Deuteronomy - Continues (theology notes) conclusion of the Exodus from these notes. Next theology is Intro to Old Testament

Deuteronomy - Continues One cannot appreciate the bible without appreciating the literary. It is artistic and that is why the bible speaks to people. Prophets always looked towards the future. “Covenant not on the rock but on your hearts.” In the book of Exodus even if broken, there is no renewal. Moses takes two tablets and breaks them. So another tablet had been written. Deuteronomy / Deuteromistic history: What is hopeful in life; what is tragic in life. Helps Israel understand the gift given to her as a special people, a movement returning to God. Redemption is a metaphor. No punishing God, namely to bring them back. Opportunity - crises. Covenant of Deuteronomy is a covenant of conversion, encased in history and projected to the future. Chapt. 29/30 - wouldn’t speak and then would not stop talking - choose life so you and your children can live. What is the strategy of renewing faith? Series of homilies of why you should be faithful to one God. What are the details in the text of reform? No more high places sacrifices but exclusively in Jerusalem. This book is more like Sinai Covenant in the North Celebration of Passover - ashtaron - little statues of a woman of a Goddess. The forbidden of prostitution. This is the law that Moses said in Chapter 21. These are the words of the covenant. p 33- this is the blessing. p34 - where he dies. Deuteronomy - vassal treaty form but it is history. Chapter 1-11: intermingling of who is being spoken to, intermingling to worship/God. History of Israel/to be faithful to one God. 12-26: instructions. Remember you were slaves in Egypt. 26-6 to 19: is a formal passage. 27-28 - chapters that speak of rituals and the necessity of this to be written and read periodically. General Law to be faithful to one God. Social and cultic laws - no treaties in the ancient world where social is integrated. Heaven and Earth are witnesses, stones are witnesses. Witness is brought into Deuteronomy because there is a covenant. One copy to vassel and one to Overlord. In our case, one in the arc of the covenant - other to be read by the people. Blessings and Curses - Curses came first. In Syrian - blessings first and curses second which is far more than blessings. Chapter 28 - law of curses to Syrian treaties - In Chapter 26. What is unique to Deuteronomy? What is the strategy? We have a series of several laws and celtic laws that represented the people. God is not arbitrary. In no vassal treaty do we have a treaty. Everyone is called and therefore one who is called writes it. The importance of the Jordon River 29x mentioned - begins and ends with Deuteronomy. The time frame, special time is the Jordon River. This occurs in verse 5. Moses is going to recount (Chapters 1-3) how they came to this point. The entire book of Deuteronomy - before crossing the Jordon River. Why is it important to cross with t he covenant? Have the land. Why do these writers not figure very prominently? First ref. is a failure. Chapter 1 vs. 19. - enter the point to enter the promised land and receive it as a gift. Deuteronomy - Lens of theology - Deuteronomy realized that conversion one commitment is not easy. Look inside our heart. Have the appearance of conversation - that all is well - Moses is having none of this. Chapter 29 verse 9 or 10 - comparing the exilic period as before crossing the Jordon- parallel to all time from the East side of the Jordon River looking in. The only way to live life is to live with this commitment. Wisdom, Literature, Covenant: Where does this fit in from what we have been studying? Covenant - God’s covenant with people of Israel. Covenant does not enter into this. Circumcision is a sign of the covenant. Two world views - both of these visions are mingled together along with this wisdom. From the point of view of covenant, but from the point of view with God and Israel. Covenants are not formally mentioned. In Zirah yes - it is to highlight the Torah as the wisdom of God? If covenant is not the main image than what takes its place? Resonates very well with our contemporary culture. 8 proverbs, 24 Sirah, 9 Wisdom} all for the personification of wisdom, as a woman. Song of Psalms - God is not mentioned. It is possible that it is a series of love songs. Sirach is saying that we should pay attention to the Koran not because it is a covenant but is the word of God. It is a shift - another point of view. Wisdom - very ancient in Israel. Our author copied a lot of literature. Gather knowledge and then attempt to teach it. Wisdom literature became very important at a later time. Proverb: Job - (pronounced Jobe) dispute and dialogue - to draw reader - to engage reader to appropriate value. Qoheleth (Gk. Ecclesiastes). Song of Songs. Sirach - teaching of son (used a lot). Wisdom of Solomon} all main texts: Category of the mind, not covenant. Instead of teaching through prophet, teaches through the mind. Book of Jonah - Johan means dove, pigeon, to be silly like a pigeon. Before lots of difficulty between prophets. How do you know if prophets are prophesying the truth? Difference between prophets and wisdom. Think of paradigm in Moses, etc…How does God break into life of the prophets - breaks into the life of Israel. How do they teach? With the authority of God. How do prophets teach that word? With all the authority they can muster. That mode was in crises in the exile. The prophetic voice that God is going to breathe into your life, that does not occur. One explanation: prophecy came into being during the period of the monarchy. When monarchy failed so did this type of prophesy. The other is that they wrote themselves out of a job. By collecting the oracles they are enabling the community to read, and study at leisure in order to gain wisdom and so the prophets lose their jobs. They write themselves out of a job. How do I expect God to communicate with me? Order is an important order but so is chaos. Every human experience becomes the theological background. Book of Job - there you have a prophetic medium. God speaking to Job like God speaking before. There you have the prophetic form but it is an invitation for the reader to find God in nature, in chaos and in order. Creation figures dominantly. Pay attention to Wisdom and Creation. Prof thins they would have integrated the image of the covenant. With Christ it happens again. What is new in the covenant of Christ? Is Christ a prophet or saze? It is the latter. He is a saze (Emnitras) for them to make this connection. Wisdom in Hebrew - hochma = sofia. Proverb tries to teach a value. It expects to gain insight to divine, will to reflect on human experiences. You try to teach it to the next generation. The early bird gets the worm. It’s a proverb. If you don’t get up early, you don’t get things done. It is not that prophets don’t use their mind. It is not that prophets don’t use their wisdom, they try to get you to engage the values. Two ways- the way of Torah and what is what leads to life? What is what leads to death? What stories are generated in which teach values? Expressed through hope and Justice? Wisdom does not have a particular genre. It can have many. - to teach. It can be with humour. In Chapter 7, Wisdom - had to add verse at bottom- drew a worker, using human and draws so you pay more attention to error. The Diatic collection of proverbs. Fear of the word. Fear of the word. What becomes a backdrop of God - Creation and the human heart. God is the one who created creation and humans. So the Exodus of Israel becomes a reflection of experience. Why can you consider this to be religious? Even how we live is religious. That is why psalm of songs - this human description of love becomes a way of showing God’s love. Creation in a peace of writing maybe a wisdom perspective. In the third text you can see personified wisdom that personifies. God’s outreach to the cosmos and the humans. These texts show that God created the cosmos, through wisdom. God, wisdom and human beings. Wisdom joins all. Wisdom is created first. Then God creates cosmos through wisdom and then wisdom’s delight is in human beings. Much of the feature of wisdom is personification of the spirit. Wisdom - to Christ - tried but it did not work - metaphor of the mind is more attuned to the spirit. Song of songs is wisdom - some version between God and human beings. This concludes this portion. Next is Introduction to the old testament.