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The
Fifth Book of Moses Called
Deuteronomy
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The name Deuteronomy means "the repetition of the law," or "the second legislation." The word is of Greek
derivation, and appears first in the Greek work of Philo. Among the Hebrews the book is known as are the other "fifths" of the Law by its
first noun, d'bharim, meaning the "words"; or it is sometimes called, with special reference to the powerful chapter twenty-eight, "the book of threatenings."
This the final and, from a literary standpoint, by far the most powerful fifth of the Law, is but feebly described by its name, Deuteronomy. It
does indeed iterate considerable portions of the laws laid down in the three preceding books, and it also reviews much of the history of Moses
and his followers; but it returns to these passages not as would a mere law-book or history. It employs them for a purpose. Deuteronomy is the
great hortatory or preaching Book of the Law, in which the Israelites are earnestly, passionately urged and entreated to remember and to uphold their faith.
The book deals with the final month of Moses' life and its writer or writers have endeavored not to record as did the earlier books a mere
summary of the great leader's deeds and teachings, but to reproduce for a later age something of the actual spirit, the burning words of his
final speeches, those tremendous closing addresses in which, knowing that his death was at hand, this greatest of all prophetic chieftains
endeavored to complete his mission, to drive home his teachings, and perpetuate his faith. What little history of this final month the book
contains had been already told in Numbers (chapter 27), where God bids Moses view the promised land and prepare for death, and where Joshua is
named and consecrated his successor. Deuteronomy retells these things,
and then in its final chapter describes Moses' death. It makes no further historical advance.
As regards to its contents, the book is easily divided into three parts. The first address of Moses runs from the beginning through chapter four
(verse 49). It reviews the long journey of the Israelites from Sinai to the Jordan, seeking to impress upon them the power of their God and His
mercy in the face of their ingratitude. The second address of Moses extends from chapter five through chapter twenty-eight. It is the great
central portion of the book, in which Moses reviews, enlarges and discusses such portions of the law as he wishes specially to emphasize.
Chapters five to eleven are, like his first speech, hortatory, a backward glance over God's dealing with Israel. Chapters twelve to
sixteen dwell on the religious duties of the people; chapters seventeen to twenty deal with civil ordinances; and chapters twenty-one to
twenty-five enforce the rules of social life. Then in chapters twenty-six to twenty-eight we have the mighty oratorical close of the
speech, the directions for the celebration with which the people are to take possession of the promised land, and the prophetic series of
blessings and of curses called down upon their future. The remainder of the book consists of several separated bits, the closing scenes. Moses'
last exhortation to his people, his final speech, occupies chapters twenty-nine and thirty. His final deeds are told in the next chapter;
then comes his great and beautiful song of triumph; then in chapter thirty-three his song of blessing; and then in the last chapter of The Law, the story of his death.
Deuteronomy is far more of unity as well as of literary force than any of the preceding fifths of the Law. This is one reason for regarding
this book as being of later composition. The date at which Deuteronomy was written down in its present form has been a subject of much
discussion, but there is a general agreement among scholars that this remarkable book, or at least the central portion of it (chapters 5-28)
is that "book of the law" which was lost, and the finding of which is described in
II Kings, (chapters 22 and 23). Its discovery thus caused the great reform of the Jews under King Josiah in the year 621 B.C., when the book was made the law of the state.
In its teachings Deuteronomy is mainly an enforcement of the earlier laws; but it develops several new arid important points of doctrine. It
insists on the unity and spirituality of Jehovah; emphasizes repeatedly the necessity of one central place of worship (the temple at Jerusalem)
and to unify the life of the Israelites by the principle of love to God and to their fellows.
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