Deuteronomy

 

(dūtərŏn'əmē) , book of the Bible, literally meaning “second law,” last of the five books (the Pentateuch or Torah) ascribed by tradition to Moses. Deuteronomy purports to be the final words of Moses to the people of Israel on the eve of their crossing the Jordan to take possession of Canaan. Moses rehearses the law received at Sinai 40 years previously, reapplying it to the new generation who accept its claim on them at a ceremony of ratification recorded in the Book of Joshua. The history of Israel found in Joshua and Second Kings is written from the Deuteronomic point of view, and is often called the “Deuteronomic history.” Deuteronomy functions as the introduction to this historical work and provides the guiding principles on which Israel's historical traditions are assessed. The bulk of the book is the record of three speeches of Moses, and may be outlined as follows: first, the introductory discourse reviewing the history of Israel since the exodus from Egypt; second, an address of Moses to the people, beginning with general principles of morality and then continuing with particulars of legislation, including a repetition of the Ten Commandments, and a concluding exhortation in which Moses again appeals to the people to renew the covenant; third, a charter of narrative in which Moses nominates Joshua as his successor and delivers the book of the Law to the Levites; fourth, the Song of Moses; fifth, the blessing of Israel by Moses; and sixth, the death of Moses. The legislation is oriented toward life in the Promised Land, with the eventual foundation of a single lawful sanctuary.

Bibliography

See A. D. H. Mayes, Deuteronomy (1979); M. Noth, The Deuteronomistic History (1981); P. D. Miller, Deuteronomy (1990). See also bibliography under Old Testament.

Books of the Old Testament (For details see Biblical canon)

Hebrew Bible or Tanakh Common to Judaism and Christianity Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua (Jesus Nave) Judges Ruth 1–2 Samuel 1–2 Kings 1–2 Chronicles Ezra (see Esdras for other names) Nehemiah Esther Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Songs Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Minor prophets

Included by Orthodox and Roman Catholics, but excluded by Jews, Protestants, and other Christian denominations: Tobit Judith 1 Maccabees 2 Maccabees Wisdom (of Solomon) Ben Sira Baruch, includes Letter of Jeremiah (Additions to Jeremiah) Additions to Daniel Additions to Esther

Included by Orthodox (Synod of Jerusalem): 1 Esdras (see Esdras for other names) 3 Maccabees 4 Maccabees (in appendix but not canonical) Prayer of Manasseh Psalm 151

Included by Russian and Ethiopian Orthodox: 2 Esdras

Included by Ethiopian Orthodox: Jubilees Enoch 1–3 Meqabyan 4 Baruch

Included by Syriac Peshitta Bible: Psalms 152–155 2 Baruch

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 part of Christianity's Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is Devarim דְּבָרִים ("things"), from the opening phrase "Eleh ha-devarim" ("These are the things..."): the term can also stretch to mean "discourses" or "talks". The Greek title "Deuteronomy" comes from the name which the book bears in the Septuagint and 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 law," but which is rendered by the Septuagint פὸ ִוץפוסןםליןם פןῦפן, as though the expression meant "this second-giving of the law."

Summary

Deuteronomy consists of three sermons delivered by Moses to the Israelites in the plains of Moab, in the penultimate month of the final year of their wanderings through the wilderness. The book ends with the death of Moses.

First sermon

Deuteronomy 1-4 is recapitulates 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 with the justice of God, who is 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 the Israelites against the danger of forsaking the God of their ancestors.

Second sermon

Deuteronomy 5-26 is composed of two distinct addresses. The first, chapters 5-11, forms a second introduction, expanding on the Ethical Decalogue given at Mount Sinai. The second, chapters 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 the God of Israel. The laws include:

