Deuteronomy: Outline
There is just no way to do this without a lot of words--it's too rich & important
Chapter 1: Moses summarizes the time between the Israelites leaving Mount Sinai, where the Law and tabernacle had been established, and their sentence of wandering in the wilderness because they lacked the faith to obey God to conquer.
Chapter 2: Moses recounts that the Israelites wandered in the wilderness around Mount Seir until, after nearly forty years had elapsed, the Lord told them to turn north and pass by the territory of Esau (Edom). When the disobedient generation had all died, God instructed them to pass into Moab, not provoking them or the Ammonites (descendants of Lot). They asked for permission to pass through the land of Sihon, king of Heshbon, but he and his people met them in battle and Israel conquered them.
Chapter 3: Moses recounts that the same thing happened with Og, king of Bashan, so Israel conquered them. He explains how these regions of Sihon and Og, known as Gilead and Bashan, were given as a land inheritance to Reuben, Gad, and part of the tribe of Manasseh. They were allowed to settle their wives, children, and livestock, but were expected to cross the Jordan and help the other tribes in battle until the Promised Land was conquered. Moses pointed out to Joshua that he should have confidence for this task given their conquering of Sihon and Og. Moses also tells how he prayed to God to let him cross over the Jordan and God told him to speak no more to Him about it. He would let him see the Promised Land from the top of Mount Pisgah, but He told him to charge, encourage, and strengthen Joshua in his stead.
Chapter 4: Moses gives a long introduction into why they should follow the Law of God that he is about to recount. He also sets aside, according to the Law, three cities of refuge for anyone who kills unintentionally.
Chapter 5: Moses recounts the Ten Commandments and their receiving them from God as He spoke from fire on the top of Mount Sinai.
Chapter 6: Moses explains the importance of doing what is good and right in the sight of God. “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). Obeying God means righteousness and protection.
Chapter 7: Moses explains that they are to drive out the nations occupying the land of Canaan: no covenant, no favor, no intermarrying; instead tear down their altars, Asherim, and graven images.
Chapter 8: Moses explains God used the Israelites’ wandering in the wilderness to discipline them and to test whether they would keep His commandments. He warns that if they forget God and go after other gods, they will perish.
Chapter 9: Moses explains that it is because of the wickedness of the nations in the land of Canaan that they are being driven out, and not because of the righteousness of the nation of Israel. He recounts their rebellion, including the worship of the golden calf and their unwillingness to take possession of the land as He had commanded.
Chapter 10: Moses recounts the requirements of God: “Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the LORD’S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. Yet on your fathers did the LORD set His affection to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, even you above all peoples, as it is this day. So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer. For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name. He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven” (Deuteronomy 10:12-21).
Chapter 11: Moses reminds that he is speaking to the generation that has seen the works of the Lord. This should motivate them to obey Him and teach of His works and His ways. “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known” (Deuteronomy 11:26-28).
Chapter 12: Moses overviews the laws of the sanctuary: “you shall seek the LORD at the place which the LORD your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come. There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. There also you and your households shall eat before the LORD your God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the LORD your God has blessed you…. Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see, but in the place which the LORD chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you…. When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’You shall not behave thus toward the LORD your God, for every abominable act which the LORD hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it” (Deuteronomy 12:5-7, 13-14, 29-32).
Chapter 13: Moses explains that anyone who tries to entice others to seek after other gods should be put to death, even prophets who demonstrate signs and wonders.
Chapter 14: Moses summarizes animals that are unclean. He explains the tithe of grain, wine, oil, and animals: “You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year. You shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always” (Deuteronomy 14:22-23). Every third year the tithe is to be deposited in individuals’ towns so it can be shared with Levites, aliens, orphans, and widows.
Chapter 15: Moses explains that every seven years there should be a remission of debts. Even those who have sold themselves to pay a debt should be allowed to go free.
Chapter 16: Moses recounts the feasts of the Lord (three times per year that males should appear before the Lord):
· Passover: in the month Abib, followed by six days of Feast of Unleavened Bread, and then a solemn assembly
· Feast of Weeks: seven weeks after putting sickle to standing grain (first fruits), with a tribute of freewill offering
· Feast of Booths: seven days after harvest; live in booths for seven days, celebrating a feast to the Lord
“You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your towns which the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you” (Deuteronomy 16:18-20).
Chapter 17: Difficult cases should be decided by the priest or judge in office in the place where God chooses. If anyone asks presumptuously by not following the verdict should be killed, “Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act presumptuously again” (Deuteronomy 17:13). “When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself. Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel” (Deuteronomy 17:14-20).
Chapter 18: Portion for the Levites: shoulder, two cheeks, and stomach from sacrifices of oxen and sheep; first fruits of grain, wine, oil, and first shearing of sheep. Spiritism is prohibited. God will appoint prophets to speak for Him. If a prophet speaks presumptuously, he shall die. If the thing he speaks does not come true, he has spoken falsely.
Chapter 19: Set aside cities of refuge for the unintentional manslayer. Murderers should be killed. Don’t move a boundary. “on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. Thus you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot” (Deuteronomy 19:15b-21).
Chapter 20: Laws of warfare: engaged men, men with new house or new vineyard, or fearful men are excused. Except for nations occupying the Promised Land, offer city that you go up to fight against terms of peace. If not accepted, kill men, but women, children, animals, and spoil can be taken (except for nations occupying Promised Land: everything that breathes should be killed).
Chapter 21: Moses explains the ritual for removing innocent blood for a murder when the perpetrator is unknown. Captive women cannot be taken as wives until after one month of mourning, and they cannot be mistreated. Cannot take away the birthright of a firstborn of an unloved wife (think Leah and Rachel). Rebellious sons should be put to death.
Chapter 22-25: Sundry laws, worth reviewing separately.
Chapter 26: Moses explains the offering of first fruits and tithes.
Chapter 27-28: Moses explains the blessings and curses that are to be recited at Mount Gerazim and Mount Ebal after entering the Promised Land, also worth reviewing separately.
Chapter 29: Summary: “These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He had made with them at Horeb” (Deuteronomy 29:1). “Now the generation to come, your sons who rise up after you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of the land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it, will say, ‘All its land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ All the nations will say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’ Then men will say, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not allotted to them. Therefore, the anger of the LORD burned against that land, to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; and the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:22-29).
Chapter 30: Prophecy: “So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the LORD your God has banished you, and you return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.
“Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live. The LORD your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the LORD, and observe all His commandments which I command you today. Then the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; if you obey the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.
“For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.
“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
Chapter 31: End of Moses’ life, with prophecy regarding the nation of Israel: "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Behold, the time for you to die is near; call Joshua, and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, that I may commission him.' So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting. The LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the doorway of the tent. The LORD said to Moses, 'Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers; and this people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will come upon them; so that they will say in that day, "Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come upon us?" But I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods.
'Now therefore, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it on their lips, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel. For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant. Then it shall come about, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants); for I know their intent which they are developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.' So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel.
"Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, 'Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you.’
"It came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book until they were complete, that Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, 'Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you. For I know your rebellion and your stubbornness; behold, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the LORD; how much more, then, after my death? Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, for you will do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.’
Chapter 32: The Song of Moses, a testimony against the nation of Israel.
Chapter 33: Moses blesses the tribes of Israel.
Chapter 34: Moses dies on Mount Pisgah, after God shows him the Promised Land. “Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, for all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land, and for all the mighty power and for all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel” (Deuteronomy 34:10-11).