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Verse Commentaries:
§ 1. TITLE AND GENERAL CHARACTER.
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The second address, which is also introduced by a brief notice of the circumstances under which it was delivered (Deuteronomy 4:44-49), extends over twenty-one chapters (Deuteronomy 5-26.). In it Moses goes over the leading ethical precepts of the Law which he, as the servant of God, had already declared to the people. He begins by reminding them how God had made a covenant with them in Horeb, and then, having repeated the "ten words" of the covenant — the ten commandments which Jehovah spake to the assembled multitude — and having uttered a general exhortation to obedience (Deuteronomy 5:1-33), he proceeds to admonish the people to love Jehovah the one God, to be obedient to his Law, to teach it diligently to their children, and to avoid all intercourse with the idolatrous nations of Canaan, on the possession of which they were about to enter. This admonition is enforced by threatening of judgments on idolaters; victory over the Canaanites is promised; the gradual but utter extinction of these idolatrous peoples is foretold; and a command is given to destroy all objects of idolatrous worship to be found in the land (Deuteronomy 6:1-7:26). A cursory review of God's dealings with Israel in guiding them through the wilderness is then taken, as furnishing ground for enforcing obedience to the Law; the danger of self-confidence and forgetfulness of God is pointed out; cautions are given against self-righteousness and spiritual pride; and, to enforce these, the people are reminded of their sins and rebelliousness in the wilderness, of Moses' intercession for them, and of God's grace and goodness, especially as shown in his restoring the two tables after they had been broken, and writing on them anew the law of the ten commandments (Deuteronomy 8:1-10:5).
At this point a short notice of the journeyings of the Israelites in the region of Mount Her is introduced, with notices of the death of Aaron, of the continuance of the priesthood in his family, and of the separation of the tribe of Levi to the service of the sanctuary (Deuteronomy 10:6-11). The address is then resumed, and the people are exhorted to fear, obey, and love the Lord; and this is enforced by reference to God's claims upon them, the blessings that would ensue if they yielded to these claims, and, on the other hand, the curse that disobedience would bring upon them. In connection with this the command is given that, when they should be come into the Promised Land, the blessing should be put upon Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal, the situation of which is indicated (Deuteronomy 10:12-11:32).
After this Moses enters on a more minute detail of the laws which the people were to observe when settled in Canaan. Directions are given as to the destruction of all monuments of idolatry, and they are enjoined to preserve the worship of Jehovah and to present the appointed offerings to him in the place which he should choose, where also the sacrificial meal was to be eaten (Deuteronomy 12:1-28). All intercourse with idolaters and all curious inquiries concerning their rites are to be avoided; all who would seduce to idolatry are to be put to death, even though they pretended to be prophets and to speak under Divine sanction; even the nearest relations who act this part are not to be spared; and an idolatrous cities are to be destroyed (Deuteronomy 12:29-13:18). The people are cautioned against joining in or imitating the mourning customs of the heathen, and against eating the flesh of unclean animals or of animals that had died of themselves; they are directed as to the laying aside of tithes for sacrificial meals and for the poor; they are enjoined to observe the seventh year of release for poor debtors and of emancipation for the bondman; they are commanded to dedicate to the Lord the first-born of sheep and oxen; and they are instructed to observe the three great feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 14:1-16:17). From these religious regulations Moses passes on to others more of a civil and social character, giving directions as to the appointment of judges and magistrates, the trial of idolaters and criminals of various classes, the choice and duties of a king, and the rights of priests and Levites; the promise of a Great Prophet like unto Moses, whom they are to hear and obey, is given; and the proper test by which any one pretending to be a prophet is to be tried, is prescribed (Deuteronomy 16:18-18:22). Following these come some regulations as to the appointment of cities of refuge for the manslayer, the maintenance of landmarks and boundaries, the number of witnesses required to establish a charge against any one, the punishment of false witnesses, the conduct of war, exemption from service in war, the treatment of enemies, the besieging of towns, the expiation of murder where the murderer is unknown, the treatment of women taken in war, the just exercise of paternal authority, and the burial of malefactors who had been executed (Deuteronomy 19:1-21:23). The address is concluded by a series of miscellaneous injunctions relating to rights of property, the relation of the sexes, regard for animal and human life, the avoidance of what would confound distinctions made by God in the natural world, the preservation of the sanctity of the marriage bond, and the observation of integrity and purity in all the relations of life, domestic and social After appointing the eucharistic services on the presentation of the firstfruits and tenths of the products of the field, the address is wound up with a solemn admonition to attend to and observe what the Lord had commanded (Deuteronomy 22:1-26:19).
In his third address, after directing that the Law should be inscribed on two stone pillars to be set up on Mount Ebal, when the people should have obtained possession of Canaan, Moses proceeds to charge them to proclaim in the most solemn manner, after offering burnt offerings and sacrifices, the blessing and the curse by which the Law was sanctioned, the former on Mount Gerizim, the latter on Mount Ebal (Deuteronomy 27:1-26). He then more fully sets forth the blessings that should come upon the people if they hearkened to the voice of the Lord, and the curses that would befall them if they neglected his word or refused to obey it (Deuteronomy 28:1-68). Moses then recapitulates what the Lord had done for Israel, and, after again referring to the blessings and curses of the Law, adjures the people to accept the covenant which God was graciously pleased to make with them, to adhere to it constantly, and so, having blessing and curse, life and death, set before them, to choose the former for themselves and their posterity (Deuteronomy 29:1-30:20).
