“‘Therefore behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when it will no longer be said, “As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” but, “As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them.” For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers'” (Jer 16:14-15).
Paul’s reference to Deuteronomy 30:11–14 as “the word of faith which we are preaching” (see Rom 10:6–8) has raised many eyebrows among both laymen and New Testament scholars. Why? Because it appears to many that Paul is forcing Yeshua and the New Covenant into a passage in the Hebrew Bible where they don’t belong. After all, Deuteronomy 30 is speaking about the Sinai Covenant (see Deut 30:8, 11), isn’t it?
Based on its unique cluster of vocabulary, themes, and motifs, we can see that Jeremiah was drawing his vision of a new exodus from an even greater prophet—whose name is Moses
Well, actually, Deuteronomy 30 was the go-to chapter for the eschatological vision of Israel’s prophets. In Jeremiah 16:14–15, Jeremiah anticipates a new and greater exodus after Israel’s exile. And a new and greater exodus obviously requires the coming of a new and greater Moses. But this vision didn’t simply fall directly from heaven into the pen of Jeremiah the prophet. Based on its unique cluster of vocabulary, themes, and motifs, we can see that Jeremiah was drawing his vision of a new exodus from an even greater prophet—whose name is Moses (see Deut 30:1, 3–5).
So who’s right about the message of Deuteronomy 30—the modern scholars, or Jeremiah the prophet and Paul the apostle? As for me, I’ll place my bet with the inspired old-timers.
“And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers… So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place” (Acts 26:6, 22).
