mind's eye, as he had the Ark, (which he names in x.1,2,3,5,8, xxxi.9,25,26,) the Tabernacle of David having long disappeared from the sight, and almost from the memories, of men, while the Ark was still in the Temple.

791. In this passage it will be seen that Moses and Joshua go into the Tabernacle, as in E.xxxiii.7-11, the Tabernacle, apparently, being supposed to stand, as then, without the camp, E.xxxiii.7; and Jehovah appears in the 'pillar of cloud,' which stands over the door of the Tabernacle,' v.15, just as in E.xxxiii.9. So, also, we read in N.xii.4,5,

'And Jehovah spake suddenly unto Moses and unto Aaron and unto Miriam, Come out, ye three, unto the Tabernacle of the Congregation. And they three came out. And Jehovah came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the Tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forth.'

It seems plain that D.xxxi.14,15, is due to the same writer as E.xxxiii.7-11 and N.xii.4,5, whoever this may be.

792. But KNOBEL, p.320, produces certain verbal expressions in v.16-21, which, as he considers, are not Deuteronomistic. We shall first show that these expressions, although not peculiar to this writer, are yet used by him in certain places and also by Jeremiah.

(i) v.18, 'turn towards other gods:' for 'other gods' see (573.v.B); the complete phrase 'turn the face (p, panah) unto other gods' is found nowhere in the Pentateuch or whole Bible, except in the passage now before us. It may, therefore, be the Deuteronomist's, especially as he uses the verb itself,, repeatedly, and in xxix.18(17) uses it in a sense very similar to that in which it is employed here—' whose heart turneth (p) away this day from Jehovah our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations;' comp. Jer.ii.27, xxxii.33.

(ii) v.16, ¡‡‡, zanah, 'commit whoredom,' used of idolatry, E.xxxiv.*15,16,16, Jer.ii.20, iii.1,3,6,8: comp. Jer.iii.2,9, xiii.27.

(iii) v.20, p, naats, 'despise,' D.xxxii. 19, Jer.xiv.21, xxiii. 17, xxxiii.24, Lam.ii.6. (iv) v.16,20,, hepher berith, break a covenant,' L.xxvi.*15,44, Jer.xi.10, xiv.21, xxxi.32, xxxiii.20,21.

(v) v.17,18, D'

¬, histir panim, 'hide the face,' D.xxxii.20, Jer.xxxiii.5. (vi) v.17,21, ny, tsarah, 'trouble,' Jer.iv.31, vi.24, xiv.8, xv.11, xvi.19, xxx.7, xlix.24, 1.43; and we have, rahah větsarah, ‘evil and trouble,' joined in Jer. xv.11 as in D.xxxi.17,21.

*We use the asterisk to mark certain passages in other parts of the Pentateuch, which we shall show in Part IV. to be Deuteronomistic interpolations.

(vii) v.21, a, bêterem, 'before,' Jer.i.5,5.

(viii) v.16, 'lie down with thy fathers,' generally in Kings, as in 2K.xx.21, xxi.18, xxiv.6, &c. (probably written by Jeremiah?)

Upon the whole we conclude that there is no sufficient reason for not ascribing this section, v.16-21, to the Deuteronomist.

793. On the contrary, the above expressions, when closely examined, help rather to fix the passage upon him, as do also the following.

(i) v.16, 'ohe necar, 'strange gods,' D.xxxi.16, xxxii. 12, Jer.v.19, comp. Jer.viii.19.

(ii) forsake Jehovah,' (553.xi, 562.xi).

(iii) v.20,21, 'the land which I sware unto their fathers,' D.i.8,35, ii.14, vi.10,18,23, vii.13, viii.1, x.11, xi.9,21, xxvi.3,15, xxviii.11, xxxi.7,20,21,23, xxxiv.4, Jer.xxxii.22, and eight other cases in the Pentateuch.

(iv) that floweth with milk and honey,' D.vi.3, xi.9, xxvi.9,15, xxvii.3, xxxi.20, Jer.xi.5, xxxii.22, and nine times besides in the Pentateuch.

(v) vayı bɔș, acal věsavah, ‘eat and be full,' D.vi.11, viii.10,12, xi.15, xiv.29, xxiii.24(25), xxvi.12, xxxi.20, L.xxvi.*5,26, and twice besides in the Pentateuch, E.xvi.3, L.xxv. 19.

(vi) 'and waxen fat, then will they turn to other gods,' D.vi.11-14, viii.12–19, xi. 15,16, xxxii. 15,16.

It is possible, however, that the first clause of v.16, 'And Jehovah said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers,' (as we find this phrase in the Pentateuch only in G.xlvii.30,) may be the first words of an address, which the older writer put into the mouth of Jehovah, the rest of which the Deuteronomist has suppressed, and replaced by words of his own.

794. D.xxxi.22.

'Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.'

If the preceding section, in which the first mention is made of the song, v.19,21, is by the Deuteronomist, as we have shown, then this verse also will be his. But KNOBEL observes, p.322:

Manifestly, the writer found a Warning-Song already existing, which he held for true Mosaic, and worked up anew in ch.xxxii. With the same freedom have the Prophets handled older prophecies: comp. Jer.xlviii with Is.xv,xvi, and Obad. with Jer.xlix.7-22.

We shall see that there is no clear indication whatever of D.xxxii being an old song, retouched by the Deuteronomist. It will appear to be, in all probability, entirely his own composition, as, in our view, is the whole of the present chapter, except v.14,15, notwithstanding some confusion and repetition in parts of it.

