A Tangent

Deuteronomy 29

            I’m going on a bit of a tangent today, but I think it’s helpful to understand one of the ways that a passage like Deuteronomy 29 is misunderstood and misused. Sometimes American Christians read this chapter and apply it as if the Lord was making His covenant with the United States. They read about national judgments—disaster on a watered land and calamities—and they read verse 25, “It is because the people abandoned the Lord.” They conclude, “That’s what’s happening to the US!” and their prescription is a widespread return to the Lord.

            There are a couple of problems with that view from a historical perspective. For example, although the US has historically been a country with a population that predominantly identifies as Christian, there are some real questions about what that actually means. I forget the exact numbers but something like 70% of Americans still identify as Christians, while only about 25% of Americans are actually in church any given weekend. If you claim to be a follower of Jesus but don’t engage the most basic practice of the faith, there’s some real question about your self-identification. I’m not sure there ever was widespread dedication to the Lord to return to.

            Another historical problem is seeing the problems of today as the worst in history. The problem there is that that view usually sees US history through the lens of a supposed golden era, usually in the 1940s and 1950s, but social upheaval, political turmoil, and economic displacement are woven into US history from before the founding of the republic. I’m not sure today’s calamities are that much different from yesterday’s.

            Now, of course, one could say a lot more on all of these topics. I don’t want to minimize today’s upheavals. I just want to introduce a certain amount of perspective to these conversations.

            The real problem, though, is not historical but theological: The Lord is explicitly renewing His covenant with OT Israel. Israel was the people in whom He had embedded His promise of a Savior. Israel needed to stay loyal, holy, free from idolatry so that that promise could set down roots, grow, thrive, and produce the fruit that is the Messiah. As Paul puts it in Romans 9:4-5, “Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.” And, as I have said over and over in this blog, this covenant, this Mosaic covenant, was fulfilled in the work of Jesus and therefore is no longer binding (cf. Galatian 3-4).

            So, how would a contemporary Christian appropriately bring Deuteronomy 29 forward? How shall we understand its implications for us? The Church is the correct successor for OT Israel, not any nation of the world. So, in order to understand this chapter, we have to see the Church’s call to faithfulness, and we would have to see that, when churches fall on hard times, they should reflect hard on whether they have been loyal to the Lord and His words.

            Again, there’s a lot more that could be said, but I thought it was at least important to say what I’ve said.