C. Style and StructureThe content of Deuteronomy is presented as an anthology of speeches given by Moses to the Israelites just before they were to take possession of the Promised Land. He counseled and cajoled them, "Be faithful to YHWH and you will be blessed."More obviously than any other material in the Hebrew Bible except perhaps some of the prophets, this material is sermonic, almost preachy. Deuteronomy is permeated with phrases such as "with all your heart and soul," "in order that it may go well with you," "be thankful," and "if only you obey the voice of Yahweh your God." It contains both a call to faithfulness and to social responsibility. Deuteronomy was designed to appeal to the hearts and minds of its listeners. The bulk of the book is framed not as a narrative but as a direct address to the people. Although not noticeable in English translation (because "you" can be either singular or plural), the book vacillates, apparently indiscriminately, between address to individuals, you, and to the people as a whole, all of you. With this shotgun approach, the Deuteronomist targets each person, and--virtually at the same time--the group, suggesting that they are in this together as the one people of God. Deuteronomy as we have it is the result of a long process of development and deliberate shaping. That should be no surprise. Almost every book of the Hebrew Bible was. The editor of Deuteronomy left us some helpful clues to the shape of the book (see Table 5.1). The main textual units are easily recognizable because a formula introduces them; the words "this is" or "these are" stand as a title at the head of all but one major section.
The nucleus of Deuteronomy is the set of laws in chapters 12-26. If we visually diagram the book, we see this central set of laws surrounded by concentric sets of material (see Figure 5.4). This material reinforces those laws and gives them context. Simplifying matters somewhat, the inner circle of speeches by Moses (5-11 and 27-28) bracket the core laws (12-26), and are themselves surrounded by a prologue (1-4), and an epilogue (33-34) containing the farewell of Moses and various appendices. The covenant renewal section (29-32) is the only section which breaks the symmetry.
To a degree, the concentric structure of the book coincides with its composition history. The book was written in stages. The central law code was probably written first, no later than the reform of Josiah. The historical prologue was added to the book when Deuteronomy became the prologue to the Deuteronomistic History.
|
