Deuteronomy

Purpose & theme

Deuteronomy is the great sermon of Moses. On the plains of Moab, at the end of forty years and the end of his own life, with the Jordan and the promised land in sight, Moses gathers the new generation and preaches the covenant to them one last time. The book is a series of farewell addresses — part history, part law, part warning, part blessing — all aimed at pressing one urgent appeal on the hearts of a people about to enter their inheritance: love the LORD your God, hold fast to Him alone, obey Him from the heart, and do not forget Him when you are full.

The English name “Deuteronomy” comes from the Greek for “second law,” and the book does restate and apply much of the law given at Sinai, including the Ten Commandments. But it is not merely a repetition; it is a renewal and a re-preaching. Its Hebrew title, Devarim (“Words”), fits its character as the words of Moses to a people on the threshold. The whole book is shaped like an ancient covenant treaty between a great king and his people — with a historical prologue, stipulations, blessings and curses, witnesses, and provision for succession — recasting Israel’s relationship with God as a bond of covenant love that calls for wholehearted loyalty.

At the center of Deuteronomy is the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (6:4-5). Everything else flows from this. Because the LORD alone is God, and because He set His love on Israel and redeemed them by grace, they are to love Him back with undivided devotion, to teach His words to their children, to remember His faithfulness, and to choose life by clinging to Him. Jesus called this the greatest commandment, and Deuteronomy remains the Old Testament’s fullest exposition of what it means to love God with the whole self.