Kennicott Bible, 1476, ff. 117v-118r. Bodleian Library, Oxford University
Deuteronomy: Rewritten to Reflect on the Exile and Future Redemption
Revised in the post-exilic period in the voice of Moses, Deuteronomy describes Judah’s destruction and exile to a foreign land כַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה “as it is still the case” (Deuteronomy 29:27), but reassures the people that, at the end of days, Israel will be reconciled with YHWH, who will circumcise their hearts to ensure their permanent loyalty.
Published: August 28, 2023
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Last Updated: October 28, 2026
See Eckart Otto, Deuteronomium 1-11, Erster Teilband: 1,1-4,3, Herders Theologischer Kommentar zum Alten Testament [HThKAT] (Freiburg: Herders, 2012), 231–258.
The priestly authors of the pre-exilic Deuteronomy promulgated its collection of laws as YHWH’s revelation at the Jerusalem Temple in the period of King Josiah (7th cent. B.C.E.). Indeed, the original presentation of the laws as reflecting ipsissima vox Dei (“the very voice of God”) makes Deuteronomy theologically interesting and important.
The exilic authors of Deuteronomistic redactions in the Book of Deuteronomy experienced the exile in Mesopotamia directly. As the Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed the priestly redactors relocated the divine revelation in Deuteronomy (chs. 5; 9–10) to Mount Horeb and its Mosaic promulgation of His revelation to the land of Moab at the river Jordan. Editor’s note: For another discussion of the lateness of the Horeb motif in Deuteronomy, see David Frankel,
Editor’s note: For some discussion of divination and kings in the ANE and the Bible, see Jonathan Stökl, “Ancient Israelite Divination: Urim ve-Tummim, Ephod, and Prophecy,” TheTorah (2018).
In Deuteronomy 34, the final chapter of the Pentateuch, this layer situates Deuteronomy as the culmination of the Pentateuch and its finale, delivering decisive hermeneutical keys for the interpretation of all the Torah.
In the following I summarize the theological substance of Deuteronomy 29-33, as presented in my commentary; see Eckart Otto, Deuteronomium 12-34. Zweiter Teilband: 23,16-34,12, Herders Theologischer Kommentar zum Alten Testament [HThKAT] (Freiburg: Herder, 2017); cf. also Dominik Markl, Gottes Volk im Deuteronomium [God’s People in Deuteronomy], Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur Altorientalische und Biblische Rechtsgeschichte [BZABR] 18 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2012).
In this sense, Deuteronomy is itself situated “between the times” of a past of doom and a future salvation, what explains the intensive parenesis (i.e., instruction or counsel) in this book.
Moses elaborates further, describing how far YHWH will go to make sure the remnants of His people will be returned to the land:
דברים ל:ד אִם יִהְיֶה נִדַּחֲךָ בִּקְצֵה הַשָּׁמָיִם מִשָּׁם יְקַבֶּצְךָ יְ־הוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ וּמִשָּׁם יִקָּחֶךָ. ל:ה וֶהֱבִיאֲךָ יְ־הוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יָרְשׁוּ אֲבֹתֶיךָ וִירִשְׁתָּהּ וְהֵיטִבְךָ וְהִרְבְּךָ מֵאֲבֹתֶיךָ.
Deut 30:4 Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the world, from there YHWH your God will gather you, from there he will fetch you. 30:5 And YHWH your God will bring you to the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. And He will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your fathers.
The addressees of Deuteronomy could rightly question whether Moses was indeed a true prophet, because YHWH only confirms his prophecies of doom but not of salvation.
In other words, I do not favor solving this problem by separating different literary layers, since it seems to me that the authors are presenting it this way on purpose and that their solution is hinted at clearly, as we shall see shortly.
דברים לא:כ כִּי אֲבִיאֶנּוּ אֶל הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי לַאֲבֹתָיו זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבַשׁ וְאָכַל וְשָׂבַע וְדָשֵׁן וּפָנָה אֶל אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים וַעֲבָדוּם וְנִאֲצוּנִי וְהֵפֵר אֶת בְּרִיתִי. לא:כא וְהָיָה כִּי תִמְצֶאןָ אֹתוֹ רָעוֹת רַבּוֹת וְצָרוֹת וְעָנְתָה הַשִּׁירָה הַזֹּאת לְפָנָיו לְעֵד כִּי לֹא תִשָּׁכַח מִפִּי זַרְעוֹ כִּי יָדַעְתִּי אֶת יִצְרוֹ אֲשֶׁר הוּא עֹשֶׂה הַיּוֹם בְּטֶרֶם אֲבִיאֶנּוּ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבָּעְתִּי.
Deut 31:20 When I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey which I have sworn to their fathers, and they eat their fill and grow fat and turn to other gods and serve them, spurning me and breaking my covenant 31:21 and the many evils and troubles befall them, this poem will be a witness against them, because it will not be forgotten in the mouths of their progeny. For I know their plans they are devising even now, before I bring them into the land that I have sworn to them.
And yet its intertexts in the Prophets and Psalms speak of salvation for Israel and doom for hostile nations, a hint at what is coming in the second half of the song.
Translation from the Song follows NRSVue with slight adjustments.
For the interpretation of the Moses-song in Deuteronomy 32 cf. Eckart Otto, “Singing Moses: His Farewell Song in Deuteronomy 32” in Psalmody and Poetry in Old Testament Ethics, ed. Dirk Human, LHBOTS 572 (New York: T&T Clark, 2012), 169-180; idem, Deuteronomium 12-34, 2130-2203; Dominik Markl, Gottes Volk, 231-281.
This is to a degree also valid for Deuteronomy 33 as an image of Israel’s peaceful pastoral life, placed after the scenario of destruction in Deuteronomy 32.
This verse holds an intensive dialogue with a similar concept in Jeremiah:
ירמיה לא:לא הִנֵּה יָמִים בָּאִים נְאֻם יְ־הוָה וְכָרַתִּי אֶת בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאֶת בֵּית יְהוּדָה בְּרִית חֲדָשָׁה. לא:לב לֹא כַבְּרִית אֲשֶׁר כָּרַתִּי אֶת אֲבוֹתָם בְּיוֹם הֶחֱזִיקִי בְיָדָם לְהוֹצִיאָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם אֲשֶׁר הֵמָּה הֵפֵרוּ אֶת בְּרִיתִי וְאָנֹכִי בָּעַלְתִּי בָם נְאֻם יְ־הוָה. לא:לג כִּי זֹאת הַבְּרִית אֲשֶׁר אֶכְרֹת אֶת בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל אַחֲרֵי הַיָּמִים הָהֵם נְאֻם יְ־הוָה נָתַתִּי אֶת תּוֹרָתִי בְּקִרְבָּם וְעַל לִבָּם אֶכְתֲּבֶנָּה וְהָיִיתִי לָהֶם לֵאלֹהִים וְהֵמָּה יִהְיוּ לִי לְעָם.
Jer 31:31 The days are surely coming, says YHWH, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 31:32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says YHWH. 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says YHWH: I will put law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
In contrast to the promise of a divine circumcision of the heart in Jeremiah, in Deuteronomy, the torah will not be entirely internalized by its inscription on the heart but it will be further taught and learned, but now with a circumcised heart (so Deuteronomy 30:14). Consequently, the torah will be followed and fulfilled by the Israelites and the dialectic of doom and salvation will be suspended.
Cf. also Ernst Ehrenreich, Wähle das Leben! Deuteronomium 30 als hermeneutischer Schlüssel zur Tora, BZABR 14 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010), 156–188.
