Deuteronomy

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Tanakh
Torah | Nevi'im | Ketuvim
Books of the Torah
1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy (IPA pronunciation: [ˌd(j)utə'rɒnəmi]) is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible. It is part of Judaism's Torah - the first segment of the Tanakh and thus part of Christianity's Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is Devarim דברים ("words"), which comes from the opening phrase "Eleh ha-devarim" ("These are the words..."). The term can also stretch to mean "discourses" or "talks", as is generally the case with the Greek word "logos".

Contents

[edit] Origin of the name Deuteronomy

The English name, "Deuteronomy", comes from the name which the book bears in the Septuagint (ִוץפוסןםליןם) and in the Vulgate (Deuteronomium). This is based upon the erroneous Septuagint rendering of "mishneh ha-torah ha-zot" (xvii. 18), which grammatically can mean only "a repetition [that is, a copy] of this low, low law," but which is rendered by the Septuagint פὸ ִוץפוסןםליןם פןῦפן, as though the expression meant "this second-giving of the law." However, while the name is thus a mistranslation, it is not inappropriate; the book does include, alongside much new material, a repetition or reformulation of a large part of the laws found in the non-priestly sections of Exodus.

[edit] Summary

Deuteronomy consists chiefly of three discourses said to have been delivered by Moses a short time before his death, given to the Israelites, in the plains of Moab, in the penultimate month of the final year of their wanderings through the wilderness.

The first discourse (1-4) is a historical recollection of Israel's disobedient refusal to enter the Promised Land, and the resulting forty years of wandering in the wilderness.

The disobedience of Israel is contrasted by the justice of God. God is a judge to Israel, punishing them in the wilderness, and destroying utterly the generation who disobeyed God's commandment. God's wrath is also shown to the surrounding nations, such as King Sihon of Heshbon, whose people were utterly destroyed. In light of God's justice, Moses urges obedience to divine ordinances, and warns against the danger of forsaking the God of their ancestors.

God's forgiveness and grace towards the young generation of Israelites who are entering the land is a seemigly paradoxical contrast to God's justice. The same God who lovingly gave Israel the promised land, stayed with them in the wilderness as a cloud by day and fire by night. The following laws are also seen as a gift of divine grace.

The second discourse (5-26) is, in effect, the main body of the book, and is composed of two distinct addresses. The first of these (5-11), forms a second introduction, expanding on the Ethical Decalogue given at Mount Sinai. The second address (12-26) is the Deuteronomic Code, a series of mitzvot (commands), forming extensive laws, admonitions, and injunctions to the Israelites regarding how they ought to conduct themselves in Canaan, the land promised by God as their permanent home. This code includes such laws as:

The concluding third discourse (27-30) is hortatory, relating almost wholly to the solemn sanctions of the law, the blessings to the obedient, and the curse that would fall on the rebellious. In this discourse, the Israelites are solemnly adjured to adhere faithfully to the covenant between them and God, and so secure for themselves, and for their posterity, the promised blessings.

After the final discourse, the text describes Moses preparing himself to die. As the main part of preparation, Moses is described as conditionally renewing the covenant between God and the Israelites, the condition being the loyalty of the people, and at the same time, Joshua is also appointed by Moses as heir, a leader to lead the people into Canaan.

These addresses to the people are followed by what are generally regarded as three short appendices, namely:

[edit] Analysis of authorship

[edit] Early Jewish analysis

The Talmud was the first to discuss a problem concerning the assumed premise that Moses wrote the entire five books of the Torah. Based on this premise, it is difficult to understand how Moses could possibly have written the text recording his own death and burial, as well as describing, after his own death, that ... there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses. While some Talmudic rabbis contend that he wrote these verses prophetically, the dominant opinion in the Talmud is that Joshua wrote the final verses of the Torah.

