Summary of
The Book of Deuteronomy
The genre of the book of Deuteronomy is not much different than that of the Exodus; it is Narrative History and Law; although there is a Song from Moses just after he commissions Joshua.
This song describes the History that the Israelites had experienced.
The key personalities are Moses, and Joshua.
Moses wrote this book to remind the Israelites of what God had done and to remind them of what God expects of them.
The name literally means “Second Law”. Moses gives “the Law” for the second time.
Chapters 1-4 – Moses reviews some of the details of the past history of Israel such as the Exodus and the wandering in the wilderness. He then urges that they obey the Laws of God.
Chapters 5-28 – Moses restates the Ten Commandments to the Israelites. Moses explains the principles and instructions for living a Godly life as God’s chosen nation.
Deuteronomy begins with a lengthy recap of the journey of the Israelites since the Exodus (which reminded me of one of those “previously on…” teasers you see at the beginnings of episodes of a television show), and then most of the rest of the book is taken up by more laws and commandments by Moses, many of them darker and more violent