By Dr. Samuel M. Frost
Deuteronomy 4 contains within it foundation aspects of what continues throughout the rest of the book. Within it, I will show that Paul is laboring under its rubric of Israel’s “scattering among the nations.” First off, let us read the pertinent passages.
4:7, For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him?
Here we can find the idea of God’s kingdom being “nigh” or “at hand” (same word) echoed in Psalm 145:18, “The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” He is always “near” or “at hand,” and is not “afar off” (Acts 17:27). However,
4:13, And he declared to you his covenant.
This covenant contained within it curses for disobedience (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28). One of these curses is expulsion from the land (exile).
4:26, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed.
Here, we find that the threat is that if Israel sins in ways that are entirely without honor to God, then God will “utterly destroy” them, without exception.
4:27, And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you.
We should notice here that Israel is to be “scattered among the nations.” That is, they will not live in their land, but in the lands of the nations around them. This is not God forsaking his covenant, but acting upon it. It is, however, not the last word. Israel is still Israel, but they are no longer operating as a nation-state (with king, military, economics, or religious practices). They are now living among the nations.
We may note, too, that “few in number” represents the idea of “remnant,” which is a theological subject matter in and of itself, and widely discussed in academic contexts. What happened to the idea of “utterly destroyed”? We have seen this “pattern” before. God stated that he was going to “wipe out all flesh,” but yet “Noah finds grace in his eyes.” This is constant pattern of God announcing “utter destruction,” yet not quite bringing that about (again, another widely discussed subject, especially in the Prophets). Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds (Romans 5:12-ff.).
4:29, But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Here we find grand themes of seeking and searching for the LORD. What must be noticed, however, is that this seeking in while they are among the nations, scattered. “From there” is referring to “the nations” where they have been scattered. God will hear them while they are living among the nations.
4:30, When you are in the tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice.
The Hebrew text has, “the tribulation,” with the article (“the”). The word, zar (“distress, tribulation, affliction”), is also rendered in many places as “adversary” or “enemies.” We find this idea in many places, but one will suffice, “In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears” (2 Samuel 22:7). The Hebrew reads, “in the tribulation of me” (“in my distress”). The Septuagint has the verb, thlibo, which is a cognate of thlipsis, a word we often find translation from Greek as, “tribulation.” Paul uses this “Hebraism” of sorts in 2 Thessalonians 1:6, “For it is indeed just of God to repay with tribulation (thlipsis) those who are tribulating (thlibo) you.” The idea of God “repaying” is found often in Deuteronomy. “I will repay vengeance to mine adversaries (zar), And will recompense them that hate me” (32:41); or in our text of chapter 4, “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (4:24). In other words, God protects his people who call out to him and seek him.
Yet, in 4:30, Israel is said to be in “the tribulation” when they are “scattered among the nations.” And, we have the added phrase, “in the latter days.” We will come back to this again. For now, when they are among the nations for punishment, they can “call on the LORD” and “return to the LORD” while among the nations. We must make this point forcefully.
4:31, For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.
And there it is. God’s mercy, and patience. He does not “utterly destroy” them (as they deserve), but instead continues to reach out his ever-merciful hand to those who repent (return to Me), and call on his Name.
4:32, Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created man on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of?
Here we have “former days” reaching back a couple of thousand years to the creation of Adam, and this idea of “the latter days.” Obviously, in the context, “the latter days” are to be some time in the future. Israel had been “exiled” before, only to return to the land under Cyrus the Persian King. However, they never returned with the full force of what the Prophets foresaw. It was a “remnant” that returned. In spite of their being scattered, God had not utterly “forsaken” his people. This idea is found in Leviticus as well, “Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God. But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD” (26:44-45). In spite of all their sins, God will remember his oath and promise and will not utterly destroy them, nor renege on his covenant promise. Even if they break the covenant, God will keep his promise; even if that means making a new covenant! This is the great mercies of God, his unfathomable patience and grace. Look and learn at how much he “put up with” the sins of Israel, and yet still held out his hands!
Now, when we come to Paul, who was all too familiar with Deuteronomy, he discusses this very thing in Romans 9-11. If we place his words in the Deuteronomist context, we can then see what he means when it comes to Israel and the Jews.
First, “theirs are the promises…and the covenants.” “Theirs” here is unquestionably, “Israel’s” (9:1-5). That Paul is quite aware of the fact of Judea’s coming catastrophe is a given. Jesus’ words were that Judea would be exiled, driven to the nations, as recorded by Paul’s companion, Luke. Luke records, “for there shall be great affliction on the land, and wrath on this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captives into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the nations till the times of the nations be fulfilled” (Luke 21:24). These are the words of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. The enigmatic phrase, “times of the nations be fulfilled” gives us no notion of definite time-length. Israel/Judea is to be “scattered among the nations.” But, as we have seen, God does not break his word. In times of exile, if any while “among the nations” call on His Name, he will save them.