Later Jewish biblical exegetes, notably Abraham ibn Ezra (c.1093 - 1167) also noted the distinctly different meditative style and language of Deuteronomy and stated that a number of verses must have been written by a later author, again probably Joshua. Similarly, in his introduction to Deuteronomy, Don Isaac Abravanel (1437 - 1508) suggested that Deuteronomy had a different author to the rest of the Torah.

Later textual scholars identified a period for the text to have been written within. At the end of the 2 Kings there is a narrative concerning the religious reform conducted during the reign of King Josiah, also recounted more briefly in the Chronicles&verse=34:3&src=! 2 Chronicles 34:3. After eradicating the rival cultic centres to Jerusalem, Josiah purged the Temple in Jerusalem of pagan influences (621 BC). During the process of cleansing, Hilkiah the High Priest found a lost scroll of the Torah.

The biblical story continues that Josiah and Hilkiah went to Huldah the Prophetess to confirm that this was indeed a lost book of the law. She did so, adding that failure to comply would result in the fulfillment of the curses described in the book. As a result, a ceremony only otherwise mentioned in Deuteronomy was conducted. In this ceremony, the king read the entire scroll that was found to the people assembled for Sukkot in order to renew the covenant between them and the Law in a re-enactment of the events at Mount Sinai.

Several rabbis in the Talmud cite a longstanding tradition, echoed by most modern researchers, that the scroll discovered by Hilkiah was none other than Deuteronomy, lost but now recovered by Hilkiah. Deuteronomy is the only book of the Pentateuch to impose the centralisation of worship into a single location where sacrifices were permitted to be offered; in effect, this was the very essence of Josiah's reform[1].

These rabbis also point to various aspects of the story, which are somewhat enigmatic, in their efforts to understand what had actually happened. For example, they ask why the king and high priest chose to go to an otherwise unknown prophetess for confirmation of the text, when there were two major prophets, Jeremiah, and Zechariah, living at that time; the somewhat unsatisfactory answer they give is that Zechariah must have been home that day due to sickness, and that Jeremiah was away on business[2].

In fact, this answer may actually be an indication of the historical importance of the Reform and the conflict it would have generated among the masses. Rather than originate with zealous religious leaders (the prophets), it may have been written by the king and high priest, both of whom were political leaders. By attributing the book to Moses, it would have the same authority as the other books, and its precepts would be similarly observed and respected.

[edit] Modern critical analysis

Main article: Deuteronomist

Despite the apologetics of many religious thinkers, modern academic criticism completely rejects Moses as the work's author. While the book claims to have been written by Moses, such a claim could be made by any author. While there are frequent references to the book in later canonical works, this can simply be explained as the works being written later than Deuteronomy. In particular, while the books from Joshua to Kings reference Deuteronomy at points prior to the finding of Deuteronomy by Hilkiah, this can simply be explained by those books too not being fully written before the reign of Josiah.

Although Israel is represented as being about to enter Canaan, at an early stage in its nationhood, many commandments could only be performed in a state that is highly developed, has the institutions of a king, priesthood, central criminal tribunal, and so forth. Similarly the language within the discourse refers to the land east of the Jordan as being on the other side of the Jordan, implying the author is on the west of the Jordan. a location that Moses supposedly never entered as punishment for smashing the first set of tablets to hold the Ethical Decalogue.

The style and method of this book, and its peculiarities of expression, show that it came from a school of thought separate from the rest of the Torah. In fact, Deuteronomy often refers to itself as a separate code of law (1:5, 8:26, 27:3, 31:26), distinct from the four preceding books of the Bible. Scholars have also noted differences in language and style, the laws themselves, and some anachronisms in the text, such as the variations in the text of the Ethical Decalogue, compared to the version at Exodus 20.

The text is most reminiscent of Jeremiah, with whom the style, and laws, of Deuteronomy have extreme influence. In fact, the style is so strongly similar to Jeremiah, that several scholars have posited him, or his scribe, as the real author. Similarly, it is extremely notable that neither Amos, nor Hosea, nor the undisputed portions of Isaiah, show even the remotest familiarity with Deuteronomy. These facts can easily be explained if Deuteronomy was written after these three prophets and before Jeremiah, placing its creation squarely in the seventh century BC.

