Deuteronomy 5 - Introduction

B. Chs. 5 11. The Second Discourse Introductory to the Laws

This discourse is characterised throughout by emphasising, as the foundation of everything, Israel's relation and duty to Jehovah their God. Without love, fear, and loyalty towards Him, without a knowledge of what He is and has shown Himself to be in their experience, without a grateful remembrance of what He has done for them in Egypt and the wilderness, and an equal sense of their utter dependence upon Him for the blessings of the Land to which He is bringing them without in short a jealous guarding of their heart in reverent awe and warm, undivided affection to Himself they cannot keep His Laws with any constancy or power. It is the warmth and singleness of aim with which this spiritual theme is pursued that weld these Chapter s into a unity. There are, however, not only many small intrusions by the hands of editors, interrupting what is the particular theme of the discourse for the moment (on these see notes to separate verses), but signs that the main body of the discourse has been compiled from more than one source. Throughout the Sg. and Pl. forms of address succeed each other for longer and shorter sections; and these sections are at the same time marked by certain differences of subject, of attitude and temper, and of language. The two principal sections in the Pl., chs. 5 and Deuteronomy 9:7; Deuteronomy 9:7; Deuteronomy 10:11, are mainly historical and retrospective; and the former includes the Decalogue in the Sg. as obviously a quotation. The Sg. sections which form the bulk of the discourse are mainly, though not exclusively, hortatory; and it is they alone which dwell on the beauties and blessings of the Land, to which Israel is coming. For further details of the distinction between the two, see the separate notes; and for the general questions raised see the Introduction, § 8.

CHAPTER 5

Prologue to the Second Discourse introductory to the Laws

This chapter is fairly complete in itself; and apart from its quotation of the Decalogue carries throughout the Pl. form of address, whereas immediately after it in ch. 6 a change is made to the Singular, which then prevails for several Chapter s. On these grounds and because the subject is peculiar to itself Bertholet takes ch. 5 as a separate discourse designed perhaps for a -people's edition" of the deuteronomic code to correlate the Decalogue with that code. But there is no reason why such a design should not have been carried out by the authors of the Code, whose scope included history as well as legislation. Steuernagel, who analyses 5 11 into two documents, one in the Pl. address and mainly historical, and one in the Sg. and mainly hortatory, takes ch. 5, of course, as belonging to the former.

Moses (no date or place is given, but the discourse is under the title Deuteronomy 4:45-49 which gives both) summons Israel to hear laws which he has to speak to them (Deuteronomy 5:1). But first he tells them of the origin of these (which is also alluded to in Deuteronomy 4:11-14). He reminds them that at Ḥoreb and with the present generation (this in contradiction to Deuteronomy 2:14 f.), God had made a covenant, addressing them directly out of the fire (while Moses stood between to declare the purport of the awful Voice) (Deuteronomy 5:2-5). The words of that covenant were the Ten Words which he now quotes (Deuteronomy 5:6-21). To these, spoken to the whole Assembly, God added no more but wrote them on two tables of stone (Deuteronomy 5:22). Moses witnesses that having heard the voice of God and being still alive the people had yet feared that the fire would consume them and if they heard any more they would die (Deuteronomy 5:23-26); that they had begged him to go near and hear for them what God had still to say, promising their obedience to it (Deuteronomy 5:27). Hearing their words God had directed Moses to dismiss them to their tents (Deuteronomy 5:28-30), but himself to stay and receive a command, statutes and judgements to teach the people to do in the land He was about to give them (Deuteronomy 5:31). Instead of immediately announcing these commandments, uttered to himself alone at Ḥoreb, he first exhorts the people to obey them (Deuteronomy 5:32 f.).

This narrative is expanded, with some alterations of terminology, from the fragments of E concerning the theophany and publication of the Decalogue on Ḥoreb; Exodus 19:15; Exodus 19:17; Exodus 19:19; Exodus 20:1-21. (For the evidence that in Exodus 19:20 two accounts of the theophany at Ḥoreb have been mingled and for the discrimination of E from J see Driver's Exod.168 ff. and W. R. Smith, OTJC2, footnote on 336.) E states that God descended on Ḥoreb in thunder and lightning (D with fire and darkness) and agrees with D (but see below) that the Decalogue was then pronounced from the mount in the hearing of all the people, that fearing death they begged God might speak to Moses and not to themselves, and that Moses drawing near received additional laws. Then there is a great difference. In E the laws communicated to Moses alone are presumably the so-called Book of the Covenant which immediately follows, Exodus 20:22 to Exodus 23:33; in D they are, it is evident, the deuteronomic Code 12 26, not revealed by Moses till the people were in Moab 38 years from the time they had been at Ḥoreb. The interesting suggestion is made by Kuenen that originally E had similarly assigned the publication of the -Book of the Covenant" to the time in Moab, but when that Code was replaced by the deuteronomic legislation, it was removed to the account of the occurrences at Ḥoreb.