What were the circumstances of Deuteronomy?

Answer 1

Scripturally, the setting is that the Nation of Israel was at last approaching the entrance to Canaan. Moses was told he would not take his people into the Promised Land for his disobedience in striking the stone 2 times instead of 1 time as commanded to get water. He was deeply concerned that the people would soon forget their Covenant with God. He carefully reviewed all the laws of God and recorded them again in the Book of Deuteronomy (meaning 5th).

Moses is credited with writing all of this book except the closing chapter where Joshua records his death and God burying him so no one, especially Satan could find the grave.

Answer 2

Deuteronomy, or at least a major part of it, is believed to have been the 'Book of Law' supposedly found in the Temple during renovations undertaken in the time of King Josiah. Scholars say that the relatively modern Hebrew language in the book, along with its similarity of style to other books written during the reign of Josiah (Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Kings), indicate that this book was also written during this time and only placed in the Temple in order to be 'found' there. This allowed Josiah to claim antiquity for the book when reading it to the people of Jerusalem.

The Book of Jeremiah describes a remarkably similar event that took place a little later in history, indicating that the ruse of hiding a book in the Temple in order to be 'found' and declared of great antiquity was well-known to the priests. Jeremiah mentions a scroll that Jeremiah wrote and had hidden in the Temple to be found there in order to deceive King Jehoiakim.

The author of Deuteronomy is anonymous, but is now known as the Deuteronomist. From this, the religious reforms of Josiah are now known as the 'Deuteronomistic reforms'.

Answer 3

The circumstance was the imminent entry of the Israelites into Canaan.

More about Deuteronomy:

No Hebrew copy of the Torah has ever been found to differ with the others, worldwide. The Torah we possess today contains the exact wording written by Moses. Deuteronomy states explicitly (31:24) that it, with the rest of the Torah, was written by Moses. This is part of Jewish tradition, and is supported by the testimony of other ancient writers.No physical evidence has ever been presented that would demonstrate otherwise.

There are secular scholars who theorized that the "book which was found" in Josiah's time (2 Kings ch.22) was Deuteronomy.

What actually happened?

King Josiah lived more than eight centuries after Moses. There were hundreds - probably thousands - of Torah scrolls possessed by the Jewish people, just like today.The wicked King Amon (Josiah's father) had burned copies of the Torah (Talmud, Sanhedrin 103b), so it was understandable that King Yoshiah was thrilled when he found a scroll (see 2 Kings ch.22: the whole Torah, not just Deuteronomy) right there in the Temple grounds, which had escaped Amon's depredation.
Yoshiah was agitated because the scroll was found rolled to the prophecy concerning the eventual exile (see Talmud, Yoma 52b); and because it was the very scroll which had been written by Moses himself (2 Chronicles 34:14).
Deuteronomy, along with the rest of the Torah, existed long before the time of Yoshiah. Two centuries earlier, when King Amatziah killed the assassins of his father Joash, he spared their children "as is writtenthat fathers shall not die because of their children and children shall not die because of their fathers" (2 Kings 14:6), which is a quote from Deuteronomy (24:16).

Also, Joshua 22:5 quotes Deut.11:22, Joshua 23:16 quotes Deut.11:17, Judges 1:20 fulfills Deut.1:36, Judges 7:3 fulfills the command of Deut.20:8, 1 Kings 8:51 quotes Deut.4:20, and 1 Kings 9:8-9 quotes Deut.29:23-24.

The fact that Josiah "made reforms" is misinterpreted by some, as meaning that he started something new. Rather, he simply swept away the incursions that idolatrous misbehavior had made (2 Chronicles 34:3-7) into part of the populace, exactly as Samuel had done (1 Samuel 7:3-4), as well as Asa (2 Chronicles 15:8), Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 17:6), and Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:4).

See also:

Refuting Bible-criticism

Archaeology and the Hebrew Bible