HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  16.1 According to the oldest traditions, the nocturnal escape from Egypt occurred on the “new moon” (preferable to month) of Abib, the season in early spring when ears of barley began to ripen (cf. Ex 12.29–32, 41–42; 13.3–4; Num 29.6; 1 Sam 20.5, 18; Isa 1.13; Am 8.5).

  16.2 Presumably firstlings of livestock (flock and herd) were to provide the sacrificial meals during the full term of festivities (cf. Ex 12.5; 2 Chr 30.17–24; 35.7–13).

  16.2, 6 As a dwelling for his name. See notes on 12.5; 12.11.

  16.7 Cook, or “boil” (1 Sam 2.13, 15); cf. Ex 12.9; 2 Chr 35.13.

  16.8 Solemn assembly. A sacral convocation concludes the festivities (cf. Ex 13.6; Lev 23.36; Num 29.35; Isa 1.13; Am 5.21).

  16.9–12 Weeks, later known as Pentecost (e.g., Acts 2.1), is the harvest festival of early summer, when first fruits of grain were to be presented at the sanctuary (cf. Ex 23.16; 34.22; Lev 23.15–21; Num 28.26).

  16.10 Freewill offering, apparently in addition to the mandatory tithe of agricultural produce (cf. 12.6, 17).

  16.11 As a dwelling for his name. See notes on 12.5; 12.11.

  16.13–15 Booths (cf. Lev 23.34, 42–43; Ezra 3.4; Neh 8.14) is the old autumn festival of “ingathering” at the end of the agricultural year (Ex 23.16; 34.22). It seems to have been the occasion for King Josiah’s renewal of the covenant (cf. 31.10–13; 2 Kings 23.1–3) as well as Solomon’s dedication of the temple two centuries earlier (1 Kings 8.2, 62–66).

  16.16–17 In this summary, the spring pilgrimage is designated only as unleavened bread; specification of males as participants reflects older practice (Ex 23.17; 34.23) rather than the Deuteronomic emphasis on inclusivity (vv. 11, 14; see note on 12.7).

  16.18–17.13 The burden of theocratic governance within Israel is to be born by a two-tiered judiciary comprised of city courts in tribal jurisdictions and a consultative council associated with the single sanctuary.

  16.18–20 The whole community (singular you) authorizes judicial administration by a corps of professional judges and officials, probably consisting in large part of dispersed levitical personnel (cf. 1.13–17; 19.17; 21.5; Ex 32.26–29; Josh 21.1–42; 1 Chr 23.2–6; 26.29; 2 Chr 17.7–9; 19.5–11).

  16.19 On the injunctions against partiality and taking bribes, see 1.16–17; 10.17–18 (cf. Ex 23.2–3, 6–8; Lev 19.15; Prov 17.23; 18.5; Isa 1.23; Mic 7.3).

  16.21–17.1 In context, these prohibitions suggest that maintenance of ritual purity is to be a primary judicial concern. For the themes, see 7.5; 15.21 (cf. 2 Kings 23.6, 15).

  DEUTERONOMY 17

  1You must not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep that has a defect, anything seriously wrong; for that is abhorrent to the LORD your God.

  2If there is found among you, in one of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, and transgresses his covenant 3by going to serve other gods and worshiping them—whether the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden—4and if it is reported to you or you hear of it, and you make a thorough inquiry, and the charge is proved true that such an abhorrent thing has occurred in Israel, 5then you shall bring out to your gates that man or that woman who has committed this crime and you shall stone the man or woman to death. 6On the evidence of two or three witnesses the death sentence shall be executed; a person must not be put to death on the evidence of only one witness. 7The hands of the witnesses shall be the first raised against the person to execute the death penalty, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

  Legal Decisions by Priests and Judges

  8If a judicial decision is too difficult for you to make between one kind of bloodshed and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another—any such matters of dispute in your towns—then you shall immediately go up to the place that the LORD your God will choose, 9where you shall consult with the levitical priests and the judge who is in office in those days; they shall announce to you the decision in the case. 10Carry out exactly the decision that they announce to you from the place that the LORD will choose, diligently observing everything they instruct you. 11You must carry out fully the law that they interpret for you or the ruling that they announce to you; do not turn aside from the decision that they announce to you, either to the right or to the left. 12As for anyone who presumes to disobey the priest appointed to minister there to the LORD your God, or the judge, that person shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. 13All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act presumptuously again.

  Limitations of Royal Authority

  14When you have come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,” 15you may indeed set over you a king whom the LORD your God will choose. One of your own community you may set as king over you; you are not permitted to put a foreigner over you, who is not of your own community. 16Even so, he must not acquire many horses for himself, or return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses, since the LORD has said to you, “You must never return that way again.” 17And he must not acquire many wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; also silver and gold he must not acquire in great quantity for himself. 18When he has taken the throne of his kingdom, he shall have a copy of this law written for him in the presence of the levitical priests. 19It shall remain with him and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, diligently observing all the words of this law and these statutes, 20neither exalting himself above other members of the community nor turning aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, so that he and his descendants may reign long over his kingdom in Israel.

  next chapter

  * * *

  17.2–7 Due process in adjudicating capital offenses is illustrated by reviewing prosecution of a case of apostasy (cf. 13.1–11).