Modern biblical scholarship therefore identifies the work as being created in, or very close to, the reign of Josiah. Further study of the other books of the Torah has led to the documentary hypothesis becoming overwhelmingly accepted among academic biblical scholars. This hypothesis identifies multiple authors for the torah, Deuteronomy mostly being considered the work of the deuteronomist ("D"). The Deuteronomist's work is believed to have also included the editing together of earlier histories into the books of Joshua, Judges, Kings, and Samuel.

According to such critical scholarship, the origin of almost 100% of Deuteronomy is as the Shiloh priesthood's response to the Priestly Code, the law code created by the Priestly source ("P"), their Aaronid rivals. It is believed that the original element of Deuteronomy, the portion found in the temple, is the central core, the Deuteronomic Code, at Deuteronomy 12-26. Having been pronounced to the public, it is believed that two alternative editions were created, potentially by the same author, and published simultaneously:

  • one containing the core, as well as the historical introduction, Deuteronomy 1-4, as well as a simple hortatory conclusion, with a list of curses, Deuteronomy 27
  • the other containing the core, as well as the theological introduction, Deuteronomy 5-11, and a more extensive hortatory conclusion, Deuteronomy 28-30

While the first of these editions would present the law as the remembrance by Moses of the events at Sinai, the second presents it in the form of a suzerain-vassal treaty, of a form similar to the Covenant Code. As the Covenant Code is thought, in critical scholarship, to be the much older basis of the Deuteronomic Code, this second edition simply reflects a fuller adherence to its structure.

While the purpose of separate editions could have various reasons, for example one being for the priesthood and the other for the people, it is generally agreed, by textual critics, that at some point, shortly after these versions were written, they were combined together ("Dtr1") mostly in the manner in which they are now found. Subsequently, the great hero of the reform, Josiah, was killed at Megiddo, and the Babylonians conquered and dispersed the kingdom of Israel.

Consequently the positive attitude of the code thus far became less appropriate, and so critical scholarship identifies a second edition of the combined work (known as "Dtr2"), containing additional warnings about obliteration and exile, as well as promises of restoration in the event of repentance. This second edition is believed to also have inserted two originally independent documents, and framings for them, which now comprise the two poems at Deuteronomy 31-33. The account of Moses' death is believed to simply have been moved to where it lies now, Deuteronomy 34, to make way, and accordingly, after the Torah was redacted together, Deuteronomy 34 also gained verses describing the death of Moses from both the Jahwist and the Priestly source.


[edit] Modern Evangelical Scholarly Interpretations

Most Evangelical Old Testament Christian scholars believe that the original author of the book was Moses, and that the book really was lost and recovered for the following reasons:

Internal evidence points to Mosaic authorship.(Deuteronomy 1:1; Deuteronomy 29:1; Deuteronomy 31:1; Deuteronomy 31:9-11, etc

Later books of the Jewish and Christian canons refer to Mosaic authorship (Joshua 8:31; 1 Kings 2:3; 2 Chronicles 23:18; 2 Chronicles 25:4; 2 Chronicles 34:14; Ezra 3:2; Ezra 7:6; Nehemiah 8:1; Daniel 9:11-13)

New Testament authorities point to Mosaic authorship. Matthew 19:7-8, Mark 10:3-4, John 5:46-47, Acts 3:22 and Acts 7:37, and Romans 10:19.

The earliest manuscripts do not indicate alternative authors.

The earliest available Jewish and Biblical oral and written tradition confirms Mosaic authorship.

The author of Deuteronomy, as with many other books of the Torah and the Christian Bible, remains contentious points of debate. For many, however, Deuteronomy is key to a proper Evangelical understanding of the Mosaic law and a contextual understanding of the words of Christ.


[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Online versions and translations of Deuteronomy:

Related articles:

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