II BACKGROUND A TITLE Our English title Deuteronomy is traced back to the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament, where the title was given as Deuteronomion, meaning literally, “second law.” This latter title came from the Septuagint’s mistranslation of the phrase “a copy of this law” (17:18) as to deuteronomion touto, “this second law.” Actually, the book of Deuteronomy does not present another, or second, law, but repeats and ampli es the basic laws which had been given to the people on Mount Sinai B AUTHOR AND DATE Evidence for Mosaic authorship is overwhelming At speci c places in the text he is expressly identi ed as the author (Read 1:1-6; 4:44-46; 29:1; 31:9, 24-26.) Jewish and Samaritan tradition has assigned the book to Moses Jesus and New Testament writers, who quote from Deuteronomy more than from any other Old Testament book (about eighty times, e.g., Rom 10:6-8; Heb 12:29; 13:5; Matt 4:4, 7, 10; 22:37-38), associate the book with the Law Internally, its message best ts the times and ministry of Moses “The words are instinct with the warm solicitude of a great leader for the people whose experiences he had shared.”1 Chapter 34, which records Moses’ death, was written by another person Of this, Gleason Archer writes, “The closing chapter furnishes only that type of obituary which is often appended to the nal work of great men of letters.”2 Joshua, Moses’ friend and successor, may have written the obituary As for the date of composition, Moses probably wrote the book soon after he delivered the addresses (1:3) and shortly before his death (1405 B.C.) C SETTING The circumstances under which Deuteronomy was written are clear Israel had reached the border of Canaan Forty years earlier the nation had been on the border of the land, but because of unbelief and disobedience the people were not allowed to enter This time they had to tarry on the banks of the Jordan until they learned this one lesson: They must obey their God God was willing and ready to lead them on to victory and to give them the delights of the land, on the condition that they would bend their stubborn wills and surrender entirely to Him Moses, the lawgiver, was about to leave them; so he gathered his beloved people around him for the last time and delivered his farewell address—Deuteronomy (This took place on the plains of Moab See Map G.) His object in the address, and hence the object of the book, was to impress upon them the one lesson: obey D COMPARISONS WITH LEVITICUS AND NUMBERS ... on the banks of the Jordan until they learned this one lesson: They must obey their God God was willing and ready to lead them on to victory and to give them the delights of the land, on the. .. reached the border of Canaan Forty years earlier the nation had been on the border of the land, but because of unbelief and disobedience the people were not allowed to enter This time they had... 22:37-38), associate the book with the Law Internally, its message best ts the times and ministry of Moses ? ?The words are instinct with the warm solicitude of a great leader for the people whose