Don't Know Much About the Bible - Kenneth C. Davis [66]
Deuteronomy
At the end of Numbers, the people of Israel are camped out in the plains of Moab, preparing to assault Canaan from the east. Moses gives them his valedictory speeches. To many people, “Deuteronomy” may be a very old cat in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical. But the biblical title comes from the Greek words deuteros (“second”) and nomos (“law”); the book does not present new laws so much as reiterates earlier rules.
Modern biblical scholars view most of the contents of this book as material that was passed down orally until it was recorded in the seventh century BCE, lost, then rediscovered, as reported later in the book Kings. A “Book of the Law” was discovered in the First Temple in 621 BCE during the reign of the Judean king Josiah (see Kings). With the discovery of this book, Josiah realizes that his people have not been following the laws properly. He sets the country on a rigorous period of religious reform in which strict Mosaic Law is again enforced. Deuteronomy is essentially Moses’ farewell address—actually three addresses—in which he rehashes the acts of God. Solemnly warning of the temptations of the ways of Canaan—especially cautioning against the naughty Canaanite women—Moses pleads for loyalty to and love of God as the main condition for life in the Promised Land. A distinctive teaching of Deuteronomy is that the worship of God is to be centralized in one place, so that the paganism of local shrines may be eliminated. When Deuteronomy was composed, the Jerusalem Temple was regarded as the central sanctuary.
What is the “Great Commandment”?
“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone [or, “the Lord our God is one”]. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deut. 6:4-5 JPS)
This is the Shema, the most commonly spoken prayer in Judaism, and also traditionally called the “Great Commandment.” Many Christians may know it in the form that Jesus uses (Mark 12:29) when he is asked which commandment is the first. They may not realize that Jesus is quoting Hebrew scripture. Jesus adds, “You shall love your neighbor as thyself” (Mark 12:31) as the second commandment, and none are greater.
The “Golden Rule,” as has often been pointed out, is a widely expressed idea. Besides its biblical appearances in Leviticus and in Jesus’ words, other significant versions include:
Confucius—“What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”
Aristotle—“We should behave to our friends as we would wish our friends to behave to us.”
Hillel—“What is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary.” (A famous first-century CE rabbi, Hillel lived in Jerusalem. Though many people speculate that Jesus knew his teachings and may have even been his student, there is no evidence of that.)
The Earl of Chesterfield—“Do as you would be done by, is the surest method I know of pleasing.” (Philip Dormer Stanhope, the Earl of Chesterfield, lived from 1694 to 1773. His many aphorisms, reminiscent of Benjamin Franklin’s pithy advice, were culled from letters to his son.)
BIBLICAL VOICES
He subjected you to the hardship of hunger and then gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had ever known, in order to teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but that man may live on anything that the Lord decrees. The clothes upon your back did not wear out, nor did your feet swell these forty years. Bear in mind that the Lord your God disciplines you just as a man disciplines his son. (Deut. 8:3-5 JPS; emphasis added)
Once again, Christian readers may be more familiar with this verse from the time of Jesus’ temptation by the devil