2019, March 10 ~ Deuteronomy 26:1-11 and Romans 10:8b-13

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Deuteronomy is the fifth (and last) book of the Torah and is presented as Moses’ final speech to the Israelites just before they entered the Promised Land. “Deuteronomy” comes from Greek words that mean “Second Law” and is structured as if it were a “restatement” of the laws found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. Parts of Deuteronomy were revised as late as 450 BCE, but the bulk of the book is generally dated to the reign of King Josiah of Judea (640-609 BCE).

It is also the first book of the didactic “Deuteronomic History” which consists of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. This “History” teaches that when the people and kings of Israel and Judea worshiped YHWH properly, they prospered, but when they worshiped false gods, other nations (the Assyrians in 722 BCE and Babylonians in 587) conquered them.

The Deuteronomic History emphasized the need for worship at the Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple is described in today’s passage as “the place the LORD God [YHWH] will choose as a dwelling for his name” (v.2).

Today’s reading prescribed actions at the Temple for the Festival of Weeks, a celebration of the Spring harvest. After the Babylonian Exile, the Festival also came to be associated with the giving of the Law at Sinai, and was later called Pentecost (50 days after Passover) in First Century Judaism (Acts 2:1).

The Festival of Weeks was one of the three festivals in which Jews were expected to go the Temple in Jerusalem to make offerings. The other two were Passover and the celebration of the Fall harvest, called the Festival of Booths or Tabernacles (remembering the flimsy dwellings inhabited during the time in the Wilderness).

Today’s reading also contains an early synopsis of the story of the Exodus and the entry into Israel (vv.5b-9). It is notable that this synopsis does not contain the giving of the Law at Sinai or many of the details in Genesis and Exodus. It can be compared with the synopsis of Jewish History from Abraham to the Destruction of Jerusalem contained in Nehemiah 9:7-31.

The Book of Nehemiah was written after 400 BCE, after the Exile and more than 200 years after most of Deuteronomy was written. When Nehemiah was written, the stories in Genesis and Exodus had been more fully developed and were included in the Torah read by Ezra to the people in 443 BCE (Neh.8).

Romans 10:8b-13

Paul’s letter to the Romans was his longest, last and most complex letter. It was written in the late 50s or early 60s (CE) to a Jesus Follower community that Paul did not establish. Among other messages in the letter, Paul sought to encourage respectful and supportive relationships between the Gentile Jesus Followers and the Jewish Jesus Followers in Rome.

The “backstory” is that in 49 CE, Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome, including Jewish Jesus Followers. The next Emperor was Nero who reigned from 54 to 68 CE). Nero reversed his predecessor’s decree and allowed Jews to return to Rome. This return caused tensions within the Jesus Follower Community in which Gentiles had become prominent.

In today’s reading, Paul emphasized “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek [Jesus Followers]; the same Lord is Lord of all” (v.12). As support for this assertion, Paul interpreted Deuteronomy 30:14 as establishing that the “word of faith” is what is on each believer’s lips and in their hearts (v.8b). In Deuteronomy, the “word” was the Commandments.

Paul took the phrase “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (v.13) from the prophet Joel, who wrote about the “terrible Day of the LORD [YHWH]” in which only those who call upon the LORD would be saved (Joel 2:32). Paul’s used this phrase as part of his over-all message that “belief in your heart that God raised [the Christ] from the dead” (v.9) is transformative and causes the true believer to be “justified” – in a right relationship with God and others (v.10).