This is one of my favorite books. It was published twelve years ago, and is now only available on used book sites or in used book stores. Why do I love it? It is easy to read, was written by a fellow lawyer who is now with the Lord, and it is a book I wish I had written. As it’s preface says: “In the style of Dante’s Virgil, Hal, a retired pastor, becomes to young lawyer Chris both a Moses figure and a guide through Deuteronomy.” It is a fascinating study of the mind of God, seen as a story. Why should we want to go deep into what at first glance seems like a historical litany of ancient laws?
For our Jewish brothers and sisters, it contains the teachings and speeches of Moses, summarizing all that he had learned from the Lord over a period of forty years.Moreover, it details a covenant between God and a people He chose to specially bless and through whom all peoples on the face of the earth would be blessed. It is a handbook of instructions on how we all should live, how we should relate to God and to our fellow humans in our very challenging world. For Christians, it is the most often quoted Old Testament book by Jesus and the New Testament writers. It has been said that if all we had was the Book of Deuteronomy, we would have a deep understanding of the mind of God and His purpose for all of us in his world.
But it can be hard reading on your own. It repeats a great deal of material from Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. If you are not careful, it can put you to sleep. But reading Couser’s work is like being part of a story, a fellow traveler on a fascinating journey of discovery, and it is a great book to read over thirty four days, one chapter at a time (one chapter for each chapter of Deuteronomy). I especially enjoy reading it out loud to my wife. I have given away more copies than I can count. It is just a special blessing.
Let me cite just one example. In the second verse of the very first chapter, we find what seems like an obscure parenthetical phrase: “(It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir Road.”) In my over six decades of periodically reading through this text, I never paused to explore its deeper meaning. To quote Couser, at page 12, the purpose “is to contrast the ease of God’s way with the difficulty of man’s. Horeb is Sinai—where the law was given. Kadesh Barnea was the place they were supposed to jump off for the Promised Land. You are about to read that part of the story, but the bottom line is that because of their lack of faith, it took the Israelites thirty eight years to make a trip they could have made in eleven days if they had followed the Lord’s command.”
In today’s very difficult and scary times, many people wonder aloud whether God is still in charge. Is he asleep? Does he really care about us? Read Psalm 121 for your answer. The children of Israel sang it as they ascended the heights towards Jerusalem, as they faced very real dangers at every bend in the road.
Read it, pray it, and sing it. Do not worry or despair. Just keep your focus on God.
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