Having already written much on Moses and Deuteronomy in the past, it’s hard to believe that Daniel Block could turn out this additional massive volume. Amazingly, it’s rich material. A few things about Mr. Block’s perspective are undeniable when you get into this book: he loves the Old Testament and calls it the First Testament to keep the New Testament from stealing its spotlight, Moses was more of a pastor/shepherd than a lawgiver, and the Book of Deuteronomy is more about grace than law. Even though he writes about very scholarly subjects, there is a clear passion in his voice.

He gives us readers help on many fronts. He explains Deuteronomy’s overall role, the concept of hearing the Word of God, genre, a perspective of the covenant, explanation of the law, a great deal about the structure of Deuteronomy, followed by several chapters of a more theological nature. In those chapters, he explains prayer, divine violence, the fear of the Lord, eschatology, the kingdom, Moses as a prophet, and a final challenging chapter on comparing Moses and Galatians, all regarding Deuteronomy.

Even though many of the chapters of this book have been talks or submissions to scholarly journals that he has given over the last 20 years, I was impressed at how they fit together to provide a unified book. To me, this is the most important and helpful book on Deuteronomy of the type that discusses issues beyond what you can get in a regular commentary that I am aware of. Mr. Block plies his scholarly trade with the best of them. This is an impressive book!

Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers, already known for their impressive array of older and out-of-print titles that are still quite important, here joins the big boys in providing an important scholarly work that compares and surpasses many being released by the older, more established publishers today. The book itself is attractive, well designed, filled with copious footnotes, as well as nice charts, maps, and other helpful aids to learning.

We have a winner here. I suspect this book will be influential for many years to come. I highly recommended it!

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.