• The worship of God must remain pure, uninfluenced by neighbouring cultures and their 'idolatrous' religious practices. The death penalty is prescribed for conversion from Yahwism, and for proselytisation.
• The death penalty is also prescribed for males who disobey their parents
• Certain Dietary principles are enjoined.
• A Tithe for the Levites and charity for the poor
• A regular Jubilee Year during which all debts are cancelled
• Slavery can last no more than 6 years, but only if the individual purchased is "thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman."
• Yahwistic religious festivals, including Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot are to be part of Israel's worship
• The offices of Judge, King, Kohen (temple priest), and Prophet are instituted
• A ban against Asherah next to altars dedicated to God, and the erection of sacred stones
• A ban against children either from being immolated or from passing through fire (the text is ambiguous as to which is meant), divination, sorcery, witchcraft, spellcasting, and necromancy
• A ban preventing blemished animals from becoming sacrifices at the Temple
• Naming of three cities of refuge where those accused of manslaughter may flee from the avenger of blood.
• Exemptions from military service for the newly betrothed, newly married, owners of new houses, planters of new vineyards, and anyone afraid of fighting.
• The peace terms to be offered to non-Israelites before battle - the terms being that they are to become slaves
• The Amalekites to be utterly destroyed
• A ban on the destruction of fruit trees, the mothers of newly-born birds, and beasts of burden which have fallen over, or are lost
• Rules which regulate marriage, and Levirate Marriage, and allow divorce.
• Purity laws which prohibit the mixing of fabrics, of crops, of beasts of burden under the same yoke, and transvestitism.
• The use of Tzitzit
• Prohibition against people from Ammon, Moab, or who are of illegitimate birth, and their descendants for ten generations, from entering the assembly; the same restriction upon those who are castrated (but not their descendants)
• Regulations for ritual cleanliness, general hygiene, and the treatment of Tzaraath
• A ban on religious prostitution
• Regulations for slavery, servitude, vows, debt, usury, and permissible objects for securing loans
• Prohibition against wives making a groin attack on their husband's adversary.

Third sermon

The concluding discourse (27-30) sets out sanctions against breaking the law, blessings to the obedient, and curses on the rebellious. The Israelites are solemnly adjured to adhere faithfully to the covenant, and so secure for themselves, and for their posterity, the promised blessings.

Death of Moses

Moses conditionally renews the covenant between God and the Israelites, the condition being the loyalty of the people, and appoints Joshua as his heir to lead the people into Canaan. There follow three short appendices, namely:

• The Song of Moses, which the text states was created by Moses upon the request of God;^[1]
• The Blessing of Moses upon the individual tribes of Israel;
• The death of Moses.^[2]

Composition

During the nineteenth century secular biblical scholarship abandoned the traditional view that the Torah, and therefore Deuteronomy, was composed by Moses in the second millenium BC. Deuteronomy instead came to be seen as the document whose discovery is described in 2 Kings 22:8-20:^[3] the High Priest Hilkiah finds an ancient lost scroll in the Temple and takes it to king Josiah; what Josiah reads there causes him to embark on a program of religious reform, suppressing the worship of all other gods but Yahweh, and centralising the worship of Yahweh in the Temple.^[4].

According to the hypothesis the original element of Deuteronomy, the scroll found in the temple, is the Deuteronomic Code at Deuteronomy 12-26.^[5] Two alternative editions were created, possibly by the same author, and published simultaneously; one version contained the Code, the historical introduction (Deuteronomy 1-4),^[6] a simple hortatory conclusion, and a list of curses (Deuteronomy 27),^[7] the other contained the core, the theological introduction (Deuteronomy 5-11);^[8] and a more extensive hortatory conclusion (Deuteronomy 28-30).^[9] The first version presented the law as Moses's account of the events at Sinai, the second took the form of a suzerain-vassal treaty, of a form similar to the much older Covenant Code. At some point shortly afterwards the two were combined in a single document known as "Dtr1".