These three addresses of Moses to the people are followed by an account of the closing scenes and acts of his life. A few words of encouragement addressed to the people introduce the appointment of Joshua to be his successor as the leader of Israel; the Law written out by Moses is handed over to the custody of-the priests, with a command that it shall be renal every seventh year to the people at the Feast of Tabernacles; Joshua is summoned with Moses into the presence of Jehovah, and receives from him his commission and authority; and Moses is commanded to write a song, and teach it to the people (Deuteronomy 31:1-22). The active life of Moses was now drawing to its close. He puts the last hand on the writing of the Law; composes the song which God had commanded him to write; utters a few words of encouragement to Joshua; delivers the book of the Law to the priests that bore the ark of the covenant, with the injunction to them to put it in the side of the ark; and summons the elders of the tribes and their officers to hear from his lips, ere he left them, his solemn charge, and listen to the words of the song he had composed (vers. 23-29). Then follows the song itself; after which comes a short exhortation to the people by Moses, followed by the Divine intimation of the approaching decease of their great leader and lawgiver (Deuteronomy 32:1-52). Next is inserted the blessing which Moses pronounced upon Israel in its separate tribes (Deuteronomy 33:1-29); and to this is appended an account of the death and burial of Moses, with his eulogium (Deuteronomy 34:1-12). With this the book terminates.
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I. In favor of the Mosaic authorship of the book there is —
1. The weight of traditional authority. In the Christian and in the Jewish Church, so far back as we can trace, this book has been reputed the work of Moses. As to this there can be no legitimate question; the fact is indubitable. The stream of testimony may be traced from the Christian Fathers of the second century after Christ, with hardly a break, up to the time of David (cf. 1 Kings 2:3; 8:53; 2 Kings 14:5, 6; 18:6, 12, with Deuteronomy 29:9; 9:26; 24:16; 10:20). Moses is thus, so to speak, in possession, with a title which has been admitted for more than three thousand years. On those, therefore, who would dislodge him lies the burden of proving that this title is false; and this can be done only by showing from internal evidence that the book cannot be the writing of Moses. It will be incumbent on them also to show how this title could have been acquired, if purely fictitious — how this universal belief could have arisen, if without foundation in fact.
2. The testimony of our Lord and his apostles, as recorded in the New Testament, gives special weight to this tradition. Our Lord quotes from this book as part of the sacred writings, using the formula, "It is written," by which is indicated that the passages quoted are from the sacred canon (comp. Matthew 4:4; 9:7, 10, with Deuteronomy 8:8; 6:16; 6:13), and recognizing it as the "Law" given by God to Israel (Matthew 22:24 compared with Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12). He expressly refers to and cites this book as the work of Moses; and he implicitly attests this by assenting to the assertion of it by others. St. Peter, in his address to the people who were collected together after the healing of the lame man at the gate of the temple, cites a passage from this book as the saying of Moses (Acts 3:22); St. Stephen does the same in his apology to the Sanhedrim (Acts 7:37); St. Paul quotes from this book as from Moses, in the same way as he quotes from the Book of Isaiah as from Isaiah (Romans 10:19, 20), and at other times prefaces his citation with the words, "It is written" (Born. 12:19; Galatians 3:10); and the apostles generally freely refer to the Law, i.e. the Thorah, or Pentateuch, including, of course, the fifth book, as of Moses. Now, the testimony of our Lord and his apostles cannot be regarded as a mere link in the chain of tradition on this point. It s that, but it is more than that; it is an authoritative declaration, from which it is maintained there is no appeal. Jesus, "the faithful and true Witness," and himself "the Truth," could utter only what is true; and knowing that his words, even the most minute and least weighty, were to endure forever (Matthew 24:35), and to guide the judgments and opinions of men to the latest generations, he would be careful to order his speech so as in every case to express only what was in accordance with truth and fact. But it may be asked, "Might not our Lord have cited a passage from one of the Pentateuchal books as a saying of Moses, merely because these books were commonly called by the name of Moses, without meaning to affirm that they were actually written by him; just as one who had adopted the Wolfian theory of the composition of the' Iliad' and ' Odyssey ' might nevertheless continue to cite from these as the works of Homer, though he doubted if Homer ever existed, and felt sure that no one man composed these poems as they are now extant?" But this it may be replied that the cases are not parallel. When one quotes from the 'Iliad,' or the 'Odyssey,' or from any classic writing, it is for the sake of the sentiment or expression that the quotation is made, and it matters not how the source of the quotation is designated, provided the designation be such as shall direct the reader or hearer to where the passage quoted is to be found. In our Lord's citations from the book of the Law, however, the important thing is not the mere words of the passage or the mere sentiment of it, but the authority of the utterance, and as that was derived entirely from its being part of the Law given by Moses in whom the Jews trusted (John 1:17; 5:45; 7:19), it was essential to the validity of his argument that it should be from Moses and none other that his citation was made. When, therefore, our Lord adduced a passage as a saying of Moses, he must have meant that the saying adduced was actually uttered by Moses — in other words, that it was found in a book which not only carried on it the name of Moses as a popular and convenient designation, but of which Moses was really the author.
