Readers Guide: “The Word for Today” Saturday, October 13, 2012 Read – Deuteronomy 1 & 2 The book of Deuteronomy is one of the more important books in the Old Testament for Christians to read and understand. Jesus and the gospel writers quoted often from this book. The book of Deuteronomy is also important for the Old Testament and the people whose story is told there. The word “Deuteronomy” means “second law.” That is the character of a good deal of this book – it tells again the story related in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. It is for that reason that we can omit those books in favor of the more condensed version in Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy also makes adjustments in what was written earlier and reflects a slightly different theological perspective – a perspective actually more in tune with Christianity. The book of Deuteronomy casts itself as a sermon of Moses given just before his death when the people of God were on the east bank of the Jordan River about to enter the Promised Land. Those who have studied this book in detail have noticed that the book is actually at least two sermons. The first four chapters form the first sermon. It is actually doubtful that Moses actually preached these sermons on the banks of the Jordan. As I mentioned it contains a great deal of material that is also included in Leviticus and Numbers. That material would have made for a long and rather boring sermon. We are going to omit much of Deuteronomy, not because it is not important but because it contains legal material that would be cumbersome for us to wade through. The chapters we have read for today and chapter 3 which is assigned for tomorrow take us on a quick trip from Mount Sinai to the land east of the Jordan River. The primary story to focus on in these chapters is the story of the sending out of the spies to survey the land. They come back and most of them have lost their nerve – only two are willing to trust God, Joshua and Caleb, and only those two will finally enter the Promised Land. This story provides the basis for the 40 years of wilderness wandering – a theme that is picked up especially in the story of Jesus being tempted for 40 days in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry.