Biblical Exegesis †Deuteronomy 71-11 “A Chosen People”...

Biblical Exegesis – Deuteronomy 7:1-11 â€Å"A Chosen People† In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Deuteronomy is the last volume of the Chumash. The English derivative comes from the name that the book was given in the Septuagint (ΔÎ µÃâ€¦Ãâ€žÃŽ µÃ ÃŽ ¿Ãâ€¦ÃÅ'ÃŽ ¼ÃŽ ¹ÃŽ ¿Ãâ€¦) and in the Vulgate (Deuteronomium). It is based on the inaccurate Septuagint translation of â€Å"mishnah ha-torah ha-zot (Deut. 17:18), which according to traditional Hebrew grammatical rules should mean a repetition [i.e. a copy] of this law. The Septuagint refers to it thus – Ï„á ½ ¸ ΔÎ µÃâ€¦Ãâ€žÃŽ µÃ ÃŽ ¿Ãâ€¦ÃÅ'ÃŽ ¼ÃŽ ¹ÃŽ ¿Ãâ€¦ Ï„Î ¿Ã¡ ¿ ¦Ãâ€žÃŽ ¿ – as though the expression meant this repetition of the law. â€Å"While the name is a mistranslation, it is not inappropriate; for the book does include . . . a repetition or reformulation of a large part of†¦show more content†¦5:1 Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. Deut. 27:1 Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: â€Å"Keep all these commands that I give you today. Deut. 31:24 After Moses finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end Deut 33:1 This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced on the Israelites before his death. Elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures, various texts highlight the historically strong links associated with the Mosaic authorship of Deuteronomy (see Joshua 1:7-8; 1Kings 2:3; Malachi 4:4). The Christian Scriptures also make reference to this Mosaic tradition. Jesus attributed Deut. 24:1 to Moses (Matt. 19:7-8; Mk. 10:3-5), whilst Peter attributed Moses with the authorship of Deut. 18:15, 18-19 (Acts 3:22-23). Paul also accepted the Mosaic authorship when he referred to Deut. 25:4 (1Corinthians 9:9) and Deut. 32:21 (Romans 10:19). However, it is clear that Moses did not commit the whole of the book to writing himself. One significant piece of evidence is that Jesus accepted the Mosaic Authorship of the book, as did Paul. â€Å"However, it should be noted that in these cases Jesus and the New Testament writers may simply have been using the name Moses as the designation for the scroll of Moses which contained the Pentateuch.† (Thompson, 1974, pp. 49-50). According