Deuteronomy receives its English title from a Greek mistranslation of the Hebrew in Deuteronomy 17:18, “repetition of the Law” or “second Law.” Like the Book of Numbers, the Hebrew title better reflects Deuteronomy’s content and character: ‘elleh haddebarim, “These are the words”; or more simply, debarim, “words.” Drawing on the first words of Deuteronomy 1:1, the title offers more than a simple description of the book’s contents; it offers a striking insight into the character of Moses himself and into the nature of God’s covenant relationship with the Israelites.
When we first meet Moses in Exodus 2, he is an infant subject to Pharaoh’s order that all newborn Hebrew males be killed. After three months, Moses’ mother can no longer hide him, so “she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar...
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Introduction, Outline, Bibliography