DEUTERONOMY. The name of the fifth book of the Pentateitell, derived from the ('.reek translation of the two 'Hebrew words in Deuter onomy xVii. IS, signify 'repetition of the law.' 1)eutpronomy contains the last of Mose: to Ids people. delivered in (lie land of 1Vith the exception of chapters xxvii. xxviii.. xxxiy., and a few verses elsewhere, the boat: is in the torn of an address. 'hire are, r, in reality, three distinct (a) rs i. iv.; (b) •hapters V.-XXVi.: Ic) chap ters xxix.-xxxi.; together With two purtns. chap ters XNXii. and XXXiii. The boo]: closes with an account of the death of (ehapter xxxiv.). It was already recognized by some of the rlitirell fathers. and .Heroine, that Ikti tcronoiny is the book referred to in 11. Kings as having been in the year of Josiah (mu, 0122) by the 'High Priest (See Jost kit.) But while critic: are flow unani mous in dating OW beginning of Deuteronomy from this it not follow that I lie bunk, as we have it. was composed ill the days of Jo siah. In the lit•t place, the lave book brought In the King could tint have 1)))))11 as extensive a, the pre sent book I if It. litcroman•, '1'1,,• two poems are elearly and the Sallie Way he said Of the .hurl prophet IP chapters and of t and tunes, chap ter NXN ii. There rent:till the two speeches, (1) chapters i.. to 1‘ hick chapter iv. 45 49 the introduction, and i:!) chapters i.-iv. Since discourse uontains no reference to the latter, the two are independent of one another; other evidence call also be brought forward.
tweets the two the choice i, not difficult. Sinee Hill:hill speaks of document of ,(one bulk is evidently intended. and the references to specific laws in the narrative of II. King: confirm the view adopted In' mo:t critics that chapters v.-xxvi. represent the law-lmol; iiii• ‘vlijell may have 111.411 ill years of •losiah'• reign. or possibly under liana...eh or llezekiall. This discourse may be again divided into two section.: (a I chapters v.-Ni.: lb) chapters Nii.-xxvi. The former is an historical narrat lye Vat into the loses; the latter an exposition of the law. The two divisions, however. formed all organic whole, and everything points to a single origin for them. The historical narrative forms. the justification, as it were, for the authority claintol for the law. Naturally. even in this original portion of 1)eu terononly. insertion: and amplitieat ions have been introduced by those who in the eourse of time enlarged the hook by adding to it the other dis the blessings and the curses, and the poems: and who inclosed the whole in an histori• cal frame and attached it to the four preceding hooks. and to the four folboving ,me:. Joshua, Judges. Samuel. and King,. in order to form one great historical compilation in which the legal code of Deuteronomy and the earlier and later legal codes imbedded in Exodus, Levitious. and Number.. have been worked in. (See Exton's; Nt'vtriEns: Ily.x.vTI:f•cit.1 In these t 1) I'll' distinct recognized: (a I Exodle; called the Rook of the Cove.
mutt; (1)) Leviticus Nvii.•xxvi.. the Law of bibnes.; Ic) the l'ricstly Law. including rest of the in ENthlits, Leviticus, and Numbers. Ilenve a question arises as to the position to he accorded to the original i)eitteronomie eoile. a result of the investigation: of modern ,,eledar. —notably Knonen, Graf. ‘Vellhausen. and Stade —it. may now be reg:t•(led as definitely estab• fished: I 1 I that Deuteronomy is older than (I.) and (e), but younger than (a) : and (2) that the Deu(eroinunie code is based upon the ltool.: of the Co\ i'llant• enlarged and adapted to new cow ditions and introducing as an entirely new fea titre the reeognition 14 Jernsalem as the only legitimate 14 qlt re of Valtvvell worship. Every• thing points to lernsalem ns the pl••e where the original I), ntcromany ‘‘ag wi ittem and there is nothing strange in the supposition a re• still of prophetic agitation for the purifieat bin of ValiM, V p. an attempt should have hten made, part icul.irly after the profound impression made in Judea by the cltast oldie to the northern to fo late an ideal voile Which should mil the i iews of the Yahweh pur ists: and since the prophets pointed of the wanderings in the wilderness as the period when the people showed the greatest fidelity to Yahweh, it \val.; al.n nattlral that the tradition lentil arise gather strength which ascribed the l)enterolionlic undo, as subsequently the "Du r codes, to (lie great leader of the past-1Ioses. it is this tradition shaping the subsequent of Israel. gave !v) the their anthor ily in the eye. of the people. Ilmt 1.,ti.; after this the second diseourse. chapters i.-iv., was added has not yet been ascertained by the investigations of scholars, though it probably dates from the exilic period. The same may be said of chapter xxix., while chapter XXViii. appears originally to have been the conclusion to the enlarged Inuit:. Chapter xxvii. is an independent composition, which again impresses one as the natural con clusion of a book, and is therefore a 'doublet' to chapter xxviii. It may be admitted that the problems involved in the relationship of these two chapters (xxvii.-xxviii.) to the rest of the book have not vet been satisfactorily s(dved, and further investigations are needed. Of the poetic supplements. (a) the song of Moses and (b) the Blessing of Moses, the former is now regarded ris an exilic or even post-exilic while the latter is considerably older. and reflects Po litieal conditions as they existed in the days of Jeroboam It. (me. 782-743), before the disap pearan•e of the northern kingdom.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. See besides the commentaries Bibliography. See besides the commentaries of Dillmann. Driver. Keil. nettli. Montet. Steuer nag,e1, etc.. Stark, Das Deutrronomium (Leipzig, 1894) ; Steuernagel. Dcr Rahmcu dcs Dealer onominms (Halle. 1894I ; Addis. Documents of the flexaleuch, vol. ii. (London, 1898).