Deuteronomy

DEUTERONOMY consists of the parting counsels of Moses delivered to Israel in view of the impending entrance upon their covenanted possession. It contains a summary of the wilderness wanderings of Israel, which is important as unfolding the moral judgement of God upon those events; repeats the Decalogue to a generation which had grown up in the wilderness; gives needed instruction as the conduct of Israel in the land, and contains the Palestinian Covenant (Deuteronomy 30:1-9). The book breathes the sternness of the Law. Key- words, "Thou shalt"; key-verses, Deuteronomy 11:26-28.

It is important to note that, while the land of promise was unconditionally given Abraham and to his seed in the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 13:15; 15:7), it was under the conditional Palestinian Covenant (Deuteronomy 28:1-30:9) that Israel entered the land under Joshua. Utterly violating the conditions of that covenant, the nation was first disrupted (1 Kings 12) and then cast out of the land (2 Kings 17:1-18; 24:1-25:11). But the same covenant unconditionally promises a national restoration of Israel which is yet to be fulfilled.

DEUTERONOMY is in seven divisions:

1. Summary of the history of Israel in the wilderness, 1:1-3:29
2. A restatement of the Law, with warnings and exhortations, 4:1 -11:32,
3. Instructions, Warnings, and Predictions, 12:1-27:26,
4. The great closing prophecies summarizing the history of Israel to the second coming of Christ, and containing the Palestinian Covenant, 28:1-30:20,
5. Last counsels to Priests, Levites, and to Joshua, 31,
6. The Song of Moses and his parting blessings, 32,33,
7. The Death of Moses, 34.

The time covered by this retrospect is approximately forty years.