Good Land

Deuteronomy means “the second law” (from Greek deuteros “second” and nomos “law), more precisely, the second time the law was recited. The YHWH God gave the law to Moses as the Hebrews left Egypt and entered the wilderness journey (recorded in Exodus). Forty years later, they were about to enter the land they eagerly waited for, and Moses reminded them of the law one more time before they entered. This is why the Ten Commandments, for example, are in Exodus 20 (the first utterance) and Deuteronomy 5 (the second utterance). One unique feature in Deuteronomy is the repetition of the phrase “good land” (nearly 20 times). For example, Moses said to the Hebrews, “I will not cross the Jordan, but you are about to cross over and take possession of the good land” (Deut 4:22). Because of this, the term “good” (tov in Hebrew and agathos in Greek) was associated with YHWH God who freed them from slavery and gave them a land to live in.

One day, a ruler of the Hebrews approached Jesus and said,

“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit a lasting life?” (Luke 18:18).

That ruler was like Nicodemus or Saul-Paul, who kept the laws from childhood. He would have known the first and third laws that said, “You shall have no other gods before me” and “You shall not use YHWH’s name in vain” (Deut 5:7, 11). He shouldn’t be calling anyone good other than YHWH God. So, the Lord asked,

“Why do you call me good; no one is good except the One God” (Luke 18:19).

Jesus was quoting a portion of a statement that the Hebrews often repeated, called “the Shema”—“Hear, O, Israel, for your Lord God is One” (Deut 6:4). Unlike the nations around them, they were to have just One God. They shouldn’t worship other gods (the first of the Ten Commandments). Jesus’s question was to challenge his orthodoxy and knowledge of the law.

Before the ruler could answer, Jesus continued:

“You know the commandments that you mustn’t be committing adultery, murdering, stealing, making false testimonies, but instead honoring your father and your mother” (Luke 18:20).

That would have been the way to have a lasting life in the good land God gave the Hebrews at the time of Moses and the land the ruler was living in. The ruler knew and replied that he had kept them since his youth, bar mitzvah, the day he became a son of the covenant (Luke 18:21).

Hearing him, Jesus said to him,

“You’ve left out one thing: sell every wealth you have, give them to the poor, and you’ll have treasures in the heavens. Then, follow me” (Luke 18:22).

This, too, was in Deuteronomy:

“There should be no poor among you in the land YHWH your God is giving you as an inheritance. Then he will richly bless you” (Deut 15:4; also 15:5, 11, 24:12; 24:14).

The ruler had forgotten that law or selectively ignored it because he was a very wealthy man. (The Greek has the adjective sfodra, which means “very very.” He was like a modern-day billionaire.) Because of that, he chose to ignore Deuteronomy 15:4 and went away sad. He wanted to keep his earthly and heavenly wealth. He wanted God to keep blessing him while he wouldn’t share wealth with the poor.

God blesses us so that we can be channels of blessings to others, not to horde it. Sadly, with wealth often comes covetousness, thus breaking the Tenth Commandment.