EXPLORING BIBLE: DEUTERONOMY

Description

PAUL E BROWN

Deuteronomy can seem rather formidable at first sight, but it is actually one of the most important books in the Old Testament. It consists almost entirely of words spoken by Moses to the people of Israel as they camp in the plains of Moab next to the river Jordan with the promised land awaiting them on the opposite bank. These are God’s people, whom he has taken into covenant with himself. Moses urges them to go forward by faith into the land that God has set before them. He tells them God’s laws and commandments for their new life in the land, weaving his instructions around the principles enshrined in the Ten Commandments.

In this commentary, Paul Brown demonstrates the sometimes surprising relevance of the regulations of Deuteronomy for the churches and the lives of Christian people today. But such relevance is only to be expected, for God is always the same and all his Word, rightly understood, is profitable to lead us to his grace and to guide us in our living.

Paul E. Brown lives near Lancaster, England. He retired after forty-two years in pastoral ministry: first in Southampton (as an assistant pastor), and then in Stoke-on-Trent and Dunstable. For many years he contributed to and edited Go Teach and Grace magazine. He has authored several books, most recently editing Homosexuality: Christian Truth and Love for Day One. He studied at the colleges now named the London School of Theology and Wales Evangelical School of Theology. He is married to Mary, and they have three children and seven grandchildren.

Paul Brown reliably steers the reader through the often-alien landscape of Deuteronomy with clarity and level-headedness. His application to the Christian life, in the reformed tradition of exegesis, is judicious, never fanciful, and pastorally helpful. There is material here to aid both private study and Bible teaching.
—Dr David Green, Lecturer in Hebrew, London Theological Seminary

We are familiar with the importance of Deuteronomy in providing an understanding of the covenantal unity of the whole Bible, but the message of the book is also pastoral and evangelistic, close to the very heartbeat of the Scriptures. Deuteronomy is to the Old Testament what the book of Romans is to the New Testament. It deals with many of the central themes that rise up in the remainder of the Bible. To understand the psalms, writings and prophets you must come to grips with Deuteronomy. To know God’s greatness, his grace, redemption and love we need to study the mighty sermons of Moses in this book. Paul Brown is our inspiring guide in this commentary. He gives us access to these chapters, unerringly selecting the focus of the chief sermons, verses, paragraphs and chapters, showing their relevance for New Covenantal living. The commentary is concise, and yet it deals in some depth with key themes and topics. Charles Haddon Spurgeon in his summary of the best commentaries on the books of the Bible was saddened at the paucity of those on Deuteronomy. He muttered, ‘So few expositions have been written upon Deuteronomy alone the reader would do well to use the commentaries upon the Pentateuch and the whole Old Testament.’ He could commend Calvin (‘everything that Calvin wrote by way of exposition is priceless’) and one other commentary by a man named Cumming, and his three epithets on that work sweetly apply to Paul Brown’s book: ‘Pretty, popular and profitable.’ May many be helped by it to know and adore the God of Deuteronomy, Moses’ great Lord.
—Geoff Thomas, Pastor of Alfred Place Baptist Church, Aberystwyth, and well-known author