so today we want to talk about deuteronomistic theology now it might feel weird at the very end of this class um on the pentateuch to discover you may have already discovered this in your reading if you have great if you haven't you might stumble upon it at some point in your further study in the pentateuch some scholars actually don't talk of a pentateuch they talk of either a tetra tuke so tetra4 or a hexa 2 so hexa6 so instead of pentateuch five books five scrolls tetra four or hexa six so why do they do that well both of those want to align deuteronomy more closely to joshua and that's done for several reasons there are textual reasons that that happens and other reasons but this is the big reason because scholars see and i would argue that any reader who reads through deuteronomy and then moves on to joshua is going to feel a very strong influence of a strain of theology that we call deuteronomistic theology kind of a theology that's rooted in deuteronomy it can be found other places in pentateuch as well but it's really heavily emphasized in deuteronomy and then it gets carried on through joshua and actually other books that we'll look at in just a minute so let's define what deuteronomistic theology is it's really very simple it can also be called retribution theology and it's very simply stated obedience brings blessing disobedience brings curses and the kind of the gold star example of this in the book of deuteronomy that you can find it many places is in chapter 28 we mentioned this when i did the quick overview of deuteronomy structurally but if you look with me at deuteronomy 28 just briefly you get starting in verse three um so three through six your um editor may have um set aside those verses to look a bit more poetic because they're kind of they're poetry um poetic at least um so what does it say you will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country the fruit of your womb will be blessed the crops of your land these young of your livestock the calves of your herds the lambs of your flocks your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed you will be blessed when you come in blessed when you go out again that we've seen that two sides of a spectrum we call that marism blessed when you come in blessed when you go out and everywhere in between is how we're supposed to understand that poetic device um so when does that blessing come look up at verse one if you fully obey the lord your god so here we are at the end of the second giving of the law it's all been laid out for god's people if you fully obey all of this this is the blessing you receive so then so that expands a little more through verse 14 and then i get to verse 15. however if you do not obey jump down to 16 if you see that poetry you will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed the fruit of your womb will be cursed the crops of your land the calves of your herd the lambs of your flocks you will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out and every place in between so do you see the clear antithesis right if you obey this kind of blessing if you disobey exactly the opposite cursed in all the ways you would have been blessed so that is the idea of deuteronomistic theology again that's highly emphasized throughout the book of deuteronomy so when we when we look at that theological perspective we kind of start to say okay is that only in the book of deuteronomy and we begin to see that we find this theological perspective throughout scripture now i'm not going to do a complete survey and i'm not going to read all of this i'm going to go through this very fairly quickly so feel free to jot down um references and i'm just trying to pick a few places as demonstrating i'm not trying to proof text here just to show you a few demonstrated places where we see this so where do we see deuteronomistic theology throughout the bible well one of the place we see it is in the deuteronomic history also known as dth so the deuteronomic history obviously see the connection with these two words and then their connection to the book of deuteronomy so again the idea of a tetratuck or a hexatuke is this close linking and maybe even an authorial or redactional linking of deuteronomy and joshua but actually the deuteronomic history that continues this thread continues through judges through samuel and through kings that's typically what we call deuteronomy joshua samuel and kings and judges ruth which is in our in normal protestant ordering follows in after judges because of its association with the judge's time period ruth would not be part of the deuteronomic history um again authorially or redactionally but where do we see this in the books of joshua in the books of samuel in the books of kings well in joshua we see the blessing of taking jericho because of the obedience of joshua and the people and then immediately the curse of the defeat at i because of the disobedience of aitkin um in in samuel we have david um the curse for david's sin is that he loses his son solomon in kings since you have not kept i will tear the kingdom away from you and we can go on all the way through the kings even though as as we we begin extending out we we begin to see that there are longer time periods before people experience um their consequences their curse ultimately we see at the end of the deuteronomic history so the end of kings what has happened the disobedience of the northern kingdom of