Thank you for the answer. Are you saying that Deuteronomy is similar to the teaching of Jesus: “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.”? That is, it would be understood that the strong language was not meant to be literal but nonetheless was intended to impress the importance of the point?
That’s an interesting theological idea that you could certainly build an interesting thesis around! To be honest, I think you are looking too closely at the text without considering it as a whole, in a historical and social context. This is so important to a better understanding of Scripture in my opinion.
I don’t think the Deuteronomic authors are exaggerating in order to make a point. I think for their audience the point was self evident. I think better examples of the kind of actions you are asking about exist in the historical books (Judges and Joshua), although the destruction of the Amorites in Dt. 2 is pretty nasty!
The historical nature of these books should be taken into context. The Bible contains a variety of literary genres and understanding what is what aids interpretation no end. Modern people find these acts shocking, but one should perhaps bear in mind that the ancient world did not share our outlook. Their ethical principles often placed national survival above any personal goods and identified success in war or politics with the will of their god or gods. In many respects the Old Testament is a story of how the Hebrew God stood in direct opposition to this, and how the Israelites came to understand this—slowly, from the warrior God of Exodus and the Historical books, to the exilic re-evaluation of Yahwsim without the Temple. God is order in Genesis compared with the chaos and capriciousness of contemporary deities and creation myths. The Deuteronomic editors imbued the stories of history with an emphasis on a pattern that goes like this:
the people sin, bring down YHWH’s wrath upon themselves then later repent, are delivered by a judge sent by God, and finally gain peace while the judge lives.
The wisdom literature of the Old Testament marks a transition in thinking which utilises contemporary philosophy to ask questions about human responsibility, creation, suffering and the remoteness of God; questions which were relevant to every culture then, just as they are now. John Paul II acknowledged this in his encyclical Fides et Ratio when he stated the wisdom literature contained a “
treasury of cultures and civilisations which have long since vanished”. Israel’s faith in YHWH gave this cultural treasure trove of wisdom a unique character. Ultimately, this philosophy developed within Israel to the point where we see the author of the book of Wisdom reading Sacred Scripture with a mind that appreciated the legitimate insights of Hellenistic reflection.
Looking toward the New Testament~ Deuteronomy often inspired preachers of the word in early Christian communities as they discerned that Jesus redeemed the history of his people and they knew him to be a “prophet like Moses” (Dt. 18:15) there are also resonances of Deuteronomy echoing through Jesus vocabulary as he implants God’s word on the hearts of all who believe in him. In his temptations, Jesus redeems the history of Israel by reliving their experience and overcoming the power of Satan precisely where they had weakened. At the transfiguration, the Father admonishes the audience “Listen to him” in an allusion to Jesus as the fulfilment of Moses’ promise (Mk 9:7; Mt 17:5; Lk 9:35; cf Dt 18:15). Matthew also portrays Jesus as the New Moses who positions himself on the mountain to give the people the new law (Mt 5:1-7:29) as anyone who has read Joseph Ratzinger’s book Jesus of Nazareth will remember. In Deuteronomy Moses commissions Joshua and then is last seen on a mountain. The Gospel of Matthew portrays Jesus the risen Lord in a similar fashion: in the last scene he commissions his disciples on a mountain (Mt 28:16-20; cf. Dt 34:1-12).
Deuteronomy’s concern for the state of the believer’s heart prepares us for Jesus’ correction of the Pharisees’ preoccupation with externals (Mk 7:1-9, 20-23; cf. Dt 6:4-6; 10:12-22). The Deuteronomic presentation of obedience provides a foretaste of Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel of John, “if you love me you will keep my commandments” (Jn 14:15; 15:10; cf. Dt 6:4-9; 7:9-11; 10:12-13; 11:1). As in Deuteronomy so in John the disciples are not rigid legalists listening to the
voice and not just the words of their shepherd (Jn 10:1-5; cf. Dt 26:17).
God’s release of his word through the mouth of his prophets guides the course of history. The Deuteronomists were so convinced of this that they wrote a complete history of Israel’s existence in the Promised Land to illustrate how the prophetic word shapes the community of faith.
) of other culture’s sense of being a people or nation. God’s judgment was on the nation as a whole. (After death, our judgment is individual and personal.)