deuteronomy

3 definitions found

deuteronomy - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Deuteronomy \Deu`ter*on"o*my\, n. [Gr. ?; ? second + ? law: cf.
     L. Deuteronomium.] (Bibl.)
     The fifth book of the Pentateuch, containing the second
     giving of the law by Moses. Deuteropathia

deuteronomy - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  Deuteronomy
      n 1: the fifth book of the Old Testament; contains a second
           statement of Mosaic law [syn: Deuteronomy, Book of Deuteronomy
           ]

deuteronomy - Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary :

  Deuteronomy
  In all the Hebrew manuscripts the Pentateuch (q.v.) forms one
  roll or volume divided into larger and smaller sections called
  _parshioth_ and _sedarim_. It is not easy to say when it was
  divided into five books. This was probably first done by the
  Greek translators of the book, whom the Vulgate follows. The
  fifth of these books was called by the Greeks Deuteronomion,
  i.e., the second law, hence our name Deuteronomy, or a second
  statement of the laws already promulgated. The Jews designated
  the book by the two first Hebrew words that occur, _'Elle
  haddabharim_, i.e., "These are the words." They divided it into
  eleven _parshioth_. In the English Bible it contains thirty-four
  chapters.
  
    It consists chiefly of three discourses delivered by Moses a
  short time before his death. They were spoken to all Israel in
  the plains of Moab, in the eleventh month of the last year of
  their wanderings.
  
    The first discourse (1-4:40) recapitulates the chief events of
  the last forty years in the wilderness, with earnest
  exhortations to obedience to the divine ordinances, and warnings
  against the danger of forsaking the God of their fathers.
  
    The seond discourse (5-26:19) is in effect the body of the
  whole book. The first address is introductory to it. It contains
  practically a recapitulation of the law already given by God at
  Mount Sinai, together with many admonitions and injunctions as
  to the course of conduct they were to follow when they were
  settled in Canaan.
  
    The concluding discourse (ch. 27-30) relates almost wholly to
  the solemn sanctions of the law, the blessings to the obedient,
  and the curse that would fall on the rebellious. He solemnly
  adjures them to adhere faithfully to the covenant God had made
  with them, and so secure for themselves and their posterity the
  promised blessings.
  
    These addresses to the people are followed by what may be
  called three appendices, namely (1), a song which God had
  commanded Moses to write (32:1-47); (2) the blessings he
  pronounced on the separate tribes (ch. 33); and (3) the story of
  his death (32:48-52) and burial (ch. 34), written by some other
  hand, probably that of Joshua.
  
    These farewell addresses of Moses to the tribes of Israel he
  had so long led in the wilderness "glow in each line with the
  emotions of a great leader recounting to his contemporaries the
  marvellous story of their common experience. The enthusiasm they
  kindle, even to-day, though obscured by translation, reveals
  their matchless adaptation to the circumstances under which they
  were first spoken. Confidence for the future is evoked by
  remembrance of the past. The same God who had done mighty works
  for the tribes since the Exodus would cover their head in the
  day of battle with the nations of Palestine, soon to be invaded.
  Their great lawgiver stands before us, vigorous in his hoary
  age, stern in his abhorrence of evil, earnest in his zeal for
  God, but mellowed in all relations to earth by his nearness to
  heaven. The commanding wisdom of his enactments, the dignity of
  his position as the founder of the nation and the first of
  prophets, enforce his utterances. But he touches our deepest
  emotions by the human tenderness that breathes in all his words.
  Standing on the verge of life, he speaks as a father giving his
  parting counsels to those he loves; willing to depart and be
  with God he has served so well, but fondly lengthening out his
  last farewell to the dear ones of earth. No book can compare
  with Deuteronomy in its mingled sublimity and tenderness."
  Geikie, Hours, etc.
  
    The whole style and method of this book, its tone and its
  peculiarities of conception and expression, show that it must
  have come from one hand. That the author was none other than
  Moses is established by the following considerations: (1.) The
  uniform tradition both of the Jewish and the Christian Church
  down to recent times. (2.) The book professes to have been
  written by Moses (1:1; 29:1; 31:1, 9-11, etc.), and was
  obviously intended to be accepted as his work. (3.) The
  incontrovertible testimony of our Lord and his apostles (Matt.
  19:7, 8; Mark 10:3, 4; John 5:46, 47; Acts 3:22; 7:37; Rom.
  10:19) establishes the same conclusion. (4.) The frequent
  references to it in the later books of the canon (Josh. 8:31; 1
  Kings 2:9; 2 Kings 14:6; 2 Chr. 23:18; 25:4; 34:14; Ezra 3:2;
  7:6; Neh. 8:1; Dan. 9:11, 13) prove its antiquity; and (5) the
  archaisms found in it are in harmony with the age in which Moses
  lived. (6.) Its style and allusions are also strikingly
  consistent with the circumstances and position of Moses and of
  the people at that time.
  
    This body of positive evidence cannot be set aside by the
  conjectures and reasonings of modern critics, who contended that
  the book was somewhat like a forgery, introduced among the Jews
  some seven or eight centuries after the Exodus.