AUTHOR

Deuteronomy is the last of the five books of the Pentateuch, a collection known in Jewish tradition as the Torah. Until the rise of eighteenth-century rationalism (or the Enlightenment), the Pentateuch was ascribed to Moses and thus to a period long in advance of the Hebrew monarchy. Over the past 250 years, though, critical scholarship has concluded that Moses had little or nothing to do with the composition of the Pentateuch and that in fact it is a compilation of four major source documents dating from the tenth to the fifth centuries BC. This is known as the “Documentary” or “JEDP” hypothesis. Central to this hypothesis is the assumption that Deuteronomy (a source labeled D) was the document discovered in the course of Josiah’s reformation in 622 BC. (see 2Kg 22:8), that it had been written only shortly before its discovery, and that it either presupposed certain other sources (J = Yahwist, and E = Elohist) or anticipated the last of the four (P = Priestly).

Ancient Jewish and Christian tradition is unanimous in attributing Deuteronomy to Moses. The book itself makes this claim (Dt 1:1; 4:44; 31:9,22; 33:4), as does the rest of the Old Testament (Jos 1:7,13; 8:31-32; Jdg 3:4; 1Kg 2:3; 8:56; 2Kg 14:6; 23:25; 1Ch 15:15; 22:13; 2Ch 25:4; Ezr 3:2; 6:18; Neh 1:7; Dn 9:11,13; Mal 4:4), the New Testament (Mt 19:7-8; Mk 7:10; Lk 2:22; 16:29; Jn 1:17; 7:19; Ac 13:39; 15:1,5; 1Co 9:9; 2Co 3:15; Heb 10:28), and writings of the Jewish rabbis (e.g., Baba Bathra 14b-15a). Careful study of the book against the historical, geographical, and cultural background of the Late Bronze Age (ca 1550–1200 BC) shows it to be very much at home in that context. On the other hand, there is little in it that fits comfortably in a seventh century BC or later period. In short, there are no objective reasons to deny Moses’s authorship. Only the need to serve a hypothesis that itself is without either internal or external proof can justify claims of non-Mosaic authorship.

BACKGROUND AND SETTING

The Old Testament itself provides precise information as to the composition of Deuteronomy provided one accepts two major premises: (1) Mosaic authorship, and (2) an “early” exodus date. The former has just been addressed. As to the latter, the only record of the exodus is in the Bible, and there are only two texts that address its dating. The first is 1 Kings 6:1, which states that the exodus occurred 480 years before Solomon laid the foundations of the temple. That took place in 966 BC, a date hardly in dispute. The exodus, then, occurred in 1446. The other text is Judges 11:26, where Jephthah, a judge whose tenure commenced around 1100 BC, states that the Israelites had lived in the Transjordan for three hundred years. This dates their settlement to 1400, or about 40 years after the exodus. This is in line with the fact that Israel wandered in the Sinai for 40 years after the exodus (Dt 1:3; 29:5). A date of around 1400 BC for the writing of Deuteronomy is clearly compatible with all this evidence.

The setting of Deuteronomy is the countryside east of the Jordan River opposite Jericho. The riverbank there ascends gradually from the river to the lower foothills and then to the high plateau of the Transjordan. From the Dead Sea to the north is an expanse of twenty miles or more before the river becomes constricted between steep banks on either side. Within the one hundred square miles formed by these natural boundaries, the tribes of Israel camped prior to their crossing the Jordan into Canaan. During those months Moses addressed the people, probably on numerous occasions. Those addresses, together with other oral and written materials, came to constitute the Pentateuch. How or in what order this was done cannot be known, but the fact that Deuteronomy records Moses’s death suggests that it was the last part of the Pentateuch to be written (Dt 34:1-8; cp. 31:16; 32:48-52; 33:1).

The book consists of several kinds of literary genres and a great number of individual sections. No doubt at one time these sections existed independently of each other and were at last edited together into the present composition. This in no way undermines against Moses as author, for it could well have been he who was responsible not only for the original parts but also for their assembly into the form as we know it. That is, he was both author and editor.

THE RELIABILITY OF DEUTERONOMY

In addition to issues of authorship, dating, and place of origin for this biblical book, other issues command the attention of scholars. The first of these has to do with the form and structure of Deuteronomy as a covenant document.

Since the 1950s, comparisons have been noted between Deuteronomy and certain treaty texts from ancient Hittite archives. Though they share virtually nothing in terms of content, the structures of these respective documents are remarkably similar. Since the Hittite examples originated in the Late Bronze Age (ca 1400–1200 BC), Deuteronomy seems also to have come from this period.

However, other treaty texts have also surfaced, especially from seventh-century BC Assyria. These, too, resemble Deuteronomy in form and style except in two major respects. (1) They for the most part lack historical prologues. (2) They contain no blessing section. Both of these sections occur in Deuteronomy as well as in the Hittite models, thus providing further evidence for Deuteronomy’s antiquity. The burden of proof for a seventh century BC Deuteronomy clearly rests on the adherents to that view and not on those who accept the traditional dating.

The only other important issue of apologetics relative to the book is the alleged anachronisms. For example, in Deuteronomy 1:1 Moses and Israel are said to be “across the Jordan” (be’er hayyarden). At first glance this might seem to suggest that the narrator was in Canaan proper, to the west, and was looking toward the Transjordan. This would appear to rule out Moses as the author. However, to this day Transjordan is a term used to describe the land east of the Jordan, even by people who live there.

Another example occurs in Deuteronomy 2:12. There the author says that the descendants of Esau had destroyed the native Horites and settled in their land just as the Israelites had dealt with the peoples they dispossessed. The vantage point seems to be postconquest and thus long after Moses’s time. A careful reading of the narratives of the Transjordanian conquests puts an end to this argument, however, for Moses and his armies did indeed defeat and dispossess the Amorite kings Sihon and Og before this statement was recorded (Dt 2:26–3:11).

The most famous case is the account of Moses’s death at the end of the book (Dt 34:5-12). How could Moses write a text that describes the details of his own death and burial? It is possible, of course, that he was prophetically inspired to do so, but ancient Jewish tradition (Baba Bathra 14b-15a) and common sense suggest a better alternative—that the book was completed by someone else, most likely Joshua. This slight concession in no way undermines the position that Deuteronomy as a whole is Mosaic and from the late fifteenth century BC.