50 Fun Facts About Deuteronomy

Which mountain did Moses climb from the plains of Moab to see the promised land he would never enter?

Mount Nebo rises about 700 metres in present-day Jordan, and from its top the LORD showed Moses the whole land from Gilead to the Negev before he died there. Pope John Paul II climbed it in 2000.

How old was Moses when he died in Moab, 'yet his eyes were not weak', according to Deuteronomy 34?

120 is also the age Moses states in Deuteronomy 31 when he tells Israel 'I am no longer able to lead you', even though the book insists his sight and vigour had not failed.

What food does Deuteronomy 8 say God sent to teach Israel that 'man does not live on bread alone'?

Manna, 'which neither you nor your ancestors had known', was meant to humble Israel into dependence, and Jesus quoted the lesson back to the devil when told to turn stones into bread.

Which word completes the Shema, the prayer that opens 'Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is ___'?

One ends the creed that observant Jews recite every morning and evening and traditionally speak as their last words, and Jesus quoted it when a teacher of the law asked which commandment mattered most.

What reason does Deuteronomy 5 give for keeping the Sabbath, where Exodus 20 points to the six days of creation?

Their years as slaves in Egypt are the motive: 'Remember that you were slaves in Egypt', so Deuteronomy's Sabbath is framed as rest owed to servants and animals rather than as an echo of creation.

Who buried Moses in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in a grave whose site 'no one knows' to this day?

The LORD himself is the subject of 'He buried him' in Deuteronomy 34, which is why the Epistle of Jude can picture the archangel Michael disputing with the devil over the body of Moses.

Whom did the LORD commission at the tent of meeting, in a pillar of cloud, to lead Israel after Moses?

Joshua son of Nun was 'filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him', and the book that follows Deuteronomy in the Bible carries his name.

How many of Jesus' replies to the devil in the wilderness of Matthew 4 are quotations from Deuteronomy?

All three come from Deuteronomy 6 and 8: 'bread alone', 'do not put the Lord your God to the test' and 'worship the Lord your God', each introduced with the words 'It is written'.

Which ritual object grew from Deuteronomy 6's command to tie God's words 'as symbols on your hands' and foreheads?

Tefillin are the small leather boxes bound to the arm and head at weekday morning prayer, with the Shema passage written on the parchment inside them.

Which animal does Deuteronomy 14 call unclean because it 'has a divided hoof' but 'does not chew the cud'?

The pig fails one of the two tests while the camel, rabbit and hyrax fail the other, and the same chapter bans touching their carcasses as well as eating the meat.

From which mountain were six tribes to pronounce the curses in Deuteronomy 27, facing the blessings on Gerizim?

Mount Ebal, the northern of the two peaks flanking Shechem, also got an altar of uncut stones and the law written on plastered stones, and a structure found there in 1980 has been argued to be that altar.

What relic of Og king of Bashan, 'more than nine cubits long', does Deuteronomy 3 say still stood in Rabbah?

His iron bed measured over thirteen feet by six, fitting for 'the last of the Rephaites', the giants of the region, and Rabbah is today's Amman in Jordan.

Which animals must Israel's king not 'acquire great numbers of', under the law of kings in Deuteronomy 17?

Horses were Egypt's export, and 1 Kings 10 records Solomon importing them from there by the thousand, breaking this rule along with the one against piling up silver and gold.

Which apostle, preaching at Solomon's Colonnade in Acts 3, applied Deuteronomy 18's promised 'prophet like me' to Jesus?

Peter had just healed a lame beggar at the temple gate, and he quotes Moses' promise of a prophet 'from among your own people' to a crowd, warning that anyone who ignores him 'will be completely cut off'.

What does Deuteronomy 21 say of anyone 'hung on a pole', in a verse Paul applied to the crucifixion in Galatians?

He is under God's curse, so the body must be buried the same day rather than left overnight, which is why the Gospels have the bodies taken down before the Sabbath.

Which two fibres does Deuteronomy 22 forbid wearing 'woven together', right after banning mixed seed in a vineyard?

Wool and linen are still kept apart by observant Jews by the rule called shatnez, and Leviticus 19 gives the same ban alongside one on mating different kinds of animals.

What must an Israelite release when taking eggs or chicks from a nest found by the road, in Deuteronomy 22?