israel the disobedience of the southern kingdom of judah has landed them both in the same spot and that is in babylonian exile they have no land they have no king they are a scattered and defeated people um because of their disobedience okay so that's the dude where we see this theology played out in the deuteronomic history we see it in psalms here we have psalm 1. psalm 37 25 the psalmist here says i have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread right because the righteous receive blessing so i've never seen their children poor or needy proverbs ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 14 for god will bring every deed into judgment including every hidden thing whether good or evil and the under the implicit understanding here is the good things that god thinks that god judges good will receive blessing things that god judges evil will receive cursing that's kind of the the implied understanding here the book of job we see this so here we are in chapter four this these verses are being spoken by one of job's friends or comforters then we move to the new testament and we see places where we continue to see deuteronomistic theology emphasize so here we have with jesus with paul i'll throw these up here this is the little apocalypse or the olivet discourse this is those on the right and those on the left come you who are blessed depart from me you who are cursed there's this very clear emphasis on that that idea of how you have lived brings blessing or curse and then in matthew chapter five i guess i can put that one up there um blessed are you when people insult you when they persecute you but get to this part rejoice and be glad because great is your reward so why are they persecuting you it's because of me so this idea that if you live your life with god and as a representative of jesus and you are even if you're a persecutor before that great because of that great is your reward you're beginning to of course hear maybe some pushback on deuteronomic the theology um here we have in romans 6 6 for the wages of sin is death so sin brings death brings curse but the gift of god is eternal life and of course this is at the end of romans 6 where all the first six chapters of romans have been talking about the way that god has the price that jesus has paid in the way that god has has brought us back into relationship with him so that in chapter six we see that we are no longer we are free from from our bondage to sin and we are now slaves to righteousness so this idea that it is a yes it is a gift of god this reward this blessing of eternal life is a gift from god but it is for those who have believed in faith in jesus and have now become slaves to righteousness of course that kind of goes back in with all of our law discussion all right so clearly deuteronomistic theology is at work throughout the biblical text again just a few pieces that are examples that i wanted to show you but i hope this is already starting to happen in your heart and mind um because it will be happening in the hearts and minds of the people sitting in your congregations um but wait wait a minute wait a minute i don't i don't feel like doing mystic theology works i mean i don't you know i don't feel like my obedience has brought the brought blessing i i'm i'm struggling i'm i'm in pain i'm i've i have lost how am i blessed how is that blessing um you can you can begin you can hear and think about how people may feel about that and so i want to then look at the other side we do find pushback against deuteronomistic theology in the bible meaning places where we don't find that this clear cause effect works it does not work that's what we find there um so blessing doesn't bring i mean obedience doesn't bring blessing and disobedience doesn't bring curses so where do we find that well again i'm going to go through several places but where i really want us to focus is you know where we find it in deuteronomy um so it's so important that we we realize that to simply if you you know give it a name and so this is where it comes from but we we have to nuance our conversation where what does deuteronomy say this is in chapter nine remember i said chapters five through 11 and deuteronomy are such rich theological chapters that's because it both sets out this idea of deterministic theology and it pushes back against it so what is the pushback here understand god says as he's talking to his people about bringing them into the land that it is not because of your righteousness that the lord your god is giving you this good land to possess for you are a stiff-necked people from the day you left egypt until you arrived here you have been rebellious against the lord that's the story of the book of numbers right um so what is god saying here you're a stiff-necked people you're a rebellious people you have been disobedient to me consistently and guess what i'm still blessing you with the land not because of who you are but because of who i am and because what i am committed to doing in this world and with humanity so we already see that the the clear just the obvious one to one blessing obedience equals blessing disobedience equals curses is not that simplistic i'll take you also to chapter 10 and we're not going to just not going to stay here i'll highlight verse verses 12 and 13 and now israel what does the lord your god ask of you but to fear the lord your god to walk in obedience to him to love him to serve