The Bible in a Year

Old Testament

Numbers 35 to Deuteronomy
28
Special 2 Week Easter Edition
Read this coming week:
Mar 28 Num 35‐36, Ps 80, Acts 3 Mar 29 Deut 1, Ps 81, Acts 4 Mar 30
Deut 2‐3, Ps 82, Acts 5 Mar 31 Deut 4, Ps 83, Acts 6 Apr 1 Deut 5‐6, Ps
84, Acts 7 Apr 2 Deut 7‐8, Ps 85, Acts 8
Apr 3 Deut 9‐10, Ps 86, Acts 9 Apr 4 Deut 11‐12, Ps 87, Acts 10 Apr 5
Deut 13‐14, Ps 88, Acts 11 Apr 6 Deut 15‐17, Ps 89:1‐29, Acts 12 Apr 7
Deut 18‐20, Ps 89:30‐52, Acts 13 Apr 8 Deut 21‐22, Ps 90, Acts 14 Apr 9
Deut 23‐24, Ps 91, Acts 15 Apr 10 Deut 25‐27, Ps 92, Acts 16 Apr 11 Deut
28, Ps 93, Acts 17

Reading Questions
For next week’s readings answer the following:
• Numbers 35-36 – The ending of Numbers seems
to drop off without a real conclusion. Why do you
think Numbers stops here?
• Deuteronomy 1 – This is a review of Israel’s
history and why they wandered for 40 years, why
DID they wander?
• 2 –3 – Why is Moses forbidden to enter the
promised land?
 • 4 – Who do the laws that Moses is speaking
belong to?
• 5-6 – What surprises you about the listing of the
10 Commandments?
• 7-8 – Why does God forbid intermarrying?
• 9-10 – As Moses retells the story in these
chapters, does anything seem different?
• 11-12 – What are Hebrews supposed to do with
the word of God and their door posts?
• 13-14 – What are some of the examples of clean
animals?
• 15-17 – What is “forbidden worship” in the
Israelite nation?
• 18-20 – What title does the person have whom
Moses says God will “raise up …from among you,
from your brothers” to lead?
• 21-22 – What are Israelites supposed to do to men
“hanged on a tree”?
• 23-24 – What does an Israelite man get out of for
the first year of his marriage and why?
• 25-27 – When the Israelites get to the other side
in the Promised Land, what are they supposed to
do first?
• 28 – What is one of the curses for not obeying the
commandments laid out in Deuteronomy?

Deuteronomy – A Retelling
The book of Deuteronomy literally means “2nd Law” or
“2nd Lawgiving”. The book is appropriately titled, as it is
Moses’ farewell and reminder of the Law they have
been following throughout the wilderness wanderings.

A similar portrait is perhaps painted today when a

parent drops off a college student for the first time. The
parent at that point will normally provide some
blessings, but also a serious reminder about the “laws”
and mores that the family believes in.
Moses is providing a similar sense of history to the
people of Israel who are about to go into the promised
land. Remember that all but two of these people do not
remember the crossing of the Red Sea and were born in
the wilderness wanderings. This is a group that needs a
sense of their cultural heritage, especially before they
embark on the last part of their trip and live in the land
provided by God.

It may be good to think of what you might need to be

reminded of from your cultural heritage. One of the
blessings of this Bible in a Year program is that it
immerses you in a retelling of the information from your
heritage – that heritage given to you by God in your
Baptism. As Deuteronomy gave the Israelites both a
sense of their past and of their future, how does the
Bible in a Year program do the same for you?

Deuteronomy – A Treaty
One of the most interesting scholarly breakthroughs in
the study of Deuteronomy was the discovery of several
Hittite Suzerain (sovereign) Treaties. These treaties
established a working order between a suzerain (often a
king or warlord of a tribe) with a vassal (a lower caste
group that agreed to serve the suzerain). Suzerain
treaties would normally be drawn up between the
winning and losing parties so that the losing tribe or
party might be spared their lives.

The interesting thing about these treaties in terms of

Biblical scholarship is that the book of Deuteronomy
seems to follow very closely the format of these
treaties. The treaties mostly looked the same and
usually had this format:

I. Preamble
 II. Historical Prologue (often a retelling of the battle
campaign)
III. Stipulations
a. Basic stipulations
b. Detailed stipulations
IV. Curses and Blessings that will ratify the treaty
V. Succession Arrangements
a. Invocation of Witnesses
b. Provision of Public Reading

As you walk through the book of Deuteronomy, look for

these elements. You will be surprised to find out how
well the standard Suzerain treaty fits the book of
Deuteronomy.

Happy Easter to you and

yours! There will be no Bible
study on April 4th (Easter
Sunday), we will begin again
on April 11th.
Please don’t throw this away. If you’re not going to use it, leave it for
someone else to use.