Editing Book of Deuteronomy (section)

==Themes==
===Overview===
Deuteronomy stresses the uniqueness of God, the need for drastic centralisation of worship, and a concern for the position of the poor and disadvantaged.<ref>McConville</ref> Its many themes can be organised around the three poles of Israel, Yahweh, and the covenant which binds them together.

===Israel===
The themes of Deuteronomy in relation to Israel are election, faithfulness, obedience, and Yahweh's promise of blessings, all expressed through the covenant: "obedience is not primarily a duty imposed by one party on another, but an expression of covenantal relationship."<ref>Block, p.172</ref> Yahweh has elected Israel as his special property (Deuteronomy 7:6 and elsewhere),<ref>McKenzie, p.266</ref> and Moses stresses to the Israelites the need for obedience to God and covenant, and the consequences of unfaithfulness and disobedience.<ref>Bultman, p.135</ref> Yet the first several chapters of Deuteronomy are a long retelling of Israel's past disobedience – but also God's gracious care, leading to a long call to Israel to choose life over death and blessing over curse (chapters 7–11).

===Yahweh===
Deuteronomy's concept of God changed over time. The earliest 7th century layer is [[Monolatrism|monolatrous]]; not denying the reality of other gods but enforcing only the worship of Yahweh in Jerusalem. In the later, Exilic layers from the mid-6th century, especially chapter 4, this becomes [[monotheism]], the idea that only one god exists.<ref>Romer (1994), p.200-201</ref> God is simultaneously present in the Temple and in heaven – an important and innovative concept called "name theology."<ref>McKenzie, p.265</ref>

After the review of Israel's history in chapters 1 to 4, there is a restatement of the Ten Commandments in chapter 5. This arrangement of material highlights God's sovereign relationship with Israel prior to the giving of establishment of the Law.<ref>Thompson, ''Deuteronomy'', 112.</ref>

===Covenant===
The core of Deuteronomy is the [[Covenant (biblical)|covenant]] that binds Yahweh and Israel by oaths of fidelity and obedience.<ref>Breuggemann, p.53</ref> God will give Israel blessings of the land, fertility, and prosperity so long as Israel is faithful to God's teaching; disobedience will lead to curses and punishment.<ref>Laffey, p.337</ref> But, according to the Deuteronomists, Israel's prime sin is lack of faith, [[apostasy]]: contrary to the first and fundamental commandment ("Thou shalt have no other gods before me") the people have entered into relations with other gods.<ref>Phillips, p.8</ref>

Dillard and Longman in their ''Introduction to the Old Testament'' stress the living nature of the covenant between Yahweh and Israel as a nation:  The people of Israel are addressed by Moses as a unity, and their allegiance to the covenant is not one of obeisance, but comes out of a pre-existing relationship between God and Israel, established with Abraham and attested to by the Exodus event, so that the laws of Deuteronomy set the nation of Israel apart, signaling the unique [[Predestination|status]] of the Jewish nation.<ref>Dillard & Longman, p.102.</ref> 

The land is God's gift to Israel, and many of the laws, festivals and instructions in Deuteronomy are given in the light of Israel's occupation of the land. Dillard and Longman note that "In 131 of the 167 times the verb "give" occurs in the book, the subject of the action is Yahweh."<ref>Dillard & Longman, p.117.</ref> Deuteronomy makes the Torah the ultimate authority for Israel, one to which even the king is subject.<ref>Vogt, p.31</ref>