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18. Deuteronomy

His valedictory reflects the experiences of forty years with the Israelites, and the hopes and fears which these events had begotten. The words are the utterance of a wise statesman and man of God. The address was deliv- ered in three instalments. (1) Re hearsal of the history of the people since the covenant was made with the preceding generation at Sinai, for the sake of the evidence af forded of both the goodness and the severity of Yah weh to Israel, and as a motive for obedience to Yahweh's laws (Deut. i. 6-iv. 40, with supplemen tary statement, 41-49). (2) Rehearsal of statutes which concerned the people, with emphasis on the spirituality of the laws and urgent insistence upon their observance (v.-xxvi.). (3) Conclusion: di rections for building an altar on Mount Ebal and writing the law there on plastered stones; and blessings and curses annexed to obedience and dis obedience respectively (xgvii.-xxviii.). This great address is closely followed by a brief speech at the ratification by the new generation of the covenant as thus proclaimed (xxix.-xxx.). This covenant, like the former one at Sinai, was recorded in a' book (xxix. 20, 21, 27, xxx. 10; of. Ex. xxiv. 4 8). The address is dated in the fortieth year, eleventh month, and first day; and the place is " beyond Jordan " or " on the oth6r side of Jor dan " (i. 1, 3). The designation was an old gee graphical term, inherited from theirance -stors. To Abraham and the Canaanites it meant the region east of the river; and the rugged bluffs that rose behind the camp were known as Abarim, that is, the mountains of the other side. And the Jordan still separated them from the country of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were in the country " on the other side." Naturally enough under these cir cumstances the distinctive feature of the address is preparation for the settlement in Canaan. (1) It affects the language. With the occupation of the land imminent, and with a part of it in actual pos session, the wilderness is a memory of the past and the thought is now of the new home. The speaker talks much about houses, towns, and city gates, about the cultivation of the soil and the fruits of the orchard and vineyard. (2) It leads to the ad justment of the laws to the new conditions, and to the reciting of so much only of an ordinance as applies to the new life. In reminding the people of

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the law of foods the speaker omits the reptiles, which are included in the earlier law among the forbidden articles of diet (cf. Lev. xi. 29, 30 with Deut. xiv.); passing them by without mention probably because the land of promise was before him, a land flowing with milk and honey, a land of corn and wine, of figs, pomegranates, and olives. Its fertility east of the river had already been seen by the people, and it was plain that there would be no temptation in the new home to eat the grosser forms of flesh. Again, the law which required animals that were slain for food to be slaughtered at the door of the tabernacle would necessitate a long journey on the part of those who dwelt in remote districts. It was changed so as to permit the people to slay for food in the town where they resided (Deut. xii. 15, 21; Lev. xvii. 3, 4). To meet the same difficulty a change was made in the law regarding the transport of certain tithes to the sanctuary (Deut. 22-25) and, apparently, in the age at which the firstling of the herd and flock should be offered (xv. 19, 20; cf. Ex. xxii. 30). The same intention probably led to the omission of a clause from the statute defining the procedure to be followed for legally confirming the Hebrew bondservant's choice, who at the end of his period of service should elect to remain with his master. Henceforth he need not appear at the sanctuary before the Lord (Ex. xxi. 5, 6; cf. xxii. 8, 9) in order to declare his voluntary relinquishment of his right to go free; from this time on the ceremony of attachment was alone required, and that act was always performed at the master's own house, in whatever part of the country it might be (Deut. xv. 16, 17). (3) It leads to grave concern for the tribe of Levi, in view of the peculiar situation in which it would soon be placed: a tribe without an inheritance. The entire tribe of Levi had been set apart for service at the sanctuary. It was to receive no land in Israel; and was without support except from the gifts of the people to the Lord for the maintenance of worship. In his parting words he dwells on their rights and privileges, refers repeatedly to their dependent condition and exhorts the people to call them in as guests at their joyous feasts, and never to forsake them nor leave them in need (xii. 12, 18, 19 et passim). In alluding to their perquisites (x. 8, 9, xviii. 1,8) he takes for granted a thorough familiarity on the part of the people with the distribution of duties among the several families of the tribe, which had been adopted in the wilderness, and accordingly he uses the general designation Levi and Levites (xviii. 1, 6); just as the Hebrew historians often do who wrote after the legislation o' Leviticus and Numbers had been enacted, leaving it to be understood that each order of ministers had its own peculiar duties and privileges (ver. 7; cf. Num. xxxv. 1,8; Josh. xxi. 3-7, 8-11, 13-20; I Kings xii. 31; I Chron. xv. 2, 4, 11, 15; II Chron. v. 4, 5; Mal. ii. 1-10, iii. 3). He uses also the designation "the priests, the Levites" (xvii. 9, xviii. 1, xxiv. 8), as do subsequent historians and prophets, even the latest (Jer. xxxiii. 18, 21; Ezek. xliii. 19, xliv. 15; II Chron. xxiii. 18). It was eminently appropriate as a means of distinguishing the legitimate priests, who had just been restricted to the family of Aaron, tribe of Levi, from the former ministers among the

Israelites to whom it pertained to offer sacrifice

(Ex. xix. 22, xxiv. 5; cf. xviii. 1, 12), and perhaps also from civil ministers to whom the -title kohen

applied (Paton, JBL, 1893, pp. 1-14). (4) It leads to insistence upon resort to the one altar by the whole nation, located at the place which Yahweh should choose out of all the tribes to put his name there (xii.), and the urgent exhortation to destroy all heathen altars. The unity of the altar was in tended to counteract the tendency of the people to lapse into idolatry by preventing them from wor shiping at the numerous local sanctuaries of the

Canaanites and by keeping the service of Yahweh under proper control; to render the worship of

Yahweh a grander spectacle and of greater pomp than the rites of the idols of the Canaanites by uniting the numbers and wealth of the Hebrews at one sanctuary; and to strengthen the national feeling and deepen the sense of brotherhood by giving to every member of the nation a common home and bringing all the tribes together at stated seasons as a great family. The spirit of jealousy between individuals and between tribes, the popu lar proneness to idolatry, and the willingness of large sections of the people to separate from their brethren and settle in attractive pastoral regions had already become manifest. And therefore the old idea of the priestly legislation, "one God, one sanctuary" (Wellhausen, Hist. of Israel, p. 34), the idea of the book of the covenant also, is insisted upon at this crisis. It was essential to the unity of the nation and the continuance of the theocracy.

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