--portions 41:30.697 --> 41:31.777 are given to them. 41:31.780 --> 41:34.610 So by emphasizing the obligation to share the 41:34.607 --> 41:37.497 sacrificial meal with disadvantaged members of 41:37.498 --> 41:40.158 society, Deuteronomy almost gives the 41:40.164 --> 41:43.824 impression that the primary purpose of the sacrifice is 41:43.817 --> 41:46.157 humanitarian, or at least personal--the 41:46.161 --> 41:49.041 fulfillment of a religious obligation or the expression of 41:49.036 --> 41:50.546 gratitude to God and so on. 41:50.550 --> 41:53.620 These are aspects of the sacrifices that are emphasized 41:53.615 --> 41:56.505 in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy also emphasizes 41:56.507 --> 41:59.927 social justice and personal ethics and neighborly 41:59.934 --> 42:03.334 responsibility. God's own righteous behavior on 42:03.329 --> 42:06.729 behalf of the weak and the oppressed is a model for 42:06.730 --> 42:08.840 Israel's righteous behavior. 42:08.840 --> 42:11.930 God assists the orphan, the widow and the stranger, 42:11.930 --> 42:15.140 and that's the basis of Israel's injunction to assist 42:15.144 --> 42:17.384 them also. It's the basis for the 42:17.378 --> 42:20.918 humanitarianism that I mentioned earlier that seems to run 42:20.922 --> 42:23.972 through the laws of Deuteronomy 12 through 26. 42:23.969 --> 42:27.949 A further theme in Deuteronomy is the fact that the covenant 42:27.954 --> 42:31.874 concept entails the idea that each generation of Israelites 42:31.870 --> 42:36.060 understand itself as having been bound with God in the original 42:36.057 --> 42:38.857 covenant. So in Deuteronomy 5:2-3: 42:38.862 --> 42:42.822 "The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb . 42:42.820 --> 42:45.650 It was not with our fathers that the Lord made this covenant 42:45.648 --> 42:48.088 but with us, the living, every one of us who is here 42:48.092 --> 42:50.172 today." Now this is interesting because 42:50.167 --> 42:53.157 remember the generation has died off, that saw the Exodus and 42:53.161 --> 42:55.381 Sinai, right? So these are the children now 42:55.382 --> 42:57.792 and they're saying, it was us, every one of us who 42:57.786 --> 42:59.976 is here today. So every generation of Israel 42:59.976 --> 43:02.916 is to view itself as standing at the sacred mountain to conclude 43:02.923 --> 43:05.963 a covenant with God, and that decisive moment has to 43:05.959 --> 43:07.349 be made ever-present. 43:07.349 --> 43:10.519 That's a process that's facilitated by the obligation to 43:10.522 --> 43:13.102 study, to study the laws, to recite them daily, 43:13.099 --> 43:16.109 to teach them to your children: these are instructions that are 43:16.110 --> 43:17.470 contained in Deuteronomy. 43:17.469 --> 43:20.989 Moreover Deuteronomy 31 proclaims that every seventh 43:20.993 --> 43:25.003 year the Torah is to be read publicly, the entire thing. 43:25.000 --> 43:28.790 And Weinfeld argues that where many Ancient Near Eastern 43:28.786 --> 43:32.706 cultures direct the king to write the laws for himself, 43:32.710 --> 43:34.540 to read them, it's only in Israel--he's yet 43:34.537 --> 43:37.277 to find a parallel--it's only in Israel that the law is a manual 43:37.279 --> 43:38.889 for both the king and the people. 43:38.889 --> 43:41.459 It's to be proclaimed and read aloud to the people, 43:41.462 --> 43:43.522 on a regular basis, every seven years. 43:43.519 --> 43:47.619 A further theme of Deuteronomy is the emphasis on love. 43:47.619 --> 43:50.879 Weinfeld points out that the Assyrian treaties stress the 43:50.877 --> 43:53.027 vassal's love for the crown prince, 43:53.030 --> 43:56.920 but there's never a reciprocal love by the crown prince for the 43:56.924 --> 43:58.684 vassal. And Deuteronomy differs in this 43:58.675 --> 44:00.705 respect. Deuteronomy emphasizes God's 44:00.710 --> 44:04.460 gracious and undeserved love of Israel, and that's expressed in 44:04.455 --> 44:06.745 his mighty acts on Israel's behalf. 44:06.750 --> 44:10.360 The Deuteronomist makes it clear that God's great love 44:10.364 --> 44:13.644 should awaken a reciprocal love on Israel's part, 44:13.638 --> 44:16.458 love of God. Love of God here really means 44:16.462 --> 44:18.502 loyalty. The word that is used is a word 44:18.504 --> 44:19.624 that stresses loyalty. 44:19.619 --> 44:22.169 Love and loyalty are mere abstractions, 44:22.168 --> 44:26.258 however, without some sort of vehicle for their expression; 44:26.260 --> 44:29.500 and the vehicle for their expression then is God's Torah, 44:29.496 --> 44:32.496 the sum total of God's teachings and instructions and 44:32.502 --> 44:35.762 laws and guidelines, which are supposed to ensure 44:35.756 --> 44:38.286 long life and prosperity in the land. 44:38.289 --> 44:41.929 That idea is found in a very important passage known as the 44:41.928 --> 44:44.608 Shema. This is a passage that's really 44:44.609 --> 44:47.469 a central expression of the love of God in Israel, 44:47.470 --> 44:50.500 44:50.500 --> 44:53.110 and it's been singled out as an essential part of the Jewish 44:53.106 --> 44:55.136 liturgy, at a very early, early stage, 44:55.143 --> 44:57.043 and continues to this day. 44:57.039 --> 45:00.109 It's so called because of the first word of the passage. 