In the Book of Deuteronomy of the Old Testament, Moses addresses the new generation of Israelites as they are about to enter the promised land. His farewell speech is essentially a sermon that reaffirms God's covenant with his people. However, Moses also stresses the importance of God's laws and the fact that Israel must show absolute faith and devotion to these laws. Deuteronomic theology, therefore, is quite simple: if the Israelites obey God explicitly, they will then receive the benefit of His kindness and good will. If the Israelites disobey God or ignore the requirements of His laws, He will then mete out punishment and retribution. In setting up this conditional covenant, Moses also continually reminds Israel of its history, particularly of its instances of unfaithfulness and disobedience. It is through this discussion that we are able to understand the impact that Deuteronomic theology has on the presentation of history in the Old Testament. At times, this history seems highly prophetic, as inspired by Moses' bold prediction of Israel's repeated disobedience. However, the ideas that Deuteronomic theology puts forth also serve to oversimplify God's actions in history, as every deed committed by the Israelites must be viewed in terms of moral absolutes: obedience vs. disobedience or righteousness vs. wickedness.
The idea of God's conditional covenant with His people has an influence beyond the Book of Deuteronomy itself. In fact, near the end of the sixty years exile in Babylon, the work that was started by Deuteronomy was continued, as the entire history of Israel from the time of Moses to the current day was formally written (Botterweck 110). This includes the Books of Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, and is often known as the Deuteronomistic History because of the very fact that it receives its inspiration from Deuteronomic theology. In this sense, it was meant to demonstrate that ther...