Book Introduction - Deuteronomy Read first chapter of Deuteronomy DEUTERONOMY consists of the parting counsels of Moses delivered to Israel in view of the impending entrance upon their covenanted possession. It contains a summary of the wilderness wanderings of Israel, which is important as unfolding the moral judgement of God upon those events; repeats the Decalogue to a generation which had grown up in the wilderness; gives needed instruction as the conduct of Israel in the land, and contains the Palestinian Covenant ( Deuteronomy 30:1-9 ). The book breathes the sternness of the Law. Key- words, "Thou shalt"; key-verses, Deuteronomy 11:26-28 . It is important to note that, while the land of promise was unconditionally given Abraham and to his seed in the Abrahamic Covenant ( Genesis 13:15 ; 15:7 ), it was under the conditional Palestinian Covenant ( Deuteronomy 28:1-30:9 ) that Israel entered the land under Joshua. Utterly violating the conditions of that covenant, the nation was first disrupted (1 Kings 12) and then cast out of the land ( 2 Kings 17:1-18 ; 24:1-25:11 ). But the same covenant unconditionally promises a national restoration of Israel which is yet to be fulfilled (See Scofield " :") . DEUTERONOMY is in seven divisions: - Summary of the history of Israel in the wilderness, 1:1-3:29
- A restatement of the Law, with warnings and exhortations, 4:1 -11:32,
- Instructions, Warnings, and Predictions, 12:1-27:26,
- The great closing prophecies summarizing the history of Israel to the second coming of Christ, and containing the Palestinian Covenant, 28:1-30:20,
- Last counsels to Priests, Levites, and to Joshua, 31,
- The Song of Moses and his parting blessings, 32,33,
- The Death of Moses, 34.
The time covered by this retrospect is approximately forty years.
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