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DEUTERONOMY

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 118 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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DEUTERONOMY , the name of one of the books of the Old Testament. This See also:

BOOK

book was See also:

long the See also:

STORM (in O. Eng..storm, and so in Du. and Low Ger.; in O. H. Ger. and mod. Ger. Sturm; the root is probably that seen in " stir," to rouse, move, disturb, cf. Ger. storen)
STORM, THEODOR WOLDSEN (1817-1888)

storm-centre of Pentateuchal See also:

criticism, orthodox scholars boldly asserting that any who questioned its See also:

MOSAIC (corresponding to Lat. opus musivum, from Gr. µovoeiov, an artificial grotto often decorated with mosaics; the word is only found in the sense of mosaic in late Greek, which generally uses k oXI yrlµa)

Mosaic authorship reduced it to the level of a pious See also:

FRAUD (Lat. fraus, deceit)

fraud. But Biblical facts have at last triumphed over tradition, and the non-Mosaic authorship of Deuteronomy is nowa See also:

COMMONPLACE

commonplace of criticism. It is still instructive, however, to See also:

note the successive phases through which scholarly See also:

OPINION (Lat. opinio, from opinari, to think)

opinion regarding the See also:

composition and :date of his book has passed. In the 17th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century the characteristics which so clearly See also:

mark off Deuteronomy from the other four books of the See also:

PENTATEUCH

Pentateuch were frankly recognized, but the most advanced critics of that See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age were inclined to pronounce it the earliest and most See also:

AUTHENTIC (from Gr. aOO 'rns, one who does a thing himself)

authentic of the five. In the beginning of the 19th century de Wette startled the religious See also:

WORLD

world by declaring that Deuteronomy, so far from being Mosaic,' was not known till the See also:

time of See also:

JOSIAH (Heb. yo' shiyydhu, perhaps " Yah [weh] supports ")

Josiah. This theory he founded on 2 See also:

KINGS, FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF

Kings xxii.; and ever since, this See also:

CHAPTER (a shortened form of chapiter, a word still used in architecture for a capital; derived from O. Fr. chapitre, Lat. capitellum, diminutive of caput, head)

chapter has been one of the recognized' foci of Biblical criticism. The only other single chapter of the See also:

Bible which is responsible for having brought about a somewhat similar revolution in See also:

CRITICAL (in alphabetical order of authors)

critical opinion is Ezek. xliv. From this chapter, some seventy years after de Wette's See also:

DISCOVERY

discovery, See also:

WELLHAUSEN, JULIUS (1844— )

Wellhausen with equal acumen inferred that See also:

LEVITICUS

Leviticus was not known to See also:

EZEKIEL (SKpm', " God strengthens" or " God is strong "; Sept. 'IE'EKL?)X; Vulg. Ezechiel)

Ezekiel, the See also:

PRIEST (Ger. Priester, Fr. pretre)

priest, and therefore could not have been in existence in his See also:

day; for had Leviticus been the recognized See also:

Law-book of his nation Ezekiel could not have represented as a degradation the very position which that Law-book described as a See also:

SPECIAL

special See also:

HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

honour conferred on the See also:

LEVITES

Levites by Yahweh himself. Hence Leviticus, so far from belonging to an earlier stratum of the Pentateuch than Deuteronomy, as de Wette thought, must belong to a much later stratum, and be at least exilic, if not See also:

POST

post-exilic. The See also:

TITLE (0. Fr. title, mod. titre, from Lat. titulus)

title " Deuteronomy " is due to a mistranslation by the See also:

SEPTUAGINT, THE (Gr. of 0', Lat. LXX.)

Septuagint of the clause in See also:

CHAP

chap. xvii. 18, rendered " and he shall write out for himself this Deuteronomy." The See also:

HEBREW

Hebrew really means " and he [the See also:

king] shall write out for himself a copy of this law," where there is not the slightest See also:

SUGGESTION

suggestion that the author intended to describe " this law " delivered on the plains of See also:

MOAB

Moab as a second See also:

CODE (Lat. codex)

code in contradistinction to the first code given on See also:

SINAI

Sinai See also:

THIRTY

thirty-eight years earlier.

Moreover the phrase " this law " is so ambiguous as to raise a much greater difficulty than that caused by the See also:

Greek mistranslation of the Hebrew word for " copy." How much does " this law "include? It was long supposed to mean the whole of our See also:

PRESENT

present Deuteronomy; indeed, it is on that supposition that the traditional view of the Mosaic authorship is based. But the context alone can determine the question; and that is often so ambiguous that a sure inference is impossible. We may safely assert, however, that nowhere need " this law " mean the whole book. In fact, it invariably means very much less, and sometimes, as in See also:

XXVII

xxvii. 3, 8, so little that it could all be engraved in large letters on a few plastered stones set up beside an See also:

ALTAR (Lat. altare, from alias, high; some ancient etymological guesses are recorded by St Isidore of Seville in Etymologiae xv. 4)

altar. Deuteronomy is not the See also:

WORK

work of any single writer but the result of a long See also:

PROCESS

process of development. The fact that it is legislative as well as hortatory is enough to prove this, for most of the See also:

LAWS

laws it contains are found elsewhere in the Pentateuch, sometimes in less See also:

DEVELOPED

developed, sometimes in more developed forms, a fact which is conclusive See also:

PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)

proof of prolonged See also:

HISTORICAL

historical development. According to the all-pervading law of See also:

EVOLUTION

evolution, the less complex See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form must have preceded the more complex. Still, the book does See also:

bear the See also:

STAMP (from " to stamp," to strike or tread heavily, hence to impress, O. Eng. stempen, Du. stampen, Ger. stampfen, whence, O. Fr. estamper, mod. etamper)

stamp of one See also:

MASTER (Lat. magister, related to tnagis, more, as the corresponding minister is to minus, less; the English form is due partly to the O. Eng. maegister, and partly to O. Fr. maistre, mod. maitre; cf. Du. meester, Ger. Meister, Ital. maestro)

master-mind. Its See also:

style is as easily recognized as that of Deutero-See also:

Isaiah, being as remarkable for its copious diction as for its depths of moral and religious feeling. The See also:

ORIGINAL

original Deuteronomy, D, read to King Josiah, cannot have been so large as our present book, for not only could it be read ata single sitting, but it could be easily read twice in one day.

On the day it was found, Shaphan first read it himself, and then went to the king and read it aloud to him. But perhaps the most conclusive proof of its brevity is that it was read publicly to the assembled See also:

PEOPLE

people immediately before they, as well as their king, pledged themselves to obey it; and not a word is said as to the task of See also:

READING

reading it aloud, so as to be heard by such a See also:

GREAT

great multitude, being long or difficult. The legislative See also:

PART

part of D consists of fifteen chapters (xii.–xxvi.), which,' however, contain many later insertions. But the impression made upon Josiah by what he heard was far too deep to have been produced by the legislative part alone.

End of Article: DEUTERONOMY

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