THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
the third was, for the present, liable to receive
additions or modification; for the specifications for
the building of the sanctuary had
16. Legis- been carried out, and in regard to the lation not book of the covenant there was doubtin the less a natural feeling at the time that
Law Books, the document to which the people had sworn obedience should not be tampered with or touched. The priests' manual, however, might well have been enlarged by the introduction of pertinent material. The laws in Num. xv. relating to the constituents of the meal-offerings, to the loaf of the first-fruits, and to the burnt sacrifices for certain sins (probably sins of omission and thus a supplement to Lev. iv.-v. 13), and the festival calendar of Num. xxviii. and xxix., enumerating the public sacrifices proper for each season, might fittingly have been given a place in the manual. The reason why they were not inserted in the priests' handbook is not apparent. The amendment to the passover law, providing for its celebration at another date by those who were disqualified from partaking of it on the regular day (Num. ix. 1-14), might have been introduced after Lev. xxiii. 8; but to have done so would have marred the symmetry of the section. A logical place is not readily found in the priests' manual for the law of jealousy (Num. v. 1-31), a civil judicial matter in which the test was applied by the priest, or for the law of the Nazirite (Num. vi. 1-21), which included the presentation of the Nazirite before the priest and the offering of sacrifice; and, of course, there was no call to put in the priests' handbook the conditions which determined the validity of vows taken by women (Num. xxx.).
The theocracy was based on the conception of Israel as a community, and its success at any period was conditioned by the attitude of the people toward God and toward the provisions of the covenant. Obedience to God and reliance
17. The upon him were essential. During the Legislation thirty-eight years since the covenant
and Spe- was concluded at Sinai the weakness cine Needs, of the communal bands that held the tribes in union, and the tendency of the people to violate the terms of the covenant, had been frequently in evidence. Moses had often heard murmuring against God, a questioning of his goodness and his power, and he had been witness of their lack of faith at critical moments (Ex. xv. 24 etc.; Num. xiv. 4-12). He had seen the proneness of the people to fall away from the spiritual worship of Yahweh and bow down before images, contrary to the second article of the constitution; and worse yet, to turn aside from the pure and ennobling worship of the holy God to the abominable, licentious rites of heathenism (Ex. xxxii.; Num. xxv.). He had seen will- worship on the part of the priests and the indifference of these ministers at the tabernacle to the law of the sanctuary (Lev. x. 1). He had found personal ambition and tribal jealousy growing into conspiracy and open rebellion against both the civil ruler and the ecclesiastical authorities (Num. xvi.); and the prospect of material good leading to contentment with present conditions, to selfish choice, and for a time perhaps to
forgetfulness of duty (Num. xxxii.). Moses knew and all knew, that he had been the main force that had inspired the people for the great undertaking that he was the most potent influence that was making for righteousness, and that he was the greatest representative of Yahweh among them. It was natural that the old man, the father of his people, should be unwilling to release the reins of government to other hands without making a final effort to save his children from disaster and to secure the permanence of the institutions which in the providence of God he had founded. It was natural that the aged leader should wish to speak a farewell word to his people, and that he who had so long borne the nation on his heart should desire to tell them how to act in the new circumstances. And God bade him speak.
His valedictory reflects the experiences of forty
years with the Israelites, and the hopes and fears
which these events had begotten. The words are
the utterance of a wise statesman and
18. Deute- man of God. The address was deliv-
ronomy. ered in three instalments. (1) Rehearsal of the history of the people since the covenant was made with the preceding generation at Sinai, for the sake of the evidence afforded of both the goodness and the severity of Yahweh to Israel, and as a motive for obedience to Yahweh's laws (Deut. i. 6-iv. 40, with supplementary statement, 41-49). (2) Rehearsal of statutes which concerned the people, with emphasis on the spirituality of the laws and urgent insistence upon their observance (v.-xxvi.). (3) Conclusion: directions for building an altar on Mount Ebal and writing the law there on plastered stones; and blessings and curses annexed to obedience and disobedience respectively (xxvii.-xxviii.). This great address is closely followed by a brief speech at the ratification by the new generation of the covenant as thus proclaimed (xxix.-xxx.). This covenant, like the former one at Sinai, was recorded in a book (xxix. 20, 21, 27, xxx. 10; cf. Ex. xxiv. 4- 8). The address is dated in the fortieth year, eleventh month, and first day ; and the place is " beyond Jordan " or " on the other side of Jordan " (i. 1, 3). The designation was an old geographical term, inherited from their ancestors. To Abraham and the Canaanites it meant the region east of the river; and the rugged bluffs that rose behind the camp were known as Abarim, that is, the mountains of the other side. And the Jordan still separated them from the country of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were in the country " on the other side." Naturally enough under these circumstances the distinctive feature of the address is preparation for the settlement in Canaan. (1) It affects the language. With the occupation of the land imminent, and with a part of it in actual possession, the wilderness is a memory of the past and the thought is now of the new home. The speaker talks much about houses, towns, and city gates, about the cultivation of the soil and the fruits of the orchard and vineyard. (2) It leads to the adjustment of the laws to the new conditions, and to the reciting of so much only of an ordinance as applies to the new life. In reminding the people of