Deuteronomy

Composition

Judeo-Christian scripture unambiguously identifies the ancient Jewish leader and prophet Moses as the author of the Torah, which also comprises the first five books of the Christian Bible’s Old Testament. Together, these five books are known to Christians as the Pentateuch. As the fifth and final Book of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy’s authorship has historically been credited to Moses. The writing of Deuteronomy is traditionally dated to about 1407–1406 BCE, as the Israelites were about to enter and claim their “promised land” in Canaan.

As a matter of religious and cultural tradition, Moses’ authorship of Deuteronomy continues to be widely accepted today. However, the work displays several characteristics that problematize its purported composition by Moses. A particularly important example comes in chapter 34, which describes Moses’ death and interment. The question of how Moses could have written a work describing his own passing and burial has persisted since ancient times.

Scholars widely accept that Deuteronomy 34 was written by another person. Opinions as to the person’s identity include contemporaries of Moses, as well as later Jewish prophets, scholars, and religious leaders. Specific proposals name the later Israelite leader Joshua, the high priest Eleazar, the prophet Samuel, and the scribe Ezra as possible authors of the chapter.

Other experts question Moses’ long-accepted authorship of the Pentateuch/Torah on a more fundamental level, positing that he did not directly participate in the work of writing them. Some such viewpoints make direct references to the contents of Deuteronomy in support of the hypothesis. For instance, Deuteronomy 1 contains multiple references to the author having crossed to the other side of the Jordan River, something Moses is said not to have done himself. Thus, proponents of this perspective suggest that the actual author of Deuteronomy could not have been Moses.

A nineteenth-century scholarly debate focused on a passage of Deuteronomy 12 describing the law of central sanctuary, which contains details that in the view of some experts date the writing of the passage to centuries after Moses’ lifetime. While this perspective fell out of vogue during the twentieth century, it nonetheless illustrates a spirited, detail-focused debate over the authorship of Deuteronomy specifically and the Pentateuch/Torah in general. This debate persists into the twenty-first century.

Summary

The Book of Deuteronomy is set during the final stages of the Israelites’ forty-years of wandering through the desert wilderness after leaving their encampment at Mount Sinai. The events that took place during the period of wandering are detailed in the Book of Numbers, which immediately precedes Deuteronomy in the Pentateuch/Torah. As Deuteronomy begins, the Israelites had temporarily settled on the eastern banks of the Jordan River, across from their promised land in Canaan. This promised land was established by a covenant (sacred promise) between God and Abraham in Genesis, the first book of the Pentateuch/Torah.

In Deuteronomy, the aging Moses reminds the Israelites of the terms, conditions, commandments, laws, and observances tied to their covenant with God regarding their promised land. The book details the final orations and homilies of Moses’ lifetime, with its title often being translated as a reference to the “second law” of Moses, or a “repetition” or “copy of the law” of Moses established in earlier Pentateuch/Torah books.

The Book of Deuteronomy contains thirty-four chapters. In chapters 1-4, Moses reiterates key events from the Israelites’ years wandering the desert wilderness and recounts the terms and conditions of the covenant that God established with the Israelites during their encampment at the base of Mount Sinai. Known in the Judeo-Christian tradition as the Second Covenant, this sacred promise committed the Jewish people to eternal service of God and obedience of God’s laws in exchange for his continued favor, protection, and guidance of the Israelite people to their promised land in Canaan.

Across Deuteronomy 5-11, Moses prepares the Israelites to enter the promised land by reminding them of the important spiritual lessons that they learned during their years of wandering. Moses also reiterates the spiritually alienating and potentially deadly consequences of rebelling against God, which the Israelites did on multiple occasions as described in the Book of Numbers. In these chapters of Deuteronomy, Moses again identifies specific laws, practices, and principles that bring the Israelites closer to God’s favor. He entreaties them to raise their children to love and honor God, to serve God as required by their covenant, and to keep God's commandments.

Deuteronomy 12-18 focuses mainly on the false gods, occult practices, and pagan belief systems of competing cultures and how the Israelites must avoid them. In chapters 12-17, Moses rallies the Israelites to destroy the false idols of the legacy Canaanite population, while chapter 18 deals specifically with rejecting the pagan superstitions, beliefs, and practices common throughout the region. It also contains a prophecy of the eventual coming of Jesus Christ and explains to the Israelites how they can detect and confirm a genuine prophet of God.

