Whether skimming through a portion of the Bible or studying it in some depth, it is often very important to know which portions of Scripture belong together as a unified section. The first guide, of course, is to just go with the chapter divisions in your English translations. And although these are often quite accurate in identifying discrete portions of the text, they are by no means always foolproof. And even if the chapter-size sections you identify are correct, there then comes the problem of discrete sub-sections within it as well as their relationship to one another, if any.
Let us look at Deuteronomy 8 as an example. Although Cousins treats Deuteronomy 8:1-10:11 as a complete larger literary unit to which he gives the overall title of “Lessons from the Past,” he recognizes, as do almost all scholars, that chapter 8 is complete in itself.
One confirmation of this majority view comes from the observation that the key phrase “the LORD your God” appears exactly ten times in the chapter, “ten” being (along with “seven”) a symbolic representation of completion or perfection. Note that in order to achieve this exact number, the author had to shorten the references to the Deity to “LORD” in verses 1, 3, and 20a. And just the fact that two of these relatively rare times appear in the first and last verses of the chapter is another indication of its unity.
The second indication that Deuteronomy 8 should be considered as a complete unit comes from its beginning words. Craigie notes that this opening is very similar to that of chapter 4, and the call to hear in 9:1 obviously begins a new section. I would also point out that there is an equally strong similarity between the opening verses of chapters 5, 6, and 7.
A third point is brought out by Weinfeld. Verse 1 reads, “You shall faithfully obey all the commandments that I command you today so that you may live and increase and come in and possess the land that the LORD swore to your fathers.” Concerning the underlined pronouns, he says, “The transition from singular in the first clause to plural in the rest of the opening verse is also characteristic of the closing sentences to this chapter.” Thus, in Deuteronomy 8:19-20 the first two second person pronouns are singular while the following ones are plural.
The conclusion Weinfeld draws from this phenomenon is that this “change may allude to [a] framing function of these verses, which indeed form a kind of inclusio [i.e. set of bookends] for the chapter: promise at the beginning and threat at the end.”
But besides the above literary phenomena, we would also like to see some sort of logical progression of ideas in Chapter 8. Here one should be forewarned that the Bible often presents its material in what to us in the Western world appears to be a random order. Let us first compare paragraph divisions and their proposed subject matter in different English translations and according to various commentators:
1. RSV, NRSV, and TEV see two major divisions in Deuteronomy 8: verses 1-10 and 11-20.
2. NEB agrees with the first of these divisions but sub-divides vv. 11-20 into vv. 11-18 and 19-20. J.A. Thompson also treats verses 19-20 as a discrete unit and says, “the section closes on a solemn note. Israel needed to learn that, if she as a nation dishonored her covenant with Yahweh, she would cease to have a claim upon Him.”
3. NIV agrees with the second major division, vv. 11-20, but sub-divides the first one into vv. 1-5 and 6-10. It calls these three units, respectively: “Law is for Discipline,” “God Will Bless You,” and “Beware of Pride.”
4. And the Jerusalem Bible divides both of the two major divisions, giving rise to four sub-units: vv. 1-4, 5-6, 7-10, and 11-20. It does appear that verses 1-4 refer to the past generation's experiences, followed by Moses turning to talk to the new generation and what their experiences in the Promised Land will be.
5. Weinfeld states that verses 7-11a constitute one long sentence, confirmed by Mayes.
6. Cousins labels verses 1-6 as “Wilderness Lessons” and 7-20 as “Danger that Prosperity May Induce Pride.”
7. Then we get the opinion of a source critic like Mayes who proposes that there is both early and late material in this chapter which has been combined together by a still later editor. He identifies the early parts of the text (vv. 7-11a, 12-14, and 17-18a) by the fact that they define “forget” in the sense of “the arrogant ascription to oneself of the power which is Yahweh's.” By contrast, the remaining verses use it in the sense of forgetting the commandments.
