Deut 6-8 consists of three separate concentrically structured portraits of life in the land. In each of them the land and its bounty is introduced though in slightly different ways to urge Israel (GenB) to faith and obedience:
A. Call to Fear & Love Yahweh, 6:1-5.
B. Teach the Children, 6:6-9.
C. Life in the Land — the Temptation to Forget Yahweh, 6:10-12.
D. Fear Yahweh, Serve Him Only, 6.13.
C'. Life in the Land — the Temptation of Idolatry, 6:14-19.
B'. Teach the Children, 6:20-23.
A'. Conclusion: Fear Yahweh & Obey His Commandments, 6.24-25.
A. Life in the Land: the Cherem, 7:1-5.
B. Israel's Election as Cause for Obedience, 7:6-8.
C. Yahweh's Faithfulness as Motivation for Obedience, 7:9-11.
B'. Israel's Blessing as Motivation for Obedience, 7:12-15.
A'. Life in the Land: the Cherem, 7:16-26.
A. Call to Obedience, 8:1.
B. Yahweh's Discipline in the Desert, 8:2-5.
C. Life in the Land — Cause for Praise, 8:6-10.
D. Warning — Do Not Forget Yahweh, v.11
C'. Life in the Land — Cause for Caution against Temptation to Forget Yahweh, 8:12-14.
B'. Yahweh's Discipline in the Desert, 8:15-18.
A'. Warning against Unfaithfulness, 8:19-20.
In these portraits of life in the land Moses warns GenB of the temptations that would lurk after them once they enter the land. The land is, first of all, portrayed as a gift, a place of blessing, the location of divine largesse. This theme is evident in the elevated language used in its portrayal, language that, at some points, reaches near utopian levels. Paralleling this depiction, however, is the presentation of the land as a temptation. Externally, the religious practices of the inhabitants are presented as a snare to Israel to desert Yahweh (Chap 7); GenB is, therefore, commanded to annihilate them. Failure to do so will cause future generations to fall away from Yahweh and risk being destroyed by Yahweh. Sandwiching this external threat are the two sketches (Chap 6 & 8) of the danger that reaches from within, that is, the temptation to forget Yahweh that comes from the comfort of life in a land of bounty; repeated, perhaps, because it is the more insidious. More clearly than elsewhere in his addresses we see expounded here a theology of discipleship in which Israel's obedience and election, divine grace and Yahweh's character interweave seamlessly into one another, rendering each more eloquent because of the other. It is not, therefore, incidental that in Jesus' temptation—an experience in which the devil questioned, in different ways in the different temptations, all these elements of faith as they pertained to Jesus' own discipleship—that all of his replies to the devil derived from this section of Deuteronomy. 1
Like the movements in a symphony, each of the three portraits possesses its own tempo and cadence. Whereas both Chap 6 & 8 open with a summon to obey the decrees and laws Moses was teaching or giving them, Chap7, on the other hand, dispatches GenB straightway into action to destroy the inhabitants, from which it then works its way to the general call to obey "the decrees and laws" pinned in the centre of its structural innards. The tone in Chap7 is categorical, unconditional; the action it requires of GenB is stringent, urgent, the cause for action acute and specific. While the temptations they warn against are no less faith-and-life-threatening, Chaps 6 & 8 are more genial, more reasoned in their charges; the source of the temptation amorphous, a thing of the heart, and the solution to it slow in its effectuation. Chaps 6 & 8 look at the land differently from Chap 7. As if self-conscious of the severity of its demand on GenB against the inhabitants of the land, the adjective "good" that abounds in Chaps 6 & 8 (a quarter of its usage in Deuteronomy) appears nowhere in Chap 7. Similarly, the term 'erets, "land," disappears from Chap 7 once the setting has been introduced in v.1, whereas it permeates almost every thought in Chaps 6 & 8 (6x in each chapter); when reference to the land is needed in Chap7, 'dm,' "earth," is pressed into service instead. While each of these portraits are complete and may be heard on its own, they are, like the movements in a symphony, also bound together to form a larger whole to articulate a theology of covenant faithfulness: 2
A. Call to Obey & to Love Yahweh Whole-Heartedly, 6:3-9 ("Hear, O Israel, be careful to obey so that it may go well with you . . . Love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength . . .")
Ba. The Good Land into which Yahweh is Bringing Israel, 6:10-11 ("When Yahweh brings you into the land . . . with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant . . .")