  17.2–3 Transgresses his covenant. Cf. Josh 7.11, 15; 23.16; Judg 2.20; 2 Kings 18.12; Jer 34.18; Hos 6.7; 8.1. Sun…moon…host of heaven. Cf. 4.19; 2 Kings 17.16; 21.3; 23.5; Jer 8.2; Ezek 8.16. I have forbidden. See note on 7.4.

  17.4–5 See 13.10.

  17.6 Witnesses. See 19.15–21; cf. Num 35.30.

  17.7 See notes on 13.5; 13.9–10.

  17.8–13 Moses’ authority to arbitrate in cases too difficult for resolution by local courts (cf. 1.17; Ex 18.22, 26) is institutionalized in a judicial council consisting mainly of levitical priests. (This tribunal resembles the one attributed to King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chr 19.8–11.)

  17.8 One kind of bloodshed and another, e.g., between first-degree murder and accidental homicide (cf. 19.4–13). See note on 5.17.

  17.9–12 Levitical competence in judicial affairs seems here to be associated with transmission and authoritative application of Mosaic law (the law that they interpret); cf. 17.18; 31.9; 33.10; 2 Kings 17.27–28; Ezra 7.25–26. Judge, perhaps the king or civil governor (cf. 2 Sam 14.3–20; 1 Kings 3.9; Prov 16.10).

  17.13 See 13.11.

  17.14–18.22 Offices held by virtue of divine election rather than communal empowerment are treated in this central section of the polity.

  17.14–20 Although monarchy is a permissible instrument of theocratic governance, major restrictions are placed on the exercise of royal authority (cf. 1 Sam 10.25).

  17.14 When…and settled in it, a formulaic introduction; cf. 26.1. Like all the nations. Cf. 1 Sam 8.5, 20.

  17.15 On divine designation of kings, usually through prophetic agency, see, e.g., 1 Sam 10.24; 16.1–13; 1 Kings 19.15–16; 2 Kings 9.1–13 (cf. Hos 8.4). One of your own community, lit. “from among your brothers,” i.e., a fellow Israelite (cf. 18.15, 18).

  17.16–17 These injunctions against abuse of royal power seem to have Solomon’s excesses in specific view (1 Kings 10.6–11.8; cf. 1 Sam 8.10–18; Isa 2.7).

&nb
sp; 17.18 A copy of this law (see 4.44–45). The interpretive rendering in the Septuagint, Greek to deuteronomion touto (“this second law–giving” cf. Josh 8.32 [ LXX 9.5]), underlies the familiar name “Deuteronomy.”

  17.19–20 The king’s only stated task is to model obedience to the covenantal torah incumbent on Israel as a whole; so too dynastic succession and national tenure in the land are parallel rewards for fidelity (cf. 5.32–6.2; 2 Sam 7.10–16; 1 Kings 2.4; Ps 132.11–18).

  DEUTERONOMY 18

  Privileges of Priests and Levites

  1The levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no allotment or inheritance within Israel. They may eat the sacrifices that are the LORD’s portiona 2but they shall have no inheritance among the other members of the community; the LORD is their inheritance, as he promised them.

  3This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the two jowls, and the stomach. 4The first fruits of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. 5For the LORD your God has chosen Levib out of all your tribes, to stand and minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for all time.

  6If a Levite leaves any of your towns, from wherever he has been residing in Israel, and comes to the place that the LORD will choose (and he may come whenever he wishes), 7then he may minister in the name of the LORD his God, like all his fellow-Levites who stand to minister there before the LORD. 8They shall have equal portions to eat, even though they have income from the sale of family possessions.c

  Child-Sacrifice, Divination, and Magic Prohibited

  9When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you must not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of those nations. 10No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, 11or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead. 12For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the LORD; it is because of such abhorrent practices that the LORD your God is driving them out before you. 13You must remain completely loyal to the LORD your God. 14Although these nations that you are about to dispossess do give heed to soothsayers and diviners, as for you, the LORD your God does not permit you to do so.

  A New Prophet Like Moses

  15The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophetd like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.e 16This is what you requested of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: “If I hear the voice of the LORD my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.” 17Then the LORD replied to me: “They are right in what they have said. 18I will raise up for them a prophetf like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet,g who shall speak to them everything that I command. 19Anyone who does not heed the words that the propheth shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. 20But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.” 21You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the LORD has not spoken?” 22If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.

  next chapter

  * * *

  a Meaning of Heb uncertain

  b Heb him

  c Meaning of Heb uncertain

  d Or prophets

  e Or such prophets

  f Or prophets

  g Or mouths of the prophets

  h Heb he

  18.1–8 Other texts sketch the broader scope of work performed by the levitical bureaucracy (cf. 10.8–9; 17.8–12, 18; 20.2–9; 21.5; 31.9; 33.8–11). Here the concern is to establish the perquisites of Levites who serve at the single sanctuary.

