Christ Appears to the Disciples on the Mountain in Galilee, Panel from the Maesta Altarpiece,
Duccio di Buoninsegna, c. 1308 – 1311, Museo dell’Opera metropolitana del Duomo (Siena)

Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the First Reading
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40
May 30, 2021

Today we read from the Book of Deuteronomy. It is literally translated as “Second Law” but might be better called the second reading of the law. It is the 5^th book of the Bible and concludes the Pentateuch/Torah and is composed as a series of addresses by Moses to the Hebrews as they prepare to invade Canaan. Moses reviews the law with the people and tells them that without it they will perish. This may seem to be an exaggeration. As we have many times seen in examining these readings, the concerns of the time that the texts were written down are as important as when they occurred and by the time the final edition of Deuteronomy was written, they had both died and rose. Rabbinic Judaism held that Moses lived from 1391 to 1271 BC. Therefore, his original exhortation would have been in the late 1200s BC. This is obviously a guess, and we are not quite certain to what kind of group, he was speaking nor exactly of what the law consisted.

We are on firmer ground during the reign of King Josiah, who reigned between 640 and 609 BC. Two developments marked his times. In 627, the Assyrian king, who effectively controlled Judean kingdom, died and there was a succession battle. Josiah saw this as a moment to seek independence. Around the same time, he started to renovate the temple and discovered a copy of the law. This we may assume is the central part of the book of Deuteronomy. (12:4-7) This discovery provoked a religious revival and part of this revival was editing this primitive version of Deuteronomy and adapting it for his day. (32-34)