It is, also, recorded by Luke the “the last days” began with the Ascension of Jesus (Acts 2:17). That the apostles saw themselves as living “in the last days” (the same phrase found in Deuteronmy 4:30) is also easy to demonstrate (Hebrews 1:1). What would be “in the last days” for Judea/Israel? “When you are in the tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice” (Deuteronomy 4:30). However, “For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them” (4:31).
Now, let’s look at Paul again. “The word of God has not failed” (Romans 9:6); Rather, God has planned to “make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory” (9:23); And upon whom shall he make these “riches” known? “From out of the Judeans” and also, “out of nations” (9:24). For Paul, the “riches of His Glory” is found in the opening, “to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life” (2:7). That is, in “the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works” (2:5-6). This Day, when the dead are raised and judged, is “on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus” (2:16). Paul’s Gospel is directly tied to That Day. He says the same thing in Acts 17:31, “because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” Before this Day, however, God’s “patience and loving kindness” forestalls itself through the preaching of the Gospel, giving each person who hear the Gospel time to “repent.” “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4).
For Paul, those among the Israel of old, and the Jews in his day, as well as those to be “scattered among the nations” in the Roman expulsion (70-136 AD)[1] are to be “revealed as sons of God” (Romans 9:26). He had already commented on this in 8:19, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” That is, in typical Jewish theology, at the end of creation, “the glory of the children of God” will be made “manifest” (8:21). That is, “waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption of our body” (8:23). The resurrection of the body, and its glorification (8:30) would be “in that Day.” And, it is precisely here that Paul calls, “the adoption” and “the glories” as “theirs” – Israel’s.
Continuing, in Romans 10:6 Paul quotes Deuteronomy to the effect we have been offering above. He also quotes Joel 2:32 in Romans 10:13 (already, as we have seen, quoted by Peter as recorded by Luke in Acts 2:17). Paul then moves to quote Isaiah noting that Israel has all along “heard” the good news of God through Moses and the Prophets. In 10:19 he again quotes Deuteronomy! Then he asks, “Has God cast off his people? By no means!” (11:1). He has not cast off his people “whom he foreknew” (11:2), those who have, who are, and who will “call upon His Name” out of the nations to whom they are scattered. “Did they stumble that they should fall? By no means!” (11:11). Just because God is going to bring about their “scattering” at the hands of the Romans, and bring about and end to their national distinction does not mean, in light of the promise, that God has or will utterly forsake them! This would make the “righteousness of God” a total sham! He can’t even keep “the promises” made to them “for glory”!
That Paul has, all along, had resurrection in mind should be plain by now. Returning to the idea of “riches,” he makes it very plain: “Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!” (11:12). What is meant by “their full inclusion”? “For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life out of the dead?” (11:15). And there it is. The manifestation of the sons of God, the redemption of the body, made manifest “in that Day” when God judges the world, will be as the result of God keeping his Promise to make those who have truly “called upon the Name” of God within Israel “glorified” children of God, who will “inherit the world” (Romans 4:13) as a result. Creation will have ceased her groaning.
That is, “in the latter times,” in “the tribulation,” when Judea is once again “led away as captives into all nations,” a “remnant” of them will “call on the Name” and be saved until “the glory” and “the redemption” comes “in that Day.” Paul does not have in mind any restoration of Israel in terms of what we see with respects to the United Nations (1948, and “Israel” as a Nation). That is not on his radar. What is on his radar is that “the last days” have occurred. They are in full swing. They will remain in full swing, with Israel “scattered among the nations” in exile, until the dead are raised, and Israel together with the Nations who have called out to her God, are made manifest as “children of God.” God promised to Israel that he would bring her into eternal “glory.” He promised Abraham that his seed shall be eternally blessed. God also promised that Abraham, and his children, all of them who have called on God’s Name, shall all inherit the world forever; a “new heavens and a new earth,” wherein all the Nations and Israel shall be eternally blessed and in eternal submission to God in Glory.
Thus, “the latter days” and “the tribulation” mark the time of Israel’s being “scattered among the nations,” which in turn means “riches for the nations” (Romans 11:12), and “reconciliation” for the world (11:15) through resurrection of the dead and the glories to follow. Echoing Deuteronomy 4:32 we find Paul concluding with, “how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” (Romans 11:33-36); “For ask now of the days past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?”
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands… Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come…. And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9-14). God keeps his word. The Righteous shall inherit God’s Creation.
[1] We may note here Schlomo Sand’s work, The Invention of the Jewish People (London: Verso. 2020), which catalogues the scholarship on Roman expulsion. There was no large scale expulsion for we can account of Jews still living in the land well after 136 AD. There was an expulsion of sorts, but it was not that every single individual “Jew” was removed. I do not agree with Sand’s liberal-critical belief (he denies, for example, the existence of Abraham, Moses, etc.), but his work on this matter is well attested.
Vigilate et Orate 