Part I: Transcendence/Presence (1:1-5)
These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab. (There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea.) And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them; After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei: On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law. . . (Deut. 1:1-5).By the time of the opening words of the Book of Deuteronomy, all the fighting men of the generation of the exodus were dead. In his recapitulation of the story of the wilderness, Moses said: "So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people. . ." (Deut. 2:16). Then Moses re-told the story of the defeat of Sihon (vv. 26-35). This event had taken place before Deuteronomy's narrative began (Num. 21:21-26).
The death of the exodus generation points to the covenantal issue of inheritance. Deuteronomy is the Pentateuch's book of inheritance. Inheritance is point five of the biblical covenant model. The death of the exodus generation had prepared the nation of Israel for the long-promised inheritance: "But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full" (Gen. 15:16).
Meredith Kline identifies this introductory passage as the preamble of the covenant or treaty between God and Israel. "Ancient suzerainty treaties began with a preamble in which the speaker, the one who was declaring his lordship and demanding the vassal's allegiance, identified himself." Deuteronomy's opening words, "these are the words," were common in extra-biblical treaties.(1) Who, then, was the sovereign? Was it Moses himself, as Jordan argues?(2) Or was it God?
Moses the Mediator These opening words reveal that Moses spoke them. The question is: In what capacity? It had to be as a delegated agent. "Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them; After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites. . ." (vv. 3b-4a). Who had achieved the victory over Sihon? God: the same God who had sustained them in the wilderness for four decades. The implication was that God is sovereign over all earthly kings, even as Moses was sovereign over Israel's civil rulers (Deut. 1:13-18). God was also present with the Israelites, delivering their enemies into their hands -- as present as Moses had been in rendering civil judgment (Ex. 18). That is, God is above mankind, yet He is specially present with His chosen people.
This makes God different from both the god of deism and the god of animism. The god of deism is too distant from his creation to influence it. His lack of immanence destroys his sovereignty. His personalism is limited; it applies only to his own being. The world is impersonal. English Deists may never have argued this way, since they were heavily influenced by Christianity, but this is the theoretical meaning of deism. The god that made the cosmic clock no longer interferes with it. At most, he tinkers at the edges of creation. In contrast, the god of animism is a part of the creation and is therefore unable to influence it as a sovereign master. He is immersed in it. He cannot remove himself from it in order to command it. His lack of transcendence destroys his sovereignty. His personalism is limited; he shares it with the world he did not make.
The God of the Bible is sovereign over the world because He made it out of nothing. He is present with the world because He providentially sustains it. The world is personal because God is personal. It does not share in God's being, but it reflects His being. "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse" (Rom. 1:20). The Bible teaches cosmic personalism.(3)
Mediation
This passage resembles part two of the biblical covenant model, which Kline calls historical prologue.(4) Yet Kline lists it as part one: "Preamble: Covenant Mediator."(5) Mediator implies hierarchy; hierarchy is also point two of the biblical covenant model.(6) Why, then, do both Kline and Sutton designate this brief section as part one? If this is merely for the sake of argument, to make the Book of Deuteronomy fit the five-point covenant model, then the power of their argument is weakened.
This is a question regarding the Person who is represented by the mediator. God revealed Himself to Old Covenant people through prophets; Moses was the greatest of these prophets.(7) The words of Moses His servant could be trusted, and had to be obeyed, because God is above men, and He brings judgments in history in terms of His Bible-revealed law. The law-giver is God, the sanctions-bringer. Sihon and Og learned the hard way that God is totally sovereign. To present Himself to the generation of the conquest, God announced His law and sanctions through Moses.