3. The antiquity of the book favors the ascription of it to Moses as its author. That the book is of early date -;s shown partly by the allusions to it in books that come after it in the canon, partly by certain peculiarities of language by which it is marked, and partly by certain statements and references contained in it.
(1) In the Book of Jeremiah there are so many expressions, phrases, utterances, coincident with such in Deuteronomy, that there can be no doubt that the author of the one book must have had the other before his mind whilst composing his own. The only question that can be raised is whether Jeremiah cited from Deuteronomy or the author of Deuteronomy cited from Jeremiah, if indeed the same person were not the writer of both books. This point will come to be considered subsequently; at present it is sufficient to note that these coincidences afford certain evidence of the existence of the Book of Deuteronomy in the time of Jeremiah.
That it was known to Isaiah and used by him may be inferred from a comparison of the following passages: — Isaiah 1:2 with Deuteronomy 32:1; Isaiah 1:10 with Deuteronomy 32:32; Isaiah 1:17 with Deuteronomy 28:27; Isaiah 27:11 with Deuteronomy 32:28; Isaiah 41:8 with Deuteronomy 7:6 and 14:2; Isaiah 41:10 with Deuteronomy 31:6; Isaiah 42:2 with Deuteronomy 32:15; Isaiah 46:8 with Deuteronomy 32:7; Isaiah 1. I with Deuteronomy 24:1; Isaiah 58:14 with Deuteronomy 32:13; Isaiah 59:10 and 65:21 with Deuteronomy 28:29; Isaiah 62:8, etc., with Deuteronomy 28:31. In Amos and Hosea there are allusions to passages in this book which prove that it was known in their day. Of these the following may be noted: —
Amos 4:6-10 and 5:11 compared with Deuteronomy 28:15, etc. In Deuteronomy certain judgments are announced as to come on Israel if apostate and impenitent; in Amos certain judgments are declared as having come on Israel because of their apostasy and impenitency; and the two are so closely identical that the prophet must be regarded as describing the fulfillment of a threatening predicted by the lawgiver. Famine, drought, blasting, and mildew, the ravages of the locust, pestilence, the diseases of Egypt, and the calamities of war are described by the prophet as what had come on Israel; and these are what are threatened in Deuteronomy in the same or equivalent words. Compare especially Amos 4:6 with Deuteronomy 28:17, 38 40; Amos 4:7 with Deuteronomy 28:23, 24; Amos 4:9 with Deuteronomy 28:22, 38, 42; Amos 4:10 with Deuteronomy 28:21, 27, 26; Amos 5:11 with Deuteronomy 28:30, 39.
In Amos 6:12 the prophet charges the people with having "turned judgment into gall (rosh), and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock (la'anah)." Compare Deuteronomy 29:18 [17], where the people are warned against apostasy, "Lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood (rosh we la'anah)."
Amos 8:14, "They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy God, O Dan, liveth" (cf. 2 Kings 12:28, 29). Deuteronomy 9:21, "And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made," etc.; Deuteronomy 6:13, "Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his Name."
Amos 9:14, 15, "And I will turn (weshabhti) the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith Jehovah thy God." Deuteronomy 30:3, "Then Jehovah thy God shall turn (weshabh) thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither Jehovah thy God hath scattered thee;" ver. 5, "And Jehovah thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed;" ver. 9, "And Jehovah thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, for good," etc. "This passage forms the basis of all the passages in the Old Testament in which the very peculiar formula שׁÈá שׁÀáוּú occurs" (Hengstenberg).
Turning now to Hosea, the following correspondences with Deuteronomy may be noted: —
Hosea 4:14, "They sacrifice with the kedeshoth" (women consecrated to prostitution in the service of a heathen deity). Deuteronomy 23:17, 18, "There shall be no kedeshah [consecrated harlot] of the daughters of Israel... thou shalt not bring the hire of a kedeshah... into the house of the Lord." Only in these passages and in Genesis 38:21, 22, is this word found. Hosea 5:10, "The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bounds (massigei gebul)." Deuteronomy 19:14, "Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's landmark (lo tassig gebul);" Deuteronomy 27:17, "Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor's landmark (massig gebul)." Hosea 5:14, "I will take away, and none shall rescue (eyn matzil)." Deuteronomy 32:39, "And there is none that rescueth out of my hand (eyn m'yadi matzil)." (Cf. also Hosea 2:10 [Hebrews 12].) Hosea 6:1, "Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for he hath torn, [cf. Hosea 5:14] and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up." Deuteronomy 32:39, "I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal."
Hosea 8:13, "They shall return (yashubhu) to Egypt." Deuteronomy 28:68, "The Lord shall bring thee (heshibhka) into Egypt again."
Hosea 12:13, "By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved." Deuteronomy 18:18, "A Prophet... like unto thee." Only here is Moses described as a prophet.
Hosea 13:6, "According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore have they forgotten me." Deuteronomy 8:14, "Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God," etc.
