Deuteronomy is one of the four Old Testament books quoted most often in the New Testament. It is quoted 83 times. This must have been one of Jesus' favorite books of the OT because: (1) He quoted repeatedly from it during His temptation by Satan in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-16; Luke 4:1-13); (2) it is possibly the outline behind the Sermon on the Mount, Matt. 5-7; (3) Jesus quoted Deut. 6:5 as the greatest commandment, Matt. 22:34-40; Mk. 12:28-34; Lk. 10:25-28 and (4) Jesus quoted this section of the OT (Gen.-Deut.) most often because the Jews of His day considered it the most authoritative section of the canon. Deuteronomy is our major example in the Scripture of reinterpretation of a previous revelation by God to a new situation. An example of this would be the slight difference between the Ten Commandments in Exod. 20 and Deut. 5. Exodus 20 was during the Wilderness Wandering Period while Duet. 5 was preparing the people for a settled life in Canaan. Deut. is a series of messages given by Moses. Part of the
"You Can Understand the Bible"TM series by Dr. Bob Utley, Professor of Hermeneutics (retired). For more of Dr. Utley's Bible study guides, go to
www.freebiblecommentary.org.