45:00.110 --> 45:02.680 It's in Deuteronomy 6, it begins in verse 4, 45:02.680 --> 45:05.370 and the first word is "hear," Shema. 45:05.370 --> 45:06.850 Hear, O Israel! 45:06.850 --> 45:09.680 Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone. 45:09.679 --> 45:12.279 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with 45:12.284 --> 45:14.024 all your soul and with all your might. 45:14.019 --> 45:16.539 Take to heart these instructions with which I charge 45:16.539 --> 45:19.039 you this day. Impress them upon your children. 45:19.039 --> 45:21.619 Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, 45:21.616 --> 45:23.486 when you lie down and when you get up. 45:23.489 --> 45:26.389 Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a 45:26.389 --> 45:29.309 symbol on your forehead; inscribe them on the doorposts 45:29.312 --> 45:31.332 of your house and on your gates. 45:31.329 --> 45:34.449 So love and loyalty to God is the foundation of the Torah but 45:34.447 --> 45:36.987 Torah is the fulfillment of this love and loyalty: 45:36.994 --> 45:40.114 studying it and observing it and teaching it and transmitting 45:40.112 --> 45:41.832 it. Another key idea that occurs in 45:41.827 --> 45:44.077 Deuteronomy is the idea of Israel as the chosen people. 45:44.080 --> 45:47.100 45:47.099 --> 45:50.059 We find it here for the first time. 45:50.059 --> 45:53.989 It's an expression of the particularity of Israel and its 45:53.992 --> 45:57.092 unique relationship with God, and that uniqueness is 45:57.087 --> 45:58.627 expressed by this term, bachar, 45:58.630 --> 46:00.340 which means "to elect" or "to choose." 46:00.340 --> 46:02.740 This is the first time we encounter this. 46:02.739 --> 46:07.559 Yahweh has chosen Israel in an act of freely bestowed grace and 46:07.564 --> 46:10.214 love to be his special property. 46:10.210 --> 46:13.850 Deuteronomy 10:14: Mark, the heavens to 46:13.846 --> 46:16.286 their uttermost reaches belong to the Lord your God, 46:16.291 --> 46:17.971 the earth and all that is on it! 46:17.969 --> 46:20.989 Yet it was to your fathers that the Lord was drawn in His love 46:20.994 --> 46:24.044 for them, so that He chose you, their lineal descendents, 46:24.039 --> 46:26.859 from among all peoples--as is now the case. 46:26.860 --> 46:30.330 This idea may be rooted in the Ancient Near Eastern political 46:30.327 --> 46:33.677 sphere in which sovereigns would single out vassals for the 46:33.678 --> 46:37.078 status of special property; and in fact the word used is a 46:37.080 --> 46:38.530 word we do find in Exodus. 46:38.530 --> 46:42.450 But Deuteronomy contains statements of national pride, 46:42.452 --> 46:45.632 national exaltation, and unlike the Priestly 46:45.634 --> 46:50.304 materials which portray holiness as a future goal to be attained 46:50.295 --> 46:54.805 through the observance of God's Torah--you shall be holy to me 46:54.809 --> 46:58.579 by doing the following things--Deuteronomy speaks of 46:58.583 --> 47:01.823 Israel as holy now, and thus bound to the 47:01.822 --> 47:04.482 observance of God's Torah because of their holiness: 47:04.476 --> 47:08.086 you are a holy people to me, therefore you should do... 47:08.090 --> 47:10.660 So to put it--and this is perhaps to put it too 47:10.656 --> 47:12.996 crudely--for P, for the Priestly source, 47:13.000 --> 47:16.770 holiness is a goal to be attained through obedience to 47:16.765 --> 47:18.905 God's Torah. For Deuteronomy, 47:18.908 --> 47:23.208 holiness is a status to be lost through disobedience to God's 47:23.214 --> 47:25.234 Torah. When we come back I just want 47:25.234 --> 47:28.034 to finish up with one or two last comments about a couple of 47:28.029 --> 47:30.589 key ideas or themes in Deuteronomy before we move on to 47:30.588 --> 47:32.858 the beginning of the Deuteronomistic history that 47:32.862 --> 47:34.002 starts in Joshua. 47:34.000 --> 47:37.920 This coming week you'll be having midterms as part of your 47:37.915 --> 47:40.655 section meeting and in addition at 6 p.m. 47:40.662 --> 47:44.582 tonight I'll be making the essay question available online 47:44.578 --> 47:47.938 and if it gets to 6:01 and there's nothing online, 47:47.943 --> 47:50.763 somebody call me real fast, okay? 47:50.760 --> 47:54.440 All right, good, thanks, and good luck with the 47:54.440 --> 47:55.000 exam.