New International Commentary: The Book of Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy is a book about Israel’s preparation for a new life. Hardship and the wilderness lie behind; the conquest of the promised land lies ahead. What remains at this crucial stage in Israel’s history—the end of the Mosaic Age—is a call for a new commitment to God and a fresh understanding of the nature of the community of God’s people.

Interpreting Deuteronomy from a conservative perspective, Peter C. Craigie highlights the centrality of the book’s theme of covenant commitment while also taking great care to demonstrate how Deuteronomy is a book with considerable contemporary relevance. He uses resources of recent research in Old Testament studies to effectively bridge the gap of more than three thousand years that separates the modern reader from the events described in Deuteronomy, thus clarifying the primary message of the text for the modern reader. In its simplest phrasing that message is “Commit yourself to God wholeheartedly.” Deuteronomy, according to Craigie, provides a paradigm for the kingdom of God in the modern world.

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