The Deuteronomist author or authors also produced a history of Israel from Joshua to Josiah, consisting of the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. In this history Josiah figured as the greatest of all the kings, the only one who never wavered from the law given by Moses, and the one who would restore the ancient kingdom of David and Solomon. But in 609 BC Josiah was killed at Megiddo by the Egyptians, and in 586 BC the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and took its people into captivity. Consequently, at some point after 586, a second edition known as "Dtr2" was produced, containing additional warnings about faithlessness and exile, as well as promises of restoration in the event of repentance. This second edition inserted two originally independent documents, and framings for them, which now comprise the two poems at Deuteronomy 31-33,^[10] and the account of Moses' death was moved to where it lies now, Deuteronomy 34. In the final redaction of the Torah, c.450 BC, Deuteronomy 34 gained additional verses describing the death of Moses from two other originally independent documents, the Jahwist and the Priestly source.^[11]

More recently Meredith G. Kline has proposed that Deuteronomy should be viewed as a suzerein/vassal treaty between God and the people of Israel. According to Kline, a conservative scholar who wished to restore the case for the book's Mosaic provenance, these treaties were based on Hittite treaties of the second millenium BC. Moshe Weinfeld subsequently demonstrated that Deuteronomy’s extensive list of curses (28:23-35) fits better the style of seventh century BC Assyrian treaties. "Deuteronomy adapts the literary form and the vocabulary of a treaty but places the deity Yahweh, the God of Judah, in the place of the Assyrian king. ... The writer(s) are therefore deliberately taking an instrument of Assyrian subjugation, the client treaty, and using it as a mechanism to bolster Judean commitment to their national deity and to reinforce national identity".^[12]

Themes

The religion of Deuteronomy

"[T]here is no clear and unambiguous denial [in the Hebrew bible] of the existence of gods other than Yahweh before Deutero-Isaiah in the 6th century B.C. … The question was not whether there is only one elohim [god], but whether there is any elohim like Yahweh."^[13]. This is expressed in Deuteronomy 32:8-9, describing the division of the peoples of the earth between the sons of the supreme god El: "When the Most High ("El Elyon") apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods, the Lord's ("Yahweh's") own portion was his people, Jacob his allotted share."^[14] The theological position is monolatry rather than monotheism: Yahweh is the patron god of Israel, as Chemosh was the patron of Moab and Marduk of Babylon.

The concept of the covenant also plays a central role. Israel is Yahweh's vassal; Israel's tenancy of the land is conditional on keeping the covenant; this in turn necessitates tempered rule by state and village leaders who keep the covenant. "These beliefs, dubbed biblical Yahwism, are widely recognized in biblical scholarship as enshrined in Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic History (Joshua through Kings), with pronounced affinities to the Pentateuchal E source and to the prophets Hosea, Jeremiah, and Malachi."^[15]

The shema (שמע)

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (the shema), like Deuteronomy 32:8-9, is a statement of the special relationship between Israel and Yahweh: "Hear (shema), O Israel, the Lord (Yahweh) is our God, the Lord (Yahweh) alone!"^[16] The shema goes on: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all they soul and all they might." The "Shema" became the basic credo of religious Jews and is recited twice a day as well as before death.

See also

• Biblical criticism
• Documentary hypothesis
• Mosaic authorship
• Torah
• Tanakh
• Weekly Torah portions in Deuteronomy: Devarim, Va'etchanan, Eikev, Re'eh, Shoftim, Ki Teitzei, Ki Tavo, Nitzavim, Vayelech, Haazinu, V'Zot HaBerachah.

References

External links

Online versions and translations of Deuteronomy:

• Jewish translations:
  • Deuteronomy at Mechon-Mamre (modified Jewish Publication Society translation)
  • Deuteronomy (The Living Torah) Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's translation and commentary at Ort.org
  • Devarim - Deuteronomy (Judaica Press) translation with Rashi's commentary at Chabad.org
  • דְּבָרִים Devarim - Deuteronomy (Hebrew - English at Mechon-Mamre.org)

• Christian translations:
  • Online Bible at GospelHall.org (King James Version)
  • Deuteronomy - Chapter Indexed (King James Version)
  • oremus Bible Browser (New Revised Standard Version)
  • oremus Bible Browser (Anglicized New Revised Standard Version)
  • Deuteronomy at Wikisource (Authorized King James Version)

Related articles:

• Book of Deuteronomy article (Jewish Encyclopedia)
• Teacher's Guide to Teaching Deuteronomy
• Dealing with Deuteronomy. Or, a Treaty Poorly Treated
• Deuteronomy by Rob Bradshaw

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