The mother bird goes free 'so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life', the same reward the Ten Commandments attach to honouring parents.

What does Deuteronomy 23 tell soldiers to carry with their equipment, for when they relieve themselves outside the camp?

Something to dig with was required because 'the Lord your God moves about in your camp', so the latrine had to be outside it and every hole covered over.

What is the most lashes a judge may order in Deuteronomy 25, lest a fellow Israelite 'be degraded in your eyes'?

Forty was the ceiling, and to be sure of never exceeding it later courts stopped at thirty-nine, the 'forty lashes minus one' Paul says he received five times.

Which animal must not be muzzled 'while it is treading out the grain', a Deuteronomy 25 line Paul quotes about pay?

An ox that treads grain must be allowed to eat as it works, and Paul turns the verse into an argument that preachers deserve a living in 1 Corinthians 9 and 1 Timothy 5.

What does a widow remove from a brother-in-law who refuses to marry her in Deuteronomy 25, before spitting in his face?

His sandal comes off in front of the elders and his line is branded 'The Family of the Unsandaled', a rite Jewish law still performs as halizah when a brother declines a levirate marriage.

Which people does Deuteronomy 25 order Israel to 'blot out' for attacking the weary stragglers on the road from Egypt?

Amalekites cut down the stragglers when Israel was 'weary and worn out', and 'Do not forget!' is still read in synagogues on the Sabbath before Purim, since Haman is styled a descendant of their king Agag.

Which two peoples may not 'enter the assembly of the LORD', even in the tenth generation, in Deuteronomy 23?

Ammonites and Moabites are barred for refusing Israel bread and water and hiring Balaam against it, yet Ruth the Moabite marries Boaz and becomes the great-grandmother of King David.

What does Deuteronomy 14 forbid boiling in milk, the verse behind the kosher separation of meat and dairy?

A young goat boiled in milk is banned here and twice more in Exodus, and the rabbis widened that one line into separate dishes and waiting times for meat and milk.

What does Deuteronomy 14 let a far-off Israelite buy with tithe silver at the sanctuary, alongside cattle and sheep?

Wine or fermented drink is on the approved list, 'or anything you wish', so the tithe ends as a feast eaten 'in the presence of the Lord your God' with the whole household rejoicing.

At the end of every how many years must creditors cancel the loans of fellow Israelites, in Deuteronomy 15?

Seven years matches the sabbatical rest for the land in Leviticus, and the chapter warns lenders not to turn stingy with the poor as the year of cancellation draws near.

Which men do Deuteronomy 20's officers send home before battle, in a rule Gideon later used to thin his army?

The afraid and fainthearted join men with a new house, a new vineyard or a fiancée in being excused, and Gideon used the rule in Judges 7 to send 22,000 of his 32,000 men home.

What does Deuteronomy 24 have a husband write before sending from his house a woman he finds 'indecent'?

A certificate of divorce is what the Pharisees cite to Jesus in Mark 10, and he answers that Moses allowed it only 'because your hearts were hard'.

Which creature does Deuteronomy 7 say the LORD will send among the Canaanites until even survivors in hiding perish?

The hornet is promised in Exodus 23 as well, and the farewell speech that closes the next book credits it with driving out the two Amorite kings, 'not with your own sword and bow'.

Why does Deuteronomy 7 say the LORD chose Israel, a people it calls 'the fewest of all peoples'?

Because he loved them and kept his oath to their ancestors is the only reason given, and two chapters later Moses adds that it was 'not because of your righteousness'.

Which king of Judah heard Hilkiah's 'Book of the Law', found in the temple and long identified with Deuteronomy?

Josiah responded by tearing his robes and launching a purge of idols and high places that matches Deuteronomy's demand for a single sanctuary, which is why scholars link the scroll to the book.

Which metal will the sky become over a disobedient Israel, in the curses of Deuteronomy 28?

Bronze overhead means a sky that gives no rain, and the chapter goes on to turn 'the rain of your country into dust and powder' that falls from the skies instead.

What does Deuteronomy 29 say 'belong to the LORD our God', in the verse that closes the covenant renewal in Moab?

The secret things are left with God at the close of the covenant renewal in Moab, one chapter before Moses promises that Israel will be gathered back from exile if it turns to him again.

Where did Moses tell the Levites to place his written Book of the Law, to remain 'as a witness against you'?

