This commentary on Deuteronomy, now available in a new casebound edition, meets and exceeds the high standards of the Old Testament Library series. It provides one of the most sophisticated explanations of the compositional process that produced Deuteronomy, presenting that process as a combination of large-scale redactional activity and “micro- redaction.” The commentary is also attentive to the historical background of Deuteronomy’s origins in the reigns of Manasseh and Josiah. The fresh translation that heads each section is followed by insightful linguistic comments that highlight Deuteronomy’s famous homiletical and didactic style. The literary and rhetorical features of the final form of Deuteronomy are everywhere present, and Nelson makes a compelling presentation of their incessant claim on the reader, a claim that effectively urges the reader toward an appropriate response. What emerges most clearly from these elements of Nelson’s commentary is a critical but sympathetic portrait of Deuteronomy’s distinctive theology: its idealistic call for reform, its demand for the centralization of sacrifice, its demand for the eradication of rival religions, its stress on Yahweh’s election of Israel and Israel’s covenant duty, and its confrontation of every serious reader with a moment of existential decision.
Richard D. Nelson is Professor Emeritus of Biblical Hebrew and Old Testament Interpretation at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. He is a pastor with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the author of several books, including Joshua: A Commentary in the Old Testament Library series and First and Second Kings in the Interpretation series.