the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and to observe the lord's commands and decrees that i am giving you today for your own good um those verses might also echo calls to echo in your brain like um micah 6 8 um what does the lord require of you but to do to do justice to love mercy and to walk humbly with your god i call those boiled down versions of the law that are very helpful um they kind of give us good categories to work in um but of course here we see um to observe um to do all that i am all that i have committed all that i am giving you today so obviously it's boiled down but it includes all the expanded version as well but what i want you to see is what happens in verse 14. because now god goes into this beautiful section where he talks about who he is to the lord your god belong to heavens even the highest heavens the earth and everything is that is in it yet the lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them and he chose you their descendants above all nations and as it is today and then jump now the 17th for the lord your god is the god of gods the lord of lords the great god mighty and awesome who shows no partiality and acceptance accepts no bribes now they're 21 he is the one you praise he is your god who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes so the emphasis in in these verses is that it's all about god it's all about who he is it's because who he is as creator it's because who he is as a god of hessed a god of covenantal loyalty it's because of who he is that blessing is falling upon you his people even though this is true of who you are so that is the the richness of deuteronomy 5 through 11. so keep looking there i'm going to go pretty quickly um we could go through the deuteronomic history i should stop i didn't put that up here we should go through the deuteronomic history and i kind of alluded to it a few minutes ago we get over the hundreds of years of history when israel and then israel and judah were nations we have times when very good kings experience defeat and loss we have times when very bad kings experience long prosperous reigns and die at a ripe old age and i want you to begin to see that already as a pushback against a a really boiled down version of deuteronomistic theology even though ultimately the deuteronomist by the end of kings emphasizes to us look this curse that we're experiencing in the exile is because of our continued disobedience over centuries that's the big emphasis of kings in in pockets of kings you have times when you're like why isn't that disobedient guy getting punishment why is that obedient guy getting you know not experiencing more blessing so i want you to already see that pushback is already wrapped into the deut deuteronomic history okay we're gonna go kind of fast here's psalms another psalm verse a proverb sorry nope not psalms proverbs another proverbs oh i should go back to this one um better to be humble better to be a humble spirit with the needy than dividing plunder with the proud so this idea that the proud those who are disobedient those who are walking disobedience um are experiencing the blessing of wealth of plunder right okay here's another proverbs i should stop but no you don't need to explain ecclesiastes really the whole book of ecclesiastes is a pushback on deuteronomistic theology um the place of judgment wickedness is there the place of righteousness wickedness was there every place i look there's just wickedness there's just there's just disobedience and yet people are you know are prospering the book of job is another place so i said that the other quote on job was from his friend and that is true we often get deuteronomistic theology from the friends in job and then job himself is the pushback job as the innocent sufferer wait a minute i should be receiving blessing and i'm not because i am innocent so i'll go to this job 21 um why do the wicked live on growing old and increasing in power so he's seeing this he says it's not just his experience but what he also observes okay let's get to the new testament in fact everyone who wants to live a godly life in christ jesus will be persecuted so we were already hearing this a little bit again and the previous ones jesus says great will be your reward but the reality is is you might experience persecution paul here very clearly if you want to live a godly life you will be persecuted so again that feels like a push back against domestic theology i want to show you these two in john and in matthew so jesus pushes back against the jewish assumptions what are the jews assuming the jews are assuming deuteronomistic theology so look here in john chapter 9 he went along he saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked rabbi who sent this man or his parents that he was born blind duh right i mean the the disciples are asking an extremely reasonable question based upon the theological perspective of deuteronomy right i look at the evidence you're evident the evidence is that you have been cursed therefore you must be disobedient someone was disobedient um that's really exactly what's happening with job right the friends say job clearly you were disobedient you have been cursed right um so that's what that's what they say here of course we know jesus answer so jesus pushes back here it was neither this man neither that this man sinned nor his parents but it was so that the works of god might be displayed in