These three addresses to the people are followed by a collection of more miscellaneous materials, such as Moses' farewell, his deliverance of the Deut. law to the priests, his commission to Joshua, the Song of Moses, the Blessing of Moses (31-33). The whole is concluded by an account of the Death of Moses (34).
Although it is true to say that the legislation constitutes the nucleus of the book, the character of the writing is very far from being that of a legal work. The tone of exliortation which runs through the earlier and later addresses, pervades also tlie legislative portion. The laws are not systematically and technically stated. They are ethically expounded in order to set forth their relation to the theocratic principles laid down in chs. 6-11. The purpose of the book is thus, practically, wholly 'hortatory,' or, as it has been termed, 'parenetic'; and its 'parcnetic' aim ac- counts for the dill'use and somewhat discursive treatment which is found in tlio liistorical and legislative, no less than in the directly homiletical passages. A very cursory perusal enables us to see that the writer is neither historian nor jurist, but a religious teacher.
When we investigate Dt in relation to the book* which immediately precede and follow it in the Hex., we cannot fail to be struck by tlie general unity of its composition, and by the dis- tinctiveness of its character and style.
In Nu 27'-'- it has already been said, ' And the LOKD said unto Mo.ses, Get thee up into this mountain of Aharim, and behold the land which I have given unto the cliildren of Israel. And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered.' Again, in Nu 27"*' we find the commis.siun to Joshua thus described, ' And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him, etc. And Moses did as the Lord commamled him ; and he took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation ; and he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the LoRD spake, by the hand of Moses.'
Now, at the close of Dt we find in 32«" ' And the Lord spake unto Moses that self-same day, saying. Get thee up into this mountain of Aharim . . . and behold the land of Canaan, which I yive unto the children of Israel for a possession ; and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people ; as Aaron thy brother died in Mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people.' Again, we find in 31'*'^ the charge given to Joshua, 'And the Lord said unto Moses, Be- hold, thy days approach that thou must die ; call Joshua, an(l present yourselves in the tent of meeting, etc. And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said. Be strong and of a good courage.' Dt thus practically repeats the in- cidents which have already been recorded in Nu 27 ; and the whole work, which intervenes between the two commands to Moses to prepare for death, presents the appearance of a great parenthesis, interrupting the main thread of the narrative. The command to go up to the heights of Abariiu, in Dt 32, is followed almost immediately by the narrative, in Dt 34, of the death of Moses. The same command has occurred in Nu 27 ; but be- tween the two commands is interposed the series of three addresses which were given, according to Dt P, on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year.
Not only, however, has the Book of Dt all the ajjpearance of a parenthesis, but it is rendered dis- tinct from the other books of the Pent, by its very clearly marked characteristics of style and diction. These will require fuller consideration later on. But they are so distinct and so obvious to the reader, whether of the original or of a translation, that they inevitably contribute very largely to the general impression that Dt represents a work in some way separate from the rest of the Penta- teuch.
The same general impression is produced by a comparison of the laws in Dt with the three principal groups of laws contained in Ex, Lv, and Nu. The Deut. legislation ' stands in a diliereut relation to each of the three codes referred to j it is an expansion of that in Ex 20-23 ; it is, in several features, parallel to that in Lv 17-26 ; it contains allusions to laws such as those codified in the rest of Lv-Nu ' (Driver, s.v. ' Deuteronomy ' in Smith's DB'). The legislative section of Dt is distinct in contents and treatment from the parallel sections in Ex-Nu.
The principal historical allusions in Dt (as pre- sented by Driver) are the following : —
IS (and frequently) the oath to the path- On 161° 22iu mt 29.
archs
43 (Ha al-peor) Nu 251-».
4iiiri r;-« 18i« delivery at Decalogue, etc Ex 193-20»1.
61" (Maji.sah) Ex 177.
U''^!!- uiul elsewhere (deliverance from Ex 13i4 li>0.
ICgyi't)
83 '"(thenianna) Ex 16* ».
8"> (fiery serpent* ; and rock (TIX) of Nu 'il" and Ex \1*.