  18.1–2 The sacerdotal profession, supported chiefly by sacral prebends, is a prerogative distinguishing the clans or guilds that comprise the whole tribe of Levi from Israelite tribes granted territorial dominion (cf. Josh 13.14, 33; 18.7; 21.1–42; 2 Chr 31.2–19).

  18.3 The priests’ due. Cf. Lev 7.28–36; Num 18.8–20.

  18.4 First fruits, “choice” portions representing the tithes of agricultural produce (cf. 14.22–29; 26.1–15; Num 18.21–32; Neh 13.10–13).

  18.5 See 10.8; cf. Ex 32.25–29; 1 Sam 2.27–28; Jer 33.17–22; Mal 2.2–7.

  18.6–7 Residing. Lacking their own tribal territory, Levites “sojourn” among the landholding tribes (cf. Judg 17.7; 19.1). Eligible Levites retain the right to officiate at the single sanctuary (cf. 2 Kings 23.8–9; 2 Chr 11.13–15).

  18.8 Income, apparently, e.g., from the sale or lease of family fields and homes (cf. Lev 25.32–34; Num 35.1–8; Jer 32.6–15).

  18.9–22 Although prophecy, in contrast to pagan divinatory practices, is a legitimate medium of revelation, individual prophetic claims to speak on the Lord’s behalf must be rigorously assessed.

  18.9–12 Polemic against abhorrent practices of those nations (see 12.29–31; 20.17–18; also notes on 7.1; 7.25–26) frames proscription of various types of occultism (cf. Ex 22.18; Lev 19.31; 20.6, 27; 1 Sam 28.3–19; Isa 8.19–20; Ezek 21.21).

  18.10 Child sacrifice (pass through fire; see note on 12.31) is also associated with mantic practices in Deuteronomic indictments of both the Northern Kingdom, Israel, and King Manasseh of Judah (2 Kings 17.17; 21.6), while Josiah is credited with implementing the prohibitions (2 Kings 23.10, 24).

  18.13 Completely loyal connotes personal “integrity” or “blamelessness” (e.g., Gen 6.9; 17.1; Job 12.4; Ps 18.23; Prov 11.5).

  18.15–18 Prophecy, manifest as an authoritative role rather than in a fixed office, is legitimated on the model of Moses’ mediation between God and Israel at Horeb (5.23–33; Ex 20.18–21; cf. 2 Kings 17.13; Jer 7.25–26).

  18.15 Like me, i.e., a fellow Israelite (cf. 17.15); 34.10 is different.

  18.18 I will put…prophet. Cf. Ex 4.12–16; Jer 1.9; 15.19; Ezek 3.1–4.

  18.19 Cf. Jer 11.21–23; Am 7.10–17.

  18.20 Unauthorized prophesying, whether in the name of other gods or the Lord, is a capital offense; see 13.1–5 (cf. Jer 14.13–16; 23.9–40; 28.12–17; Ezek 13).

  18.21–22 On the criterion’s utility, see 1 Kings 22.5–28; Jer 18.5–12; 28; Ezek 12.21–28; 33.30–33; Jon 3.10–4.5; Hab 2.1–3.

  DEUTERONOMY 19

  Laws concerning the Cities of Refuge

  1When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land the LORD your God is giving you, and you have dispossessed them and settled in their towns and in their houses, 2you shall set apart three cities in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. 3You shall calculate the distancesa and divide into three regions the land that the LORD your God gives you as a possession, so that any homicide can flee to one of them.

  4Now this is the case of a homicide who might flee there and live, that is, someone who has killed another person unintentionally when the two had not been at enmity before: 5Suppose someone goes into the forest with another to cut wood, and when one of them swings the ax to cut down a tree, the head slips from the handle and strikes the other person who then dies; the killer may flee to one of these cities and live. 6But if the distance is too great, the avenger of blood in hot anger might pursue and overtake and put the killer to death, although a death sentence was not deserved, since the two had not been at enmity before. 7Therefore I command you: You shall set apart three cities.

  8If the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he swore to your ancestors—and he will give you all the land that he promised your ancestors to give you, 9provided you diligently observe this entire commandment that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God and walking always in his ways—then you shall add three more cities to the
se three, 10so that the blood of an innocent person may not be shed in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, thereby bringing bloodguilt upon you.

  11But if someone at enmity with another lies in wait and attacks and takes the life of that person, and flees into one of these cities, 12then the elders of the killer’s city shall send to have the culprit taken from there and handed over to the avenger of blood to be put to death. 13Show no pity; you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you.

  Property Boundaries

  14You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker, set up by former generations, on the property that will be allotted to you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

  Law concerning Witnesses

  15A single witness shall not suffice to convict a person of any crime or wrongdoing in connection with any offense that may be committed. Only on the evidence of two or three witnesses shall a charge be sustained. 16If a malicious witness comes forward to accuse someone of wrongdoing, 17then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days, 18and the judges shall make a thorough inquiry. If the witness is a false witness, having testified falsely against another, 19then you shall do to the false witness just as the false witness had meant to do to the other. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 20The rest shall hear and be afraid, and a crime such as this shall never again be committed among you. 21Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

  next chapter

  * * *

  a Or prepare roads to them