Week 37 - ends of Deuteronomy and Proverbs

Boxset Binge the Bible

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the final chapters of the books of Deuteronomy (20 to 34) and Proverbs (27 to 31).

In lots of ways, we might not appreciate the revision sections of old laws. There are lots of questions about how they were conceived, what they meant to people, and what - if anything - they might mean to us today. What can we gain from understanding them better?

Being outside the Jewish family and the covenant described in Deuteronomy, we don’t have a duty to follow its rules, but we can appreciate something about what God was doing. The social order created by this covenant helped to define people and create a sense that they could live and grow in relationships and trust.

We can still wonder how much of what this society practised would benefit us today, but it might be more helpful to see its formation as a signpost towards even better life in the future. Was “an eye for an eye” ever intended to encourage vengeance, or to limit it? And was it meant to be the final state of the life God wanted for people, or more of a step towards the ability to forgive and love enemies, as Jesus expected?

The ending of Proverbs might also create more questions than answers. The writer realises that they have not, in the end, learned wisdom. There is still much for them to learn. How important is it to recognise the depths of what we still don’t know, especially in relationships? Can seeing ourselves on a continuing journey help us gain from Proverbs’ final picture of ideal life as a source of hope and encouragement instead of an unrealistic burden?

In the next part of our boxset, we begin the book of Chronicles, another re-telling of familiar material from a different viewpoint which can help us understand God’s people and their history in more depth. Listen along at your own pace at severnvineyard.org/bible.