Hosea 13:9, "This (shihethka) hath corrupted [destroyed] thee, O Israel, that thou art against me [who am] in thy help." Deuteronomy 32:5, "A perverse nation hath become corrupt towards him (shiheth lo);" Deuteronomy 33:26, "Who rideth upon the heaven in thy help."
The coincidences thus noted are not, it must be confessed, all of equal weight and evidential value; but, on the other hand, none of them can be certainly declared to be accidental, and some are of such a character as almost to force the conclusion that the prophets Hosea and Amos had in their hands the Book of Deuteronomy, and freely cited from it. Assuming this, something more is proved than that this book was extant in the days of these prophets. As these were prophets, not of Judah, but of Israel, their references to Deuteronomy may indicate the reception of that book in Israel as a sacred book; and as it is not probable that any book would be so received in the kingdom of Samaria which had not been carried by the ten tribes with them when they broke off from Judah, it would follow that this book was known and reverenced at the time of the separation. But if it was thus accredited in the beginning of the reign of Rehoboam, the probability is that it was so in the reigns of his predecessors, Solomon and David; for it is incredible that it could have attained to universal acceptance at the moment of his accession to the throne, if it had not been by long usage already established. It may indeed be said that the better part of Israel was never wholly alienated from Judah religiously, but continued to regard the temple at Jerusalem as the national sanctuary. But that this would have led to the acceptance by the nation generally of a book pretending to be from God, which was unknown to their fathers, and which had come into existence in Judah after the separation of the tribes, cannot be believed; national enmity and sectarian jealousy, to say nothing of pious zeal for God, would have effectually prevented that, the more especially in respect of a book by which their whole religious position and system was condemned.
The conclusion above announced is corroborated by the references to Deuteronomy in the narrative of the Books of Kings.
Reference has been already made to passages in these books in which the Book of Deuteronomy is expressly referred to as the Law of Moses, and as written by Moses. What has now to be considered are allusions to things contained in that book, and apparent quotations from it.
1 Kings 8:51, "For they are thy people... which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron." Deuteronomy 4:20, "And the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth from the furnace of iron, out of Egypt."
1 Kings 17:1. Here Elijah announces to Ahab that the judgment threatened in Deuteronomy 11:16, 17, against idolatry in Israel, should now be inflicted, because of his having set up an altar to Baal, and placed beside it an Asherah for idol-worship.
1 Kings 18:40. In the order given by Elijah as to the treatment of the priests of Baal, the prophet follows the Divine injunction as given in Deuteronomy 13:15, 16, and 17:5; without which it is inconceivable that he should have ventured to enjoin on the king such extreme measures.
1 Kings 21:10. The appointment of two witnesses in order to convict Naboth of blasphemy points to the observance in Israel of the law recorded in Deuteronomy 17:6, 7; 19:15.
1 Kings 22:11. "The symbolical act of the false prophet Zedekiah, here described, is an embodying of the figure in Deuteronomy 33:17. This illustrious promise, specially applicable to the posterity of Joseph, was the basis on which the pseudo-prophets built; only they overlooked the one thing, that the promise was conditional and the condition was not realized..... The reference to the Pentateuch here is the more important since Zedekiah was one of the prophets of the calves, and since the symbolical act could have been undertaken only on the presumption that its meaning, resting on the Pentateuch, was intelligible to those present, and especially to the kings" (Hengstenberg, 1:182).
2 Kings 2:9. Elisha, as the firstborn of Elijah in a spiritual sense — his γνη ì σιον τε ì κον, according to their common office as prophets — asks of Elijah that the portion legally due to the firstborn son might be his, that a double portion ( ôÄé שׁÀðÇéÄí ) of his father's possessions, his spirit, might be given to him. This points back to Deuteronomy 21:17, where the law relating to the right of the firstborn is enunciated. It is noticeable that in both passages the same peculiar phrase, ôÄé שׁÀðÇéÄí , a mouthful of two, occurs, and in this sense only in these two passages. 2 Kings 6:28-30. The extreme horror of the king on hearing the woman's story, and his penitential observance in consequence, are best accounted for by a reference to Deuteronomy 28:53, 57, 58. The king recognized in what the woman told him a fulfillment of the threatening denounced in this passage; and so, while the lesser calamities that had befallen his people in consequence of the siege of the city by the Syrians had failed to move him, this most terrible tale filled him with horror and drove him to penitence.
2 Kings 14:6. Here is an express quotation of a law which is found only in Deuteronomy 24:16.
2 Kings 18:6, "For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him," etc. Deuteronomy 10:20, "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave," etc.
Besides these references to Deuteronomy, there are many in the two Books of Kings to other parts of the Pentateuch, going to prove that that book in its entireness was known and accepted in the kingdom of Israel from the time of its first establishment. "Indeed," as has been remarked, "the entire action and operation of the prophets in the kingdom of Israel is an inexplicable riddle if we do not assume the public recognition of the Pentateuch in this kingdom as its basis. With all the annoyances which the prophets occasioned to the kings, and the priests who were in close alliance with them, there never came to be a systematic and thoroughgoing persecution of them so as to extirpate them. This suggests, unless we set aside all probability and all historical analogies, the possession by them of an external right whereby hatred against them was restrained, and the following out of extreme measures prevented. But on what could such an outward right be well based if not on the public acknowledgment of the Pentateuch, on which they grounded their censures, with which they connected their threatenings, and whose prophet-law they maintained against their opponents?" (Hengstenberg, 1:140).