At this point, it seems best to take another approach entirely in order to discover the overall rationale to the material in Deuteronomy 8, assuming that there is any. One attempt to do so comes from Lohfink, who is guided heavily by the dictates of source criticism. He proposes an orderly, symmetrical organization shown below:
Figure 1: Lohfink's Organization of Deuteronomy 8
A. Instructional frame (1)
B. Wandering in the desert (2-6)
C. Richness of the land (7-10)
D. Central idea (not to forget YAHWEH) (11)
C'. Richness of the land (12-13)
B'. Wandering in the desert (14b-16)
A'. Instructional frame (19-20)
Although this arrangement is suggestive, it has not been widely adopted by others. Some of its deficiencies include the following:
For one thing, it is incomplete in that it excludes verses 14a and 17-18. In this regard, it is of interest that Weinfeld feels that 14a and 17 “form a smooth connection.”
It breaks up long Greek sentences in the text such as verses 7-11a and 12-17. This is, however, not an overwhelming difficulty in that such phenomena do occur in other biblical texts.
His identified “central idea” of verse 11 is particularly weak in that the same thought appears throughout the chapter.
Craigie feels that Figure 1 is “too precise” and interferes “with the natural punctuation of vv. 11-17.”
In favor of Lohfink's organization are the following:
1. The word “humble” appears in verses 2-3 (B) and 16 (B').
2. Weinfeld notes that verses 2-3,5, and 16 express the same sense of discipline and that “the testing” in verses 2 and 16 “is understood as being initiated by Satan, who represents evil...”
3. “LORD” in place of “LORD your God” appears in verses 1 and 20.
My own proposed structure for this chapter is shown below. It is informed mainly by following the change of subjects throughout the chapter.
Figure 2: Proposed Organization of Deuteronomy 8
A. Obey and Prosper (1)
B. Disciplining in the Wilderness (2-5)
[Keep the Commandments (6)]
C. Prospering in the Promised Land (7-10)
[Keep the Commandments (11)]
C'. Prospering in the Promised Land (12-13)
[Do not Forget God (14a)]
B'. Testing in the Wilderness (14b-16)
[Do not Forget God (17-19a)]
A'. Disobey and Perish (19b-20)
Besides satisfying some of the objections to Figure 1, the following can be noted concerning the arrangement in Figure 2:
1. This structure fits perfectly Craigie's contention that two themes predominate in this chapter: (1) “remember/forget” and (2) “wilderness/promised land.” “The act of remembering prompts obedience to the covenant law, for it brings to the forefront of the mind the reality and faithfulness of God; forgetfulness is tantamount to disobedience, for the self and human concerns have pushed into the background of the mind the reality and claims of God.”
2. Mayes notes that information in 2ff (Section B) is repeated in 14b-16 (B').
3. The four admonitions given in brackets above relate to one another in a number of ways – #'s 1 and 2 are paired through common language as are 3 and 4; both 3 and 4 warn against pride; and “forget” unites #'s 2, 3, and 4.
4. The word “today” appears in admonitions 2 and 4. Mayes explains that “the reference is to the present time during which the covenant was being renewed on the plains of Moab. The words, however, indicate all three temporal dimensions of the covenant. The immediate context refers to the future establishing of the covenant in the promised land. The initiation of the covenant in the past is also in mind: (the covenant which he promised by oath to your fathers). But both past and future are related to the present renewal of the covenant in Moab.”
5. The complete phrase “the LORD your God” acts as a literary indicator of key points in the chapter so that its presence in verses 2 and 5 defines the limits of Section B; it appears similarly in verses 7 and 10 to demarcate Section C; and the phrase appears twice each in sections B and B'.
6. Since there is no real center to this chiasm, and emphasis of the whole chapter can be said to reside in the first (A) and last (A') elements instead. Thus, the two contrasting future fates of Israel in the Promised Land are clearly laid out for the people to understand.
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