Deuteronomy 4:5

Behold, I have taught you The perf. of the verb in contrast with the fut. in Deuteronomy 4:1 raises questions. Does Moses now refer to laws which he has already promulgated from Ḥoreb onward (so Driver)? Hardly, for the rest of the verse implies the same statutes and judgementsas Deuteronomy 4:1. Or is this verse out of place here, and borrowed from an address by Moses after the promulgation of the deuteronomic laws (Dillm., Westphal, Steuern., etc.)? Or is it the mistake of a scribe (Kosters)? Bertholet seeks a solution in the fact that when the Heb. verb for behold(re'eh, sing. but Sam. and LXX plur.) is followed by a finite verb the perfect is used even where we should expect a future (e.g. Genesis 41:41; 1 Chronicles 21:23). Thus the action in view is represented as if it were already past (for a similar idiom cp. -the prophetic perfect"). There is, therefore, no reason to question that Deuteronomy 4:5 refers like Deuteronomy 4:1 to the legislation imminent in Israel; alternatively it may include the laws given on Ḥoreb, cp. Deuteronomy 4:14. In any case the chief objection to taking Deuteronomy 4:5 along with 1 4 is removed.

whither ye go in to possess it The only Pl. passage which gives this phrase (though Deuteronomy 4:1 has a variant) so distinctive of the Sg. passages that in them it occurs 10 times. See on Deuteronomy 6:1.