Ascending to the earlier books, the following correspondences between them and Deuteronomy may be noted: —
2 Samuel 7:6, "During all [the time] that I walked with all the children of Israel," etc. Deuteronomy 23:14, "For Jehovah thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp" (cf. Leviticus 26:12, "And I will walk amongst you "). Only in these three passages does this peculiar phraseology occur. 2 Samuel 7:23, "And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself... thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?" Deuteronomy 7:8, "The Lord hath redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt" (cf. also Deuteronomy 9:26; 13:5; 15:15; 21:8; 24:18). This expression may be said to be specially Deuteronomic.
1 Samuel 2:2, "There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God." Deuteronomy 4:35, "Know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him;" Deuteronomy 32:4, 15, 18, 31, "He is the Rock, his work is perfect... the Rock of his salvation... the Rock that begat thee... For their rock is not as our Rock," etc. 1 Samuel 2:6, "The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up." Deuteronomy 32:39, "See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal," etc. 1 Samuel 2:29, "Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded?" Deuteronomy 32:15, "Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked." The verb áÄòÇè , to kick, occurs only in these two places.
1 Samuel 8:1, "And it came to pass that Samuel when he was old made his sons judges over Israel." Deuteronomy 16:18, "Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates." In making his sons judges, Samuel was carrying into effect the law enunciated in Deuteronomy. As Samuel thus obeyed the Law, so his sons transgressed it, for they took bribes (shohad, 1 Samuel 8:3), contrary to the injunction, "Thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift [bribe, shohad]," etc. (Deuteronomy 16:19). 1 Samuel 8:5, "Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations." Deuteronomy 17:14, "And shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me."
1 Samuel 10:1, "The Lord hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance." Deuteronomy 32:9," The Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance." 1 Samuel 10:25, "Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom," etc. The manner (the law, the legitimate order, mishpat) of the kingdom was what had been prescribed; and it is only in Deuteronomy that this prescription is given (cf. Deuteronomy 17:14, etc.).
1 Samuel 15:2, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt." Deuteronomy 25:17, "Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt."
1 Samuel 28:3, "Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land." Deuteronomy 18:10, 11, "There shall not be found in thee... a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard."
Judges 1:20, "And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said." Deuteronomy 1:36, "Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon."
Judges 2:2, "I said... And ye shall make no league (lo tikrethu berith) with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars." etc. Deuteronomy 7:2, "Thou shalt... utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them (lo tikroth lahem berith);" Deuteronomy 12:3, "And ye shall overthrow [throw down] their altars." Judges 2:3, "And their gods shall be a snare unto you." Deuteronomy 7:16, "Neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee." Judges 2:15, "The hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them." Deuteronomy 28:15, etc. Judges 2:18, "For it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them." Deuteronomy 32:36, "For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone."
Judges 4:14, "And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the Lord gone out before thee?" Deuteronomy 9:3, "Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee."
Judges 5:4, 5, "Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water. The mountains melted before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel." Deuteronomy 33:2, "The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran," etc. Judges 5:8, "They chose new gods (elohim hadashim)." Deuteronomy 32:17, "They sacrificed... to gods whom they knew not, to new (hadashim) gods that came newly up," etc.
Judges 11:15, "Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon,' etc. Deuteronomy 2:9, 19, "And the Lord said, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession... When thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession."
Judges 14:3. The parents of Samson expostulate with him as to his intention to take a wife "of the uncircumcised Philistines." But there was no reason why he should not do this, if it so pleased him, except that it was expressly prohibited by the law of God as recorded in Deuteronomy 7:8. It would thus appear that that law was known and recognized as binding on the people of God in the days of the judges.
Ruth 4:2-12, "And he took ten men of the elders of the city," etc. The entire narrative in this context points to the law of the levirate in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. "The real relation of the god [kinsman] in Ruth to the yabam [husband's brother] in the law is unquestionable. 'Each was bound to raise offspring to the dead from the wife of the dead. The reason in both cases was the same, that the name of the dead might not perish from Israel, nor from his family. In fine, in both cases, if the party refused to marry the wife of the deceased, this was attested by the taking off of the shoe'. No less undeniable and still more decisive is the verbal reference to the law, which is equivalent to an actual citation of it. Compare only Deuteronomy 25:6, 'And the firstborn which she beareth éÈ÷וּí òÇìÎשׁÅí àÈçÄéå äÇמּÅú ,' with Ruth 4:5, 'Of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance ( ìÀäÈ÷Äéí שׁÅíÎäÇמּÅú òÇìÎðÇçÂìÈúåׄ ).' The name of the dead could only be raised up, according to the law, by a son being ascribed to him. This kind service Boaz was prepared to render to him; the god must either do what Boaz proffered, or he must transfer to him, as the next god, the right of redemption. Still more complete is the reference to Deuteronomy 25:6 in Ruth 4:10, 'I take to me Ruth as my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, and that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place.' According to Deuteronomy 25:9, the transaction between the brother-in-law and the sister-in-law must take place in the presence of the elders; in Ruth 4:2 it is said, 'He took ten men of the elders of the city.' In Deuteronomy 25:9 it is said, 'So shall it be done unto that man who buildeth not up his brother's house;' with which compare Ruth 4:11, 'The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel;' i.e. since thou, according to the prescription, hast builded up the house of thy brother, may the Lord make, etc. That Deuteronomy is older than the Book of Ruth is seen from this, that the author of the latter describes the symbolical act of pulling off the shoe as a usage that had descended to his time from former times, whilst in Deuteronomy it appears as then in common use, and of itself clear" (Hengstenberg, 2:104). It may be added that it is by reference to the usage prescribed in Deuteronomy that the words of Naomi to her widowed daughters-in-law (Ruth 1:11) are to be understood.
