Deuteronomy is a book about a community being prepared for a new life. Hardship and the wilderness lie behind; the promised land lies ahead. But in the present moment, there is a call for a new commitment to God and a fresh understanding of the nature of the community of God's people. Though the scene is set more than three thousand years in the past, Deuteronomy is still a book of considerable contemporary relevance. The book of Deuteronomy, however, is not only a book of contemporary relevance. It has been, and continues to be, one of the most important and debated works in modern biblical scholarship. - Author's preface.

A lost treasure for large segments of the modern world, the book of Deuteronomy powerfully repays contemporary readers' attention. It represents Scripture pulsing with immediacy, offering gripping discourses that yank readers out of the doldrums and back to Mount Horeb and an encounter with divine Word issuing forth from blazing fire. God's presence and Word in Deuteronomy stir deep longing for God and move readers to a place of intimacy with divine otherness, holism, and will for person-centered community. The consistently theological interpretation reveals the centrality of Deuteronomy for faith and powerfully counters critical accusations about violence, intolerance, and polytheism in the book.

“The book of Deuteronomy can rightly be called a compendium of the most important ideas of the Old Testament.” So begins this commentary on the book of Deuteronomy, which Bill Arnold treats as the heart of the Torah and the fulcrum of the Old Testament—crystallizing the themes of the first four books of the Bible and establishing the theological foundation of the books that follow. After a thorough introduction that explores these and other matters, Arnold provides an original translation of the first eleven chapters of Deuteronomy along with verse-by-verse commentary (with the translation and commentary of the remaining chapters following in a second volume). As with the other entries in the New International Commentary on the Old Testament, Arnold remains rooted in the book’s historical context while focusing on its meaning and use as Christian Scripture today. Ideal for pastors, students, scholars, and interested laypersons, this commentary is an authoritative yet accessible companion to the book of Deuteronomy.

The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today's context. To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today's world, each passage is treated in three sections: Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context. Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible. Contemporary Significance. This section identifies comparable situations to those faced in the Bible and explores relevant application of the biblical messages. The author alerts the readers of problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved. This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today's preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God's Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.

This overture provides the interested reader with a fresh approach to commentary writing, one that engages all the traditional concern with total coverage of the text in question, but with the added feature of uniting that commentary under a single set of larger working concerns. The first-time reader of Deuteronomy is introduced both to the standard critical issues and to the text itself, but within the context of a concern to understand the book's abiding theological legacy. Christopher R. Seitz, from the Editor's Foreword

"Goodness like a fetter." The hymn "Come Thou Fount" reminds us that God's laws were created to draw us closer to him. But reading the law is intimidating. Deuteronomy is a long and ancient book full of speeches and laws for a wandering people on the cusp of entering a land filled with hostile nations. What could Deuteronomy have to say for modern readers who face vastly different issues? Invited to Know God shows that Deuteronomy is simply about knowing God. The book is a divine portal, drawing people into the ancient presence of God. To understand God better, we need to understand Deuteronomy better. Rather than being a dusty book of ancient laws, Deuteronomy calls those who love God to know Him better, choose the path to life, and flourish under His loving wisdom and guidance. God's laws bind our wandering hearts to him.

Like the book of Romans in the New Testament, the book of Deuteronomy provides the most systematic and sustained presentation of theology in the Old Testament. And like the Gospel of John, it represents mature theological reflection on God's great acts of salvation, in this case associated with the exodus of Israel from Egypt. Unfortunately, for many Christians, Deuteronomy is a dead book, either because its contents are unknown or because its message is misunderstood. The essays in this collection arise from a larger project driven by a passion to recover for Christians the life-giving message of the Old Testament in general and the gospel according to Moses in particular. The "meditations" cover a wide range of topics, from explorations into the meaning of specific texts to considerations of the ethical and homiletical relevance of the book for Christians today.