795. D.xxxi.23-26.

KNOBEL, p.322, considers this to be the continuation of v.14,15, or, according to him, of v.14-16(a), and he writes,—

'Here, however, the older writer has left out something which Jehovah spake to Moses and Joshua, and supplied the blank by a divine speech out of his second original document. The subject of 131, vaytsav, ‘and he commanded,' can, according to the contents of the discourse, ['I sware unto them,' 'I will be with thee,'] be only Jehovah; according to the present connexion it seems to be Moses. The older writer would have had to insert in, Jehovah, after ??'

Ans. v.23 contains decidedly Deuteronomistic expressions; e.g. 'be strong and of a good courage,' (553.iv) 'the land which I sware unto them,' (793, iii). It would seem, therefore, that the subject to is 'Jehovah,' carried on from v.21, the intermediate v.22 being inserted as a parenthetical notice.

796. Again, on v.24-26 KNOBEL observes, p.322: —

...

'Hereupon Moses ends the writing down of the Law, and we must suppose the Law indicated in iv.44. From .14 to v.26 Israel is not addressed as in v.1-13. Hence the two words [at the end of v.26, 7, běcha lehed, ‘against thee for a witness,'] belong to the Deuteronomistic addition, which reaches to v.29.' Ans. But here again we have Deuteronomistic expressions;

(i) v.24, nib, kecalloth, 'when he had made an end of,' [E.xxxi.18, N.xvi.31, quoted by KNOBEL in support of his view, but also] D.xx.9. Jer.xxvi.8, xliii.1, li.63; (ii) words of this Law,' (550.ix).

(iii) v.25, 'the Levites, bearers of the Ark of the Covenant,' D.x.8, xxxi.9. (iv) v.26, 'this Book of the Law,' (550.x).

We conclude, therefore, that the whole passage is Deuteronomistic, and, as KNOBEL says, as far as v.29. The contents of this verse, however, he considers to be 'entirely superfluous after the similar words in v.16-21.' But v.16-21 are ascribed to Jehovah, and v.29 to Moses; and, when we take account of the extreme anxiety of the writer upon this point, viz. Israel's 'corrupting themselves' and 'provoking Jehovah to anger,' and observe that throughout the whole book he is dwelling continually upon it, it is easy to understand how unwilling he would be, as it were, to leave the subject, and would be still heard dropping his warnings to the last.

797. Lastly, KNOBEL assigns v.30 to the older writer, and says, p.323:

'Moses here explains the song to the people, for which the Deuteronomist in v.28 names the ‘elders and officers;' p, kěhal Israel, ‘assembly of Israel,' is foreign to the Deuteronomist, and is found only in E.xii.6, L.xvi.17, N.xiv.5 ; the passage sets forth v.16-22.'

Ans. The same phrase, kehal Israel, is found only in L.xvi.17; in the other two cases it is p, kehal hădath-Israel, ‘assembly of the congregation of Israel.' The word assembly,' is the only one used for congregation' by the Deuteronomist (548.xii); so that no argument can be based on the fact of the phrase in question being found once in Leviticus and once in Deuteronomy, especially as it occurs freely in 1K.viii.14,14,22,55, xii.3, by the hand either of the Deuteronomist himself, or, at least, of a contemporary. The writer probably supposed that the elders and officers would draw near, and be 'gathered unto' Moses, while all the congregation' would stand around and hear (?) the words of the song. No doubt, v.30 refers to the song' mentioned in v.16-22, which we ascribe throughout to the Deuteronomist.

Upon the whole, then, we believe ch.xxxi to be wholly Deuteronomistic, except v.14,15, and, perhaps, 16(a), which are a fragment of the older document.

563

CHAPTER XVI.

THE SONG OF MOSES, DEUT.XXXII.

798. D.xxxii. 1-43.

6

KNOBEL Considers that this Song' must be attributed to a writer older than the Deuteronomist, but later than the Elohist, perhaps living about the time when the Syrians oppressed Israel. He says, Deut.p.326 :—

Some difficulty is caused by the fact that the writer states that Moses had received this Song from Jehovah, xxxi.19,22,30, which he would hardly have said if it was all his own composition. Perhaps, therefore, he found an older song already existing, regarded it as Mosaic, retouched it, and adopted it into his work in this new form.

But we shall see, as before, that there is, apparently, no sufficient reason for supposing that this Song is not also due to the Deuteronomist.

799. The following are the critical notes, which seem to prove sufficiently the Deuteronomistic origin of this chapter.

N.B. As before, it will be understood that the expressions here noticed do not occur elsewhere in the Pentateuch, unless the fact of their so doing is mentioned. Also (*) denotes passages, which will be shown in Part IV to be Deuteronomistic interpolations.

(i) v.1, ‘Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak, and hear, O earth, 'the words of my mouth' so the Deuteronomist calls heaven and earth to witness in iv.26, xxx.19, xxxi.28.

(ii) v.2, y, haraph, 'drop,' D.xxxiii.28, nowhere else in the Bible. (iii) D'7, revivim, ‘showers,' Jer.iii.3, xiv. 22, and only three other places. (iv) v.3, 17, havu, ‘ascribe ye,' D.i.13, G.xlvii.16, nowhere else in the Pentateuch. (v) , godel, 'greatness,' D.iii. 24, v.24(21),ix.26,xi.2, xxxii. 3, and N.xiv.19. (vi) v.4, ♫ ěmunah, 'truth,' Jer.v.1,3, vii. 28, ix. 3(2), Lam.iii. 23, and E.xvii.12.