It does not seem necessary to carry this investigation further; the instances adduced are 'sufficient to show that when the Books of Samuel, Judges, and Ruth were written, the Book of Deuteronomy was extant and commonly known; for the alternative hypothesis, that the author of Deuteronomy, writing at a time subsequent to the appearance of these books, carefully picked out of them a number of small particulars and adapted the statements of his own book to these, so as to give the appearance of an undesigned coincidence between his book and the others, is too violent to be entertained. It thus appears that all through the history of Israel, from the times immediately succeeding those of Moses and Joshua, this Book of Deuteronomy was known and in common use in Israel.
(2) The antiquity of this book is vouched for by the archaisms with which it abounds. "The use of äוּà in both genders, which occurs one hundred and ninety-five times in the Pentateuch, is found thirty-six times in Deuteronomy; while of the eleven places in which äÄéà is written not one is in this book. In Deuteronomy, as in the other books, a maiden is called ðÇòÇø ; only in one passage (Deuteronomy 22:19) is ðÇòÂøÈä used. The demonstrative pronoun äÈàÅì , which is not found out of the Pentateuch except in 1 Chronicles 20:8 (cf. Ezra 5:15; Aramaic), is not only to be read in Genesis 19:8, 25; 26:3, 4; Leviticus 18:27; but runs through Deuteronomy (cf. Deuteronomy 4:42; 7:22; 19:11). So also the He locale, so rare in the later usage of the language, the old rare writing תּÄîöÆàï (Jahn in Bengel's 'Archiv.,' 2:582) and the future ending וּÎï are common. The last of these, according to the investigation of Konig (Heft. 2. of his 'Alt-test. Studien'), is more frequent in the Pentateuch than in any other Old Testament book, and is found in Deuteronomy fifty-eight times, as also twice in the Pret. 8:3, 16 éÈãÀòוּï , of which the Old Testament has only one other instance — Isaiah 26:16. Among these archaisms common to Deuteronomy with the other Pentateuchal books may be reckoned also the shortening of the Hiph, ìÇòÀשׂÇø (Deuteronomy 26:12), and often the use of ÷ÈøÈà equivalent to ÷ÈøÈä , to meet; the construction of the passive with the àÆú of the object (e.g. Deuteronomy 20:8); the changes of the common כּÆáÆשׂ into כּÆשׂÆá , lamb (Deuteronomy 14:4); the use of æÆëוּø equivalent to æÈëÈø , a word lost to the post-Pentateuchal language (Dietrich, 'Abhandlungen,' s. 89), Deuteronomy 16:16; 20:13; and many old words, such as àÈáÄéá and éÀ÷וּí , and among these such as are found only in Joshua, as àÇשׁÀדּåׄú , or in Ezekiel, whose language is framed on that of the Pentateuch, like îÄéï . Also in hapaxlegomena, which in an old language abound, Deuteronomy is not poor. Examples of these are çÆøÀîÅשׁ (for the later îÇגּÈì ); the old Canaanitish òÇשׁתּÀøåׄú äÇצּàׄï , increase of the flock; éÀשׁËøוּï (as a name of Israel, borrowed by Isaiah 44:2); çÄñÀכּÄéú , to be silent; äÆòÀâÆéÄ÷ , to lay upon the neck; äÄúÀòÇמּÅø to take possession of, to lay hands on. To the antique and genuinely Mosaic peculiarities of the Deuteronomist belongs also his love of pictures: a root of hemlock and wormwood sprouts (Deuteronomy 29:18), head and tail (Deuteronomy 28:13, 44), the saturated with the thirsty (Deuteronomy 29:19); and comparisons: as a man beareth his son (Deuteronomy 1:31), as bees do (Deuteronomy 1:44), as a man chasteneth his son (Deuteronomy 8:5), as the eagle fluttereth (Deuteronomy 28:49), as the blind gropeth (Deuteronomy 28:29). Of such comparisons I know only three in the other books: 'As the ox licks up the grass of the field' (Numbers 22:4, in the Balaam section); 'As a flock that hath no shepherd' (Numbers 27:17); 'As the guardian bears the suckling' (Numbers 11:12); both in the mouth of Moses". To these may be added certain words and phrases found in the earlier books, but which would seem to have become obsolete or to have been regarded as archaic in the times subsequent to that of Samuel: — As for instance, שׁÀòÈøÄéí , gates, for habitations generally; nineteen times in Deuteronomy; elsewhere once, in Exodus 20:10, in a document acknowledgedly Mosaic; and occasionally but rarely in poetical pieces (Psalm 87:2 [but see Hengstenberg in loc; Isaiah 3:26; 60:18 (?); Jeremiah 14:2). שׁׄèÅøÄéí , officers; seven times in Deuteronomy; elsewhere Exodus 5:6, 10, 14, 15, 19; Numbers 11:16; Joshua 1:10; 3:2; 8:33; 23:2; 24:1; Chronicles six times. øÅé÷Èí , empty, in the sense of without an offering; Deuteronomy 16:16; Exodus 23:15; 34:20; 1 Samuel 6:3; not elsewhere. òÄנּÈä àÄשׁÈä , to humble a woman; Deuteronomy 21:14; 22:24, 29; Genesis 34:2; Judges 20:5; 2 Samuel 13:12, 