him so jesus um is pushing back against their assumption here's my my favorite one when we see their assumptions is this is the rich young ruler and he goes away sad because he had great wealth and jesus says truly i tell you it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven when the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished and asked who then can be saved what is their underlying assumption rich people rich people are clearly blessed right therefore they must be very obedient so if the very blessed meaning very obedient people can't get to heaven well goodness i'm you know i'm clearly not as i'm clearly not blessed i'm clearly less blessed or i'm clearly more cursed than they are therefore i must be disobedient this is the assumption that they're working on and jesus's response again it's a pushback with people this is impossible but with god all things are possible so the the [Music] working out of retribution to domestic theology is possible with god from his perspective what he can see how he can truly judge and understand the intent of hearts and minds to live toward him or to turn against him but that's the salvate our salvation the salvation of the least possible person is possible with god but understand what their assumption they were working on was a deuteronomistic assumption um we see it also here let's go fast now matthew 5 you've hit on it already um and i would end with the very fact of the crucifixion right jesus is the ultimate innocent sufferer the one who is fully obedient and yet receives the curse of hanging on a tree which on the idea that i get coming from deuteronomy itself so so what do i do well which one is it then is it deterministic theology or is it not and i i mean i'm i hopefully haven't made this overly simplistic i mean this is a this is very um this could be a very very nuanced discussion but let's consider a few things number one and again it i think it's so important that we try to walk this out for people with who to whom we are ministering and with whom we are ministering because i think this we get really clouded um on this generally the old testament testament agree that there is a cause-effect relationship between human actions human character and our resulting experiences so generally obedience brings blessing disobedient obedience brings curses the way we live impacts what we experience from and with god obviously the the the modern um version of taking deuteronomistic theology too far is prosperity gospel right if you just do this then god will give you and the more god gives you the more you must be blessed so the way we talk about that can be can be very difficult so there is a cause and effect relationship and in the old testament that cause effect relationship tends to be more immediate all right so maybe really clearly early on and then starting to extend as we as we move through the deuteronomic history like we talked about in the new testament the relationship the cause effect relationship between how i act and my resulting experience from god that relationship is often not is is quite often not immediate so in this world we will have troubles but take heart i have overcome the world right that you know we're going to have troubles we're going to be persecuted if you live a godly life you will be persecuted paul tells us but the eventual and eternal cause effect is emphasized ultimately those who are righteous will experience blessing from the hand of god and ultimately those who are disobedient those who live their lives and rebellion against god will experience curses curses and separation from god so again i don't want to make it overly simplistic because there is a lot of nuance there but if we don't i think if we don't walk this out um we can get difficulties in understanding the book of deuteronomy where it is and how it plays out against the rest of scripture so don't boil down deuteronomistic theology to a right or wrong right if somebody says well no blessing doesn't equal obedience doesn't equal blessing that's just no well no it's that's not wrong even if it's not what you're experiencing currently right there there are ways in over the lo the longest view deuteronomistic theology is ultimately true but in a short view it might not be as much so we push back against statements like this since we're sick coven 19 must be god's punishment on the world okay again that's looking at evidence and working backwards therefore god's punishing disobedience okay so we don't want to say boiled down statements like that emphatically and use deuteronomy as our proof text nor do we want to say though oh it doesn't really matter how you know if i sin every day i can't work my way to god anyway so my actions don't matter no that is also wrong we don't we don't want to move them to the other end of the spectrum well since since my experience has been that being obedient didn't bring about blessings i guess i might as well live as disobediently as i want to because it doesn't really matter clearly that doesn't work those are the two the two ends of the spectrum that i think we you will find people on both ends of those spectrum that we want to walk toward the middle to really understand um and and fully um encapsulate all that we find in deuteros related to deuteronomistic theology throughout scripture but again maybe a great place to start is in deuteronomy 5 through 11 where we see the intertwining of both [Music]