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10. “In the Fortieth Year . . . Moses Addressed the Israelites”: Deuteronomy
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10 “In the Fortieth Year . . . Moses Addressed the Israelites” Reading Deuteronomy Primary Reading: Deuteronomy (esp. chaps. 1, 4, 5, 12, 31). A Pious Fraud Deuteronomy contains the longest introductory sentence of any biblical book: (1) These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan—through the wilderness, in the Arabah near Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab, (2) it is eleven days from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by the Mount Seir route— (3) it was in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, that Moses addressed the Israelites in accordance with the instructions that the LORD had given him for them, (4) after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who dwelt at Ashtaroth and Edrei, (5) on the other side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this Teaching; he said: (transl. adapted). The long list of details given here has a simple function: to legitimize the book as a whole. It is another way of saying: “I am authentic.” There is a good reason that Deuteronomy in particular needs to be legitimated in this way so much of the book repeats narratives and legal material from earlier in the Torah. Deuteronomy 5, for example, recounts the Decalogue of Exodus 20. The second half of chapter 1 retells the story of the spies, found in Numbers 13–14. Its festival calendar in chapter 16 resembles the one found in Exodus 23:14–19. For good reason, the book is called in English Deuteronomy—from the Greek 85 deutero-nomos, “second law”—and in rabbinic sources mishnei torah, “a repetition of the Torah.” At first blush, that is precisely what the book is: Moses’ repetition of selected earlier laws and narratives as his valedictory address. The repetition, however, is far from exact. Even the Decalogue, which claims to be the words that the LORD spoke (“those and no more—to your whole congregation at the mountain”; Deut. 5:19), does not replicate exactly the words found in Exodus 20. Most especially in the Sabbath utterance, but not only there, the text of Deuteronomy deviates significantly from Exodus.1 In fact, that utterance has been “Deuteronomized,” that is, made to fit the theology and language of the book of Deuteronomy, which has no knowledge of the seven-day creation mentioned in Genesis 1 and Exodus 20, but is full of references to the Exodus, a major theme in Deuteronomy.2 The so-called spy story is also revised in a number of significant ways. For example, according to Numbers 13:2, it was God who initiated the sending of the scouts, while according to Deuteronomy 1:22–23, this was the people’s idea, which Moses approved. According to Numbers 13:2, each tribe’s chieftain was sent, while Deuteronomy 1:23 notes only that “one from each tribe” was sent. Many other differences may be cited. Legal traditions are equally flexible. Though there are many similarities between the festival calendars in Exodus 23 and Deuteronomy 16, there are many differences as well. The similarities include a notice that there are only three pilgrimage festivals, incumbent upon males only. Exodus 23:17 reads, “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Sovereign, the LORD,” compared to Deuteronomy 16:16, “Three times a year—on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on the Feast of Weeks, and on the Feast of Booths—all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place that He will choose.” In both there is no mention of Rosh Hashanah (New Year) or Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), found in the Priestly calendar of Leviticus 23. The differences are also quite striking. For example, the fall festival is noted in quite brief terms in Exodus 23:16, “and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in the results of your work from the field.” It is renamed, expanded, and changed quite significantly in Deuteronomy 16: (13) After the ingathering from your threshing floor and your vat, you shall hold the Feast of Booths for seven days. (14) You shall rejoice in your festival, with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your communities. (15) You shall hold a festival for the LORD...