14; Lamentations 5:11; Ezekiel 22:10, 11. ñוּø éÈîÄéï åÀשׂÀîàׄì , to turn to the right hand or to the left, of departures from God's Law; Deuteronomy 5:32; 17:28; 28:14; Joshua 1:7; 23:6. äÆÈׄ÷Ëñø & àøÄéã éÈîÄéí , to prolong days, to live long; eleven times in Deuteronomy; elsewhere only Exodus 20:12; Joshua 24:31; Judges 2:7; 1 Kings 3:14; Ecclesiastes 8:13; Isaiah 53:10. úÀîוּðÈä , likeness, similitude; Deuteronomy 4:12, 15, 16, 23, 25; 5:8; Exodus 20:4; Numbers 12:8; Job 4:16 (image, form, shape); Psalm 17:15. ëׄäÅï ; this term is in Deuteronomy, as in the other Pentateuchal books, used only of persons exercising sacerdotal functions; in later times it came to be used also of civil officers and counselors of the sovereign (cf. 2 Samuel 8:18; 20:26; 1 Kings 4:2, 5; 1 Chronicles 27:5). àÄשּׁÆä , fire offering; Deuteronomy 18:1; often in the Pentateuch; once in Joshua 13:14; and once in 1 Samuel 2:28. ëÄìÀàÇéÄí , two things heterogeneous; Deuteronomy 22:9; elsewhere only in Leviticus 19:19. âåׄæÈì a young bird; Deuteronomy 32:11; Genesis 15:9; not found elsewhere. æÈëוּø , a male; Deuteronomy 16:19; 20:13; elsewhere only Exodus 23:17; 34:23. ðÈ÷ÅáÈä , female; Deuteronomy 4:16; often in the Pentateuch; once in Jeremiah 31:22. àÈáÄéá , the month Abib; Deuteronomy 16:1; Exodus 9:31; 13:4; 23:15; 34:18; Leviticus 2:14; nowhere else. שׁÆâÆø , young of a beast; Deuteronomy 7:13, 28; 4:18, 51; elsewhere only Exodus 13:12. éÀ÷וּí , substance, living thing; Deuteronomy 11:6; Genesis 7:4, 23; nowhere else. ñÆðÆä , bush; Deuteronomy 33:16; elsewhere only in Exodus 3:2, 3, 4.
(3) The antiquity of the book is further guaranteed by certain statements and references contained in it.
Deuteronomy 7:1, etc. Intercourse with the nations of Canaan is here strenuously forbidden to the Israelites. This was fitting before they took possession of that land; at a later period such a prohibition would have been superfluous, if not ridiculous.
Deuteronomy 25:9. Reference is here made to the taking off of the shoe as a symbol of the transference of an inheritance, in a way which shows, as already observed, that the usage was then common. In the time of the judges this was regarded as a usage of "the former time" (Ruth 4:7). The time of Deuteronomy, therefore, must have preceded that of the judges.
Deuteronomy 25:17, etc. The Israelites are commanded to remember what Amalek did to them by the way, as they came out of Egypt, etc. Such an injunction it would have been absurd to publish in writing at a much later period in the history of Israel, long after the Amalekites had ceased to exist as a nation. So also of the Canaanites (Deuteronomy 20:16-18).
Deuteronomy 17:14, etc. It is here assumed that at some future time the people of Israel would propose to set a king over them, like all the nations about them, and directions are given as to the choice of a king in this case, and as to the conduct of the king when he should be chosen. The fair presumption from this is that the book in which these are recorded must have been written before the time of Samuel; for it is not credible that any wrier would have introduced into his narrative any such statements posterior to the election of Saul to be King of Israel. Especially is it to be noted that one of the directions given is that the king is "not to multiply horses, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses; forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way." Such a cautionary injunction was fitting at a time when there was some danger of the people being seduced into returning to Egypt; at a later period, long after they had been settled in the Promised Land, it would be simply preposterous. It has indeed been said, on the other hand, that, had this book been then extant, Samuel must have known this passage, and in that case would not have rebuked the people as he did for their sin in desiring a king. There would be some force in this did the passage in Deuteronomy contain an enactment that a king should be chosen or express approval of such an act. But this is not the case; rather is the contrary implied, for it is plain, from the manner in which the subject is introduced, that the anticipated act was not regarded by the speaker with approval, but was rather viewed by him as a willful departure from an order instituted by God, prompted by a desire on the part of the people to be like to the nations around them; in fact, a species of apostasy from Jehovah, second only to a renunciation of him for other gods. When Samuel, therefore, rebuked the people, even whilst conceding their request, he spoke in the very spirit of this passage, and not improbably with this very passage in his mind.
