INVITED TO KNOW GOD

THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY

TRANSFORMATIVE WORD

A. J. CULP

Series Editors

Craig G. Bartholomew & David J. H. Beldman

Invited to Know God: The Book of Deuteronomy.

Transformative Word

Copyright 2019 A. J. Culp

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225 LexhamPress.com

All rights reserved. You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at permissions@lexhampress.com.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Print ISBN 9781683593508

Digital ISBN 9781683593515

Library of Congress Control Number:2019949170

Series Editors: Craig G. Bartholomew and David J. H. Beldman

Lexham Editorial: Abigail Stocker, Holly Marr

Cover Design: Kristen Cork

For my children:

Elijah

A little piece of my own soul

walking beside me in this world.

Hadassah

Life’s strongest spell

is a little girl’s love for her daddy.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1: A Lens for Reading

2: Introducing Deuteronomy

3: Deuteronomy 1–4: Memory as a Means of Knowing God

4: Deuteronomy 5–11: Worship as a Means of Knowing God

5: Deuteronomy 12–26: Law as a Means of Knowing God

6: Deuteronomy 27–34: Covenant as a Means of Knowing God

7: Jesus and Deuteronomy: Grace as a Means of Knowing God

Concluding Thoughts

Recommended Reading

Oh to grace how great a debtor,

daily I’m constrained to be.

Let thy goodness like a fetter,

bind my wandering heart to thee.

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

E. Margaret Clarkson adaptation

1

A LENS FOR READING

I would like to begin by offering an analogy for reading this book, one that comes from Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. You will remember the story, I’m sure: Ebenezer Scrooge finds himself caught up in an unwanted adventure, being whisked around by three Christmas spirits, the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. The Ghost of Christmas Present is the one we’ll find helpful for reading Deuteronomy.

The ghost appears as a jolly giant in a green robe, a wreath of holly on his head and an empty old scabbard on his side. He sits in the midst of a grand feast and holds a torch like a cornucopia; a roaring fire fills the hearth and “living green” ivy and holly and “bright gleaming berries” grow in the room like a garden. When Scrooge peeks around the corner, the ghost calls out, “Come in and know me better, man!” The ghost then transports Scrooge around the city to witness things happening at that very moment. Scrooge finds the scenes are of two kinds: some of joy and festivity, others of want and despair.

One poignant image comes at the closing of the scene portraying the Cratchit family: “ ‘I see a vacant seat,’ replied the Ghost, ‘in the poor chimney-corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will ...