Here we are, 10 days into Deuteronomy, and we are just now posting an outline. I apologize if this seems a bit scattered. The truth is, my thoughts have been just that, a bit scattered! Nevertheless, here is an outline from Gleason Archers and his Survey of Old Testament Introduction. It is a somewhat standard outline.
1. The first discourse: historical review,
1:1-4:43.
2. The second discourse: laws by which Israel is
to live, 4:44-26:19.
3. The third discourse: warnings and prediction,
27:1-30:20
4. The written law entrusted to the leaders of
Israel, 31:1-30.
5. The song of Moses: Israel’s Responsibility to
the Covenant, 32:1-43.
6. The final charge and farewell, 32:44-33:29
7. The
death of Moses and His Obituary, 34:1-12.
The only question
some raise about the “flow” is whether Deuteronomy was written in the style of
a treaty of the day. I am not going to
take time on that question. Even if it
bears resemblance to some treaty, in my view that cannot become a major point in
determining what God was saying. What
this outline does is give us what the text actually gives us. Note the words of …
·
1:1: These are the words that Moses spoke to
all Israel on this side of the Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain …
·
4:44: Now this is the law which Moses set
before the children of Israel.
·
27:1: Now Moses, with all the elders of
Israel, commanded the people, saying, ‘Keep all the commandments which I
command you today.’
·
29:1: These are the words of the covenant
which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land
of Moab …
·
33:1: Then Moses went and spoke these words
to all Israel.
Archer’s outline can be subdivided. For example, the second discourse speaks of “statutes
and judgments” in 4:44, but they don’t really begin until 12:1 (These are
the statutes and judgments).
Chapters 5-11 are major foundational issues that are pre-requisite to
the details. For example, Dt.. 5 has the
Ten Commandments. Ch. 6 has the “Greatest
Commandment,” the Shammah (6:4-9).
Israel’s special standing (Ch. 7), the need to keep the LORD in focus
(Ch. 8), and Israel’s tendency to stray (Ch. 9-11) lead up to Dt. 12:1. In 4:44, 6:1 and 12:1 it sounds like Moses is
about to launch into the details, only to lay out some more foundational
truth.
One thing to note is that Dt. 6:4-5 precedes
the details of the law. From the outset,
God wanted their hearts! It’s not God’s
fault that Israel, by Jesus’ time, had become obsessed with the details, making
additional rules and regs so that they could claim to be keeping the Law. What it revealed is that their hearts were
not in it. They were legalists, yet not
fulfilling the law. Interesting. And it is a warning to us!
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