January 31st, 2021

The Old Testament reading for the fourth Sunday after the Epiphany of our Lord goes almost to the very beginning; it is a text that is near the end of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible). The text is Deuteronomy 18:15-20. The word Deuteronomy is actually Greek and means ‘second law’. It is a second giving of the law, but it is also a repetition of other things.

When you repeat yourself, you are treating what you are saying as something important. And our LORD is the same way. First and Second Chronicles do that. And the fourfold gospel certainly does that as well.

When you are repeating something that happened in the past, you can describe it as happening in the present, and that can make the event seem even more real and extremely important. You can get caught up in the action that you are relating and, instead of saying, ‘He did this,’ you can switch to saying, ‘He does this.’

To relate an all-important word from the LORD is literally serious business. That is not a time to get caught up in the excitement of telling the story. That is a time to get the story right, and to help the reader or the listener to focus ultimately on the One who is the BEST Storyteller AND the Word-inventor as well! He is the One on his eternal throne, and that throne points to the ramifications of his rule. And sometimes those ramifications are important to point out.

The ramifications of the LORD’s ruling are not too important in Deuteronomy. The retelling of the story in terms of promises kept by our LORD makes it important in terms of an agreement. And in the English translation of that book, there are verbs in all the various tenses—past, present, and future. Whatever is described, the LORD keeps his promises.

In the Greek translation of the Book of Exodus, there is a high frequency of the historical present (when you would expect a past tense, but the translator translated the verb into the present tense). The dynamics of the action itself are certainly important, but more important is their connection to our LORD’s kingship and rule. (For more details regarding this discussion, see the book by T. V. Evans, Verbal Syntax in the Greek Pentateuch, Oxford University Press, 2001, page 119f.)

The book of Exodus is where the LORD clearly reveals himself as King. Sinai was basically the location of his first throne on earth. And his first serious helper was Moses. Then there was the issue of having to deal with another important king, pharaoh. Then the LORD eventually goes with his people. Through these times, while there is a king somewhere in the picture, there is also the historical present in the text. The following are somewhat-literal translations of portions of the verses in Exodus that are indicated in Evans’ list (in Evans’ book, page 120) as containing historical presents:

2:13     And having gone out the second day, [Moses] sees two Hebrew men fighting, and he says to the unrighteous one, ‘Why are you hitting the neighbor?’

4:18     And Moses went, and he returned to Jothor, his father-in-law, and he says….

5:3       And [Moses and Aaron] say to [pharaoh], ‘The God of the Hebrews has called us to him; we will go, therefore, a three-days journey into the wilderness….’

10:7     And the servants of pharaoh say to [pharaoh]: ‘How long will this be a snare to us? Send away the men, that they may serve their God….’

10:9     And Moses says [to pharaoh], ‘With the young and the old we will go….’

10:28   And pharaoh says [to Moses], ‘Go away from me; beware yourself, that you look upon to see my face, and in the day you see me, you will die.’

10:29   And Moses says [to pharaoh], ‘I will not appear again to your face.’

18:14   And Jothor, having seen all the things which [Moses] does with the people, says, ‘What is this that you are doing with the people…?’

18:15   And Moses says to his father-in-law, ‘Because the people are coming to me to seek judgment from God.’

20:20   And Moses says to [the people]: ‘Have courage….’

32:1     And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron, and they say to him….

32:2     And Aaron says to [the people]….

32:17   And Joshua, having heard the voice of the people crying, says to Moses….

32:18   And Moses says [to Joshua]….

32:23   For [the people] are saying to [Aaron], ‘Make gods for us….’

32:27   And [Moses] says to [the sons of Levi]….

33:14   And he [the LORD] says to [Moses], ‘I will go before you….’

33:15   And [Moses] says to [the LORD], ‘Unless you yourself go with me, do not bring me up from here.’

33:18   And [Moses] says [to the LORD], ‘Manifest yourself to me.’

Hopefully these verses do seem a bit exciting since some of the verbs are in the present tense. More important is the extent of the LORD’s involvement in our sinful world. You can fast-forward to the New Testament to see a more complete answer to that.