Bb. Call Not to Forget Yahweh, 6:12 (". . . when you have eaten and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget Yahweh, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery . . .")
C. Call to Fear Yahweh, 6:13-19 ("Fear Yahweh your God . . . Do not test Yahweh as you tested him at Massah. Be sure to keep his commandments . . . so that it may go well with you and your may go in and take the good land that Yahweh promised on oath to your forefathers")
D. Israel Summoned to Remember her Experience in Egypt, 6:20-25 (". . . when your son asks you . . . tell him, 'We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Before our eyes Yahweh sent miraculous signs and wonders . . .")
E. Israel Commanded to Utterly Destroy the Nations, 7:1-5 ("When Yahweh brings you into the land . . . nations stronger than you—when Yahweh delivers them over to you . . . you must utterly destroy them."
F. Yahweh's Covenant & Love, 7:6-10 (". . . it is because Yahweh loves you . . . and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out . . . from the hand of the king of Egypt . . . Know, therefore, that Yahweh is a faithful god, keeping his covenant and love to . . . those who love him, but repays to the full those who hate him).")
G. Call to Obedience, 7:11 ("Take care to follow the . . . laws I command you today.")
G'. Call to Obedience, 7:12a ("If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them . . .")
F'. Yahweh's Covenant & Love, 7:12b-15 (". . . Yahweh your God will keep his covenant and love to you, as he swore to your forefathers he will love you and . . . he will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt on you . . . but on those who hate you.")
E'. Israel's Blessing for Utterly Destroying the Nations, 7:16-17 ("You must destroy all the peoples . . . you may say to yourselves, 'These nations are stronger . . .' Yahweh will deliver them over to you . . . until they are destroyed")
D'. Israel Summoned to Remember her Experience in Egypt, 7:18-21 (". . . remember well what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. You saw with your own eyes the great trials, miraculous signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which Yahweh you God brought you out . . .")
C'. Call to Fear Yahweh, 8:1-6 ("Be careful to follow every command I give you today so that you may . . . enter and possess the land that Yahweh promised on oath to your forefathers . . . Remember how Yahweh your God led you . . . to test you in order to know what is in your heart . . . So, observe the commandments of Yahweh your God, walk in his ways, and fear him.")
Ba'. The Good Land into which Yahweh is Bringing Israel, 8:7-9 ("For Yahweh your God is bringing you into a good land— a land with streams and pools of water . . . wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you will never be poor . . . you can dig copper . . .")
Bb'. Call Not to Forget Yahweh, 8:10-18 ("Then when you have eaten and are satisfied, praise Yahweh your God for the good land . . . be careful that you do not forget Yahweh your God, failing to observe his commands . . . Otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and . . . and all you have multiplies . . . you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.")
A'. Warning about Worshipping Yahweh Alone, 8:19-20 ("If you ever forget Yahweh your God and follow other gods to worship and to bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed . . . you will be destroyed for not obeying the voice of Yahweh your God.")
Consonant with the theme of this section, the gift of the land, including Yahweh's action on behalf of Israel to drive out the inhabitants, is repeatedly recalled as nishba' la'aboteyka, "promised on oath to your forefathers" (6:10, 13, 18, 23; 7:1, 8, 12, 13; 8:1, 18). More clearly so than anywhere else in Deuteronomy (or the Old Testament) Yahweh is depicted as ha'el hanne'eman, "the faithful God" (7:9). For the first time in Deuteronomy, also, the verb shamar, 'watch/keep/observe/take care,'—used everywhere to call Israel to obedience—is now applied to Yahweh as its subject (7:8); he keeps his promises and covenant, and by means of this verb, Israel is called to model Yahweh in their faithfulness to the covenant. In his first address Moses has already noted how Yahweh's faithfulness to his promise led to GenA's demise. Echoing that same logic, GenB is now reminded of the terrible consequences if they should fail to obey. So, this section abounds with verbs depicting destruction. While half of the fourteen occurrences of the three verbs translated 'destroy,' shamad, 'abad, charam, in these three chapters have the nations of pre-Israelite Cis-Jordan or the silver and gold on their idols as their objects (7:2 [twice], 20, 23, 24 [twice], 26), just as frequently they have disobedient Israel(ites) in view (6:15; 7:4, 10, 26; 8:19, 20) and Yahweh as the subject (or presumed subject). Yahweh's faithfulness means great blessings for Israel, but Israel can also choose to turn it deadly.
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2019