Bible Commentaries
Deuteronomy

THE FIFTH BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED DEUTERONOMY.

The title of this Book in the Hebrew is, אלה הדברים ELLEH HA-DEBAREEM, these are the words; or, ספר דברים SEPHER DEBAREEM, the book of the words. Some of the Jews called it, the Misne, or repetition of the law; others, the Book of Admonition. But the Seventy Jews who translated the Pentateuch into Greek, called it Deuteronomy, from Νομος Nomos the law, and Δευτερος Deuteros a second time. Moses, being now one hundred and twenty years of age, possessing recollection and all his faculties unimpaired, employed the last five weeks of his life in repeating the law to the new generation, and enriched it with glosses, improvements, and new revelations. The divine authenticity of this book is fully allowed by many quotations in the New Testament. Here our Saviour found a threefold weapon to repel the tempter. The last chapter is supposed to have been written by Joshua, or under his sanction. Moses commences by a rehearsal of events since the Exodus from Egypt; he discovers throughout the sublime spirit of a divine lawgiver and preacher, and closes his work with luminous prophecies of future times.