"Why Did the Lord Do Thus to This Land?": Deuteronomy 29:21-28 in Historical and Textual Contexts

Abstract

The present study offers a critical-historical analysis of Deut 29:21-28. The analysis focuses on the question of whether Deut 29:21-28 continues the previous section of verses 15-20, and refers to tribal devastation, as a minority of Jewish exegetes maintain, or begins a new section of its own, and refers to national devastation, as is generally maintained by most commentators and critics. Related to this is the question of whether the material in this section is pre-exilic or exilic. It is the thesis of this paper that these and other difficulties are best understood as reflecting the changing textual and historical contexts in which the passage was set. The core material of the passage appears to predate the fall of the northern kingdom, and to have been transferred to its present context from an earlier version of Deuteronomy 28. It was moved to its present position by a Judean editor after the fall of the northern kingdom, where it was used to show that Moses correctly predicted the devastation and exile of the north (verse 27, editorial), and that the Judeans must follow the law if they wish to escape the same fate (verse 28, editorial). After the fall of Judah, the entire passage was supplemented with Deut 30:1-10, which reinterpreted it as referring to both Israel and Judah, without distinction. It is only at this stage in the development of the material that we find the emergence of the idea that exile does not represent a final end, but is a prelude to repentance and a return to the land.