In Deuteronomy 19-28, Moses shifts his focus to the divine laws and principles that the Israelites should use to govern their daily lives during peacetime and times of war. This section of the book also covers Judaic judicial principles and the offerings the Israelites are to make to God upon entering and claiming their promised land. Deuteronomy 29-30 renews the Israelites’ covenant with God, with Moses restating the blessings the Israelites will receive for honoring their covenant and the punishments they will face for breaking it.

Joshua was chosen to succeed Moses as leader of the Israelites in the Book of Numbers. As Deuteronomy draws to its end, the aging Moses realizes the end of his life is near. He cultivates Joshua’s strength of leadership and rallies the people of Israel to be courageous. Blessing each of Israel’s twelve tribes, Moses has a vision Israel’s future and the flourishing lands its people will inhabit. Moses dies in chapter 34, never actually crossing the Jordan River into the promised land of Canaan that awaits on its opposite side.

Themes

The Book of Deuteronomy mainly functions to review and expand upon the laws, principles, and practices established by God for the Israelite people in the earlier books of the Pentateuch/Torah. Biblical scholars stress the important standing of Deuteronomy in the Judeo-Christian canon despite the repetitive nature of its contents. According to an analysis by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Deuteronomy is the book quoted most frequently by other prophets in the Biblical Old Testament and is directly referenced on nearly one hundred occasions in the New Testament. In the New Testament’s Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ quotes Deuteronomy in resisting the temptations of Satan (Matthew 4:1-11) and in identifying which of God’s commandments holds the greatest importance (Matthew 22:36-38).

In a sense, Deuteronomy functions as a summary of the religious history of the Israelite people prior to their entry into the promised land. A key function of this summary is to make the Israelites consciously mindful of all the help God has provided them and will continue to provide if the Israelites honor the terms of their covenant with God. In his final days, Moses uses the opportunity to demonstrate to the Israelites that the greatest difficulties the people have ever faced have all been a consequence disobeying God.

The renewal of the Israelites’ covenant with God, covered in Deuteronomy 29-30, contains a noteworthy literary feature that many scholars have commented on over the centuries. As it is written, the renewal of the covenant follows a structure that is similar to what kings used at the time when formalizing treaties with their subjects. This structure draws on tropes that would have been familiar to people of the era in defining the hierarchy of the power relationship between the parties.

Another major thematic element of Deuteronomy traces back to the concept of free will. By framing discussions of the Israelites’ covenant with God around the associated terms and conditions and their attendant benefits and consequences, Moses stresses that the Israelite people always retain the choice to obey or reject God. The concept of free will plays a critically important role in the Judeo-Christian worldview, reminding people that honoring and worshipping God is always a matter of choice that potentially carries both rewards and penalties, depending on the choice one makes.

Generational succession and the importance of teaching children represents another noteworthy thematic element of Deuteronomy. One of the reasons the Israelites spent forty years wandering the desert wilderness was to purge its insubordinate and rebellious older generation to allow a new younger generation of more faithful Israelites to lead the way into the promised land. Deuteronomy explicitly states that children must be taught God’s laws and ways and immersed in the principles of moral living to ensure that the Israelites always remain in God’s favor. This eternal responsibility carries down through the generations and is shared by all members of the faith community.

Bibliography

“Introduction to Deuteronomy.” Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 2022, www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/old-testament-study-guide-for-home-study-seminary-students-2015/introduction-to-deuteronomy?lang=eng. Accessed 15 Apr. 2022.

McAllister, Ray. And Their Eyes Were Opened: A Theological Analysis of Blindness in Hebrew Scriptures. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2021, pp. 78–158.

McConville, J.G. Deuteronomy. Westmont, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2020.

Sonnet, Jean-Pierre. The Book within the Book: Writing in Deuteronomy. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2021.

Zavada, Jack. “Introduction to the Book of Deuteronomy.” Learn Religions, 19 Aug. 2019, www.learnreligions.com/book-of-deuteronomy-701119. Accessed 15 Apr. 2022.