Schaff's Bible Dictionary
DEU'TER-ON'OMY, or THE SECOND LAW (so called from its repeating the Law), is the fifth book of the Bible, and (except the last chapter) was evidently written by Moses. Deut 1:5, comp. with Deut 34:1; 2 Chr 25:4; Dan 9:13; Mark 12:19; Acts 3:22. This book contains three addresses of Moses to the Israelites in the plain of Moab in the eleventh month of the fortieth year of their journeyings, , expounding, supplementing, and enforcing the Law, the delivery of the book of the Law to the Levites, and the song of Moses.
The first address, Deut 1:1-4; 1 Sam 15:40, is a brief rehearsal of the history of the "Wandering," particularly of those events which conditioned their entry into the Promised Land. Upon this resume Moses grounds an exhortation to obedience. The second address, Deut 5:1-26; Acts 1:19, follows almost immediately after the first, being separated from it only by three verses, giving a brief notice of the three cities of refuge which Moses severed on the east side of the Jordan. This address, like the first, has a formal historical setting, Deut 4:44-49, by way of introduction.
It contains a recapitulation, with a few additions and alterations, of the Law given on Sinai. Particularly noticeable is the slightly different version of the ten commandments. But this long address is not the least like a dry legal recital. Throughout, the spiritual earnestness of Moses is shown, and, as has been well said, "It is the father no less than the legislator who speaks.
" The third part of Deuteronomy, Deut 27:1-30; Ruth 4:20, opens with the joint command of Moses and the elders to keep all the commandments, and, when they had crossed the Jordan, to write them upon the great plastered stones they were ordered to set up with appropriate ceremonies. " After these three addresses, in Deut 31 there follows the delivery of the Law to Joshua and Moses's speech on the occasion, containing a command to read the Law every seven years. In Deut 32 we have the song of Moses; in Deut 33, Moses's blessing of the twelve tribes.
These were the last written words of Moses, and most beautifully do they set forth the majesty of God and the excellency of Israel. The final verses of the book give an account of the death of Moses, and were, of course, written by another hand. c. 1277. See also Pentateuch.