by Justin Marple | Jun 14, 2011 | Deuteronomy Commentary, OT Torah Commentary, TEACHING
The English title of the fifth book of Scripture, Deuteronomy, a compound of Greek words meaning “second law” or better yet “second Torah” perceptively picks up how Moses is intentionally presenting this material as given a second time. Here...
by Justin Marple | May 23, 2011 | Deuteronomy Commentary, OT Torah Commentary, TEACHING
We have been arguing that most of Deuteronomy should be understood as fitting the Hittite covenant treaty formulas of the second millennium B.C. (i.e. the time of Moses and shortly thereafter). The speeches are specifically attributed to Moses and he speaks in the...
by Justin Marple | May 16, 2011 | Deuteronomy Commentary, OT Torah Commentary, TEACHING
Deuteronomy: The Prologue 1:1-5Deuteronomy begins with a prologue (Deut 1:1-5). The effect of this prologue is to emphasize that this book contains the last word on the words of Moses. The setting is “beyond the Jordan” (from the perspective of being in the Promised...
by Justin Marple | Sep 2, 2009 | Deuteronomy Commentary, OT Torah Commentary, TEACHING
Generally in a literary-canonical approach we do not dive into questions of multiple authors but simply study the text as we have it. Usually such lines of inquiry have been laden with faulty presuppositions and with agendas to undermine the word of God as we have it...
by Justin Marple | Aug 30, 2009 | Deuteronomy Commentary, OT Torah Commentary, TEACHING
I have noted before that the Torah as a whole follows a pattern of narrative, poetry, epilogue. Genesis follows this pattern. Exo-Num follows this pattern. And Deuteronomy follows this pattern. Before each of the key poems the Hebrew text uses the word...
by Justin Marple | Aug 27, 2009 | Deuteronomy Commentary, OT Torah Commentary, TEACHING
As earlier posts make clear, the canonical order of the books of Scripture makes a difference in how we read them. Thus I want to explore the effect of Deuteronomy’s position in the Torah as the last book without repeating observations made in previous posts...
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