The announcement of God's law and God's sanctions points back to the giving of the law in Exodus. Exodus is the second book of the Pentateuch. It corresponds to the second point of the covenant. Kline calls point two "historical prologue."(8) Moses subsequently recapitulated in Deuteronomy the story of God's dealings with Israel for 40 years in the wilderness (1:6-4:49). God is the God of history because He is ruler over history: hierarchy. He brings His word to pass. In the Book of Genesis, He revealed Himself as the Creator. In Genesis, He presented an account in the first chapter in terms of what He repeatedly said: "Let there be," and the immediate results of His words in history. When God presented Himself in the Old Covenant, He did so, not by announcing a theological proposition, but by declaring what He has done in history. He named Himself: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). Then He gave a detailed account of His acts. Similarly, we read in the opening passage in Deuteronomy, "Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them" (v. 3b). Who is the Lord? The Person who only recently had destroyed Sihon and Og (v. 4), the Person whose law Moses was about to reveal.
Four Decades The Book of Deuteronomy begins six months after Aaron died, in the eleventh month (Deut. 1:3). This marked the end of the wilderness period. Miriam had died in the first month (Num. 20:1). The first month of which year? It had to be the fortieth year. Numbers 20 begins with the death of Miriam and closes with the death of Aaron (v. 28). Aaron died at age 123 (Num. 33:39) in the fortieth year after the exodus: "And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month" (Num. 33:38). The phrase, "the first day of the fifth month," refers to Aaron's death. It cannot refer to the exodus itself, which took place on the fourteenth day of the first month: Passover (Ex. 12:18).
Deuteronomy ("second law") announces the terms of the covenant. It is the second reading of the law. Why a second reading? Because this was preparatory to an act of covenant renewal. The fourth generation after the journey into Egypt (Gen. 15:16) was about to experience corporate covenant renewal. This took place inside the Promised Land at Gilgal: mass circumcision (Josh. 5:5). Before they were told by Joshua to participate in this act of covenant renewal, the generation of the conquest was required to hear the law read in public.
It was not just that they had to hear the law. They also had to be reminded of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt (Deut. 4:20, 34, 37), as well as God's miraculous preservation of Israel in the wilderness (Deut. 8:3-4). The law of God and the nation's deliverance by God were linked: "These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt" (Deut. 4:45). Because the deliverance and preservation of Israel in the wilderness were clearly miraculous events, the God who performed these miracles is above history: transcendent. But because He spoke through Moses, God was also present with His people. His transcendence in no way undermines His immanence -- immanence in the sense of presence. He is not part of the creation, but He is present with His people.(9)
Conclusion The opening passage in Deuteronomy identifies Moses as the spokesman for the God who had delivered Israel and had also defeated two great Canaanite kings. Then began a presentation of this sovereign King's law. But before this law was announced by God's prophet, the Israelites had to be reminded of the power of God in history. God's law is not some sort of natural law order that was part of the cosmos and therefore not distinguishable from the cosmos. It is not a system of impersonal law. It is the law of the God who is sovereign over history.
To persuade the Israelites that He could deliver the long-expected inheritance into their hands, God spoke through Moses. He spoke of His demonstrated power over two Canaanitic kings. He spoke also of His law. As sovereign over history, God is the sanctions-bringer in history. He delivers His promised inheritance in history. He announced His law through Moses after He had slain Sihon and Og. First had come the display of His power; then came the revelation of His law. He possessed the authority to impose His law because He is sovereign over history.
Footnotes:
1. Meredith G. Kline, Treaty of the Great King: The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy: Studies and Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1963), p. 50.
2. James B. Jordan, Covenant Sequence in Leviticus and Deuteronomy (Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1989), p. 58.
3. Gary North, The Dominion Covenant: Genesis (2nd ed.; Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1987), ch. 1.
4. Ibid., p. 52.
5. Ibid., p. 50.
6. Ray R. Sutton, That You May Prosper: Dominion By Covenant (2nd ed.; Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1992), ch. 2.
7. Ibid., ch. 1. John the Baptist was his equal (Matt. 11:11).
8. Meredith G. Kline, Treaty of the Great King: The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy: Studies and Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1963), p. 52.
9. Jesus Christ was God incarnate in history. This is the ultimate manifestation of both presence and immanence. God was in the world but not of it. In His capacity as perfect man, He was of the world. In His capacity as God, He was not.
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