Miller is less technically detailed than the major critical commentaries but remarkably perceptive about the theological movement of Deuteronomy. He is especially strong on Torah as instruction and preaching rather than merely legislation, the relationship between the Shema and Decalogue, Sabbath and social justice, love and obedience, covenant, land, and the book’s recurring summons to decision “today.” His exposition repeatedly gets to the theological heart of passages without becoming abstract, and his treatment of Deuteronomy’s open-ended rhetoric is particularly effective in showing how Moses’ appeal continues to confront every subsequent hearer. Many of Miller’s insights develop earlier work by scholars such as von Rad, Lohfink, McBride, and Weinfeld, and readers seeking detailed philology will need another commentary alongside it. Nevertheless, for understanding what Deuteronomy is theologically trying to accomplish, Miller remains exceptionally illuminating.

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Princeton Theological Seminary