It has also been urged that, as the appointment of a king was incompatible with the Theocracy, it is highly improbable that any such thing would have been contemplated and legislated for by Moses. It is to be observed, however, that the king whom it was supposed the people were to be allowed to set up was not to be an autocrat or one whose rule was to be independent; he was to be one whom God should choose, and who was to be under law to God, and so was really to be the vicegerent of Jehovah, the Great King. By the appointment of such a king, therefore, the Theocracy remained intact. The administration of government by means of a king whom God should choose no more superseded the supreme kingship of Jehovah, than the administration of law by judges interfered with his supremacy as Lawgiver and Judge.
It is further asked — Had this passage been in existence and known, how could Solomon have dared to contravene it as he did by multiplying wives and sending to Egypt for horses? But Solomon, we know, dared to do many things which were contrary to law, both Divine and human. His having many wives and concubines was as much against the law of the Decalogue as against the law in Deuteronomy 17:14-17.
Deuteronomy 27:11-26. Directions are here given concerning blessing and cursing on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. These, however, are of a very general character, details evidently being left to the discretion of the parties by whom the injunction was to be carried into effect. An author writing after the event would, it is presumed, have been more precise, and would have so framed his statement as to present to his readers a distinct and easily apprehensible representation of the whole transaction.
Deuteronomy 19:1-10. Here it is enacted that, on the establishment of the people in Canaan, the land is to be divided, and certain cities to be set apart as places of refuge for the manslayer. This is a law which could be obeyed only at the time of the entrance of the people on the possession of the land, and which, therefore, it would be absurd to prescribe in a book written long after that took place.
In several parts of the book allusion is made to the condition of the Israelites as then in the wilderness, and to their experiences there as then recent (cf. Deuteronomy 1-3.; 4:3, 4, 44-49; 7:1; 8:1; 9:1; 11:8, etc., 30, 31; 13:12; 18:9; 19:1; 27:2). Unless, then, the book be put aside as a pure fiction, it must be accepted as of an age not later than the time of the arrival of the Israelites on the eastern side of the Jordan.
From these considerations the high antiquity of this book may be fairly inferred. This not only falls in with the supposition that it is in the main the writing of Moses, but lends support to that supposition; for Moses is the only person of whom we know anything who at that early period can be supposed to have composed such a book, and as the book professes to be his, the presumption is very strong that he and no other is the author of it.
4. The aspect and attitude of the writer, both retrospective and prospective, are those of one in the position of Moses at the time immediately before the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan. The book presents itself as Mosaic, and with this the entire costume and coloring of the book is in keeping. "There is nowhere even a single expression which is not suited to the position of Moses at that time; the standpoint throughout the whole book is the same; the situation is ever that of one on the borders of the Promised Land. To that which in later times was the center of the popular life — to Jerusalem and its temple, to the kingdom of David — there is not a single reference such as would transgress historical limits. The occupation of the land is only in the general assumed as about to take place; nothing is said as to the special relations of Israel in the land when conquered. The principal foes are the Canaanites, who, from the beginning of the period of the judges, retire into the background, and; after Judges 5., nowhere play any notable part. (For exact acquaintance with the early relations of the peoples in the Mosaic times, see Deuteronomy it.; in respect of the geography of the scene of the last wandering, Deuteronomy 1:1, etc.) Specially noticeable are the very vivid reminiscences of Egypt; the motives to kindness towards servants thence taken (Deuteronomy 5:15; 15:15; 16:12; 24:18); the references to diseases peculiar to Egypt in the threatening of punishments (Deuteronomy 28:27, 35); the references to deliverance from thence in the promises (Deuteronomy 7:15; 28:60); the exaltation of Canaan by comparison with Egypt (Deuteronomy 11:10); a highly graphic representation of the old Egyptian agriculture, to which the monuments bear witness." Besides these references to Egyptian usages, etc., may be mentioned the command to bear the words of the Law as an amulet on the hand and breast (Deuteronomy 6:8, etc.; 11:18; cf. Exodus 13:16), and to inscribe them on the door-posts of the house (Deuteronomy 11:20); the command to write the Law on stones plastered with mortar (Deuteronomy 27:18); the mode of punishment by the stick, the Egyptian bastinado (Deuteronomy 25:2, 3); the method of irrigation (Deuteronomy 11:10); the function of the scribe in the military arrangements of the Egyptians (Deuteronomy 20:5). There are also frequent retrospective glances in the-book to the residence of the Israelites in Egypt as of recent occurrence (Deuteronomy 6:21, etc.; 7:8, 18; 11:3). Such a statement also as the following is intelligible only on the supposition that it is the utterance of one addressing those who were contemporaneous with the event referred to: — "Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day" (Deuteronomy 4:3, 4). The inference is irresistible: either these words were uttered at the time indicated by "this day" or the statem