Deuteronomy

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:



  Deuteronomy
       n : the fifth book of the Old Testament; contains a second
           statement of Mosaic Law [syn: {Book of Deuteronomy}]

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  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.
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Deuteronomy, repetition of the law