Beside the ark, not inside it, is where the scroll went, since the ark held the two stone tablets, which is why Hebrews 9 lists tablets, a gold jar and Aaron's staff inside but no book.

How does Deuteronomy 34 say the LORD knew Moses, a way in which 'no prophet has risen in Israel' since?

Face to face is also how Deuteronomy 5 says the LORD spoke to all Israel 'out of the fire on the mountain', yet the people begged Moses to go and hear the voice for them.

How many days' walk does Deuteronomy 1 reckon from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea, a trip that took Israel a generation?

Eleven days is the distance the book states in its opening verses, a quiet rebuke before Moses retells how the spies' report at Kadesh Barnea turned a short road into four decades.

What does the Greek title of Deuteronomy mean, in contrast to its Hebrew name Devarim, 'words'?

Second law is what the Greek Deuteronomion means, and it stuck because the book restates the Ten Commandments and much earlier law, while the Hebrew name takes the book's opening line, 'These are the words'.

Which faculties must love the LORD in Deuteronomy 6, in the verse Jesus named the greatest commandment?

Heart, soul and strength is the Deuteronomy wording; Matthew's Jesus says 'heart, soul and mind' and Mark's adds all four, and the verse follows straight after the Shema's opening line.

What will obedient Israel be 'and not the tail', according to the blessings of Deuteronomy 28?

The head, not the tail, is reversed in the curses later in the chapter, where the foreigner living among them 'will be the head, but you will be the tail' and lends to Israel instead of borrowing.

Which pet name for Israel, linked to the Hebrew for 'upright', does the Song of Moses say 'grew fat and kicked'?

Jeshurun appears only four times in the Bible, all but one of them in Deuteronomy, and the Song of Moses uses it to mock a people grown 'heavy and sleek' who 'abandoned the God who made them'.

Which of Jacob's twelve sons has no tribe named in the Blessing of Moses in Deuteronomy 33?

Simeon is the tribe left out, which fits Jacob's deathbed words on his violence in Genesis 49 and the tribe's later absorption into the territory of Judah.

What does Deuteronomy 5 put first in its list of what not to covet, where Exodus 20 starts with the house?

His wife heads Deuteronomy's list and gets a verb of her own, which is one reason the Catholic and Lutheran numbering splits coveting into two commandments, the ninth and the tenth.

At which waters does Deuteronomy 32 say Moses and Aaron 'broke faith', costing Moses his entry to the land?

Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin is where Numbers 20 has Moses strike the rock twice instead of speaking to it, though in Deuteronomy 1 and 3 Moses blames the people: 'because of you the Lord was angry with me'.

Which line of the Song of Moses does Paul quote in Romans 12, telling readers to leave room for God's wrath?

'It is mine to avenge; I will repay' is quoted again in Hebrews 10 as a warning, and Paul's point in Romans 12 is to feed a hungry enemy rather than pay him back.

Who could flee to the cities Moses set aside east of the Jordan in Deuteronomy 4 'and save their life'?

One who killed by accident, 'without malice aforethought', was safe there from the avenger of blood, and Bezer, Ramoth and Golan were matched by as many cities west of the river once the land was taken.

What does Deuteronomy 23 say to do with a slave who has fled to Israel from a master elsewhere?

Let them live where they choose, 'in whatever town they choose', and do not oppress them, says a chapter that also bans charging a fellow Israelite interest on money or food.

What word must 'all the people' answer after each of the twelve curses the Levites recite in Deuteronomy 27?

Amen answers curses on anyone who makes an idol and hides it, anyone who leads the blind astray on the road and anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.

What title does the Song of Moses give God in its opening verses: 'He is the ___, his works are perfect'?

Rock is the Song's refrain, from 'the Rock their Savior' that Israel rejected to 'their rock is not like our Rock', a title Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel and the Psalms pick up.

What does Deuteronomy 4 call the LORD, 'a jealous God', in a phrase the Letter to the Hebrews repeats?

A consuming fire is Hebrews 12's closing warning too, and Deuteronomy uses it right after recalling that Israel saw 'no form' at Horeb, only fire and a voice.

What must Israel's army do first when it marches up to attack a distant city, in Deuteronomy 20?

Offer it terms of peace, and if the city opens its gates its people become forced labour; only the cities of the nations inside the land are denied the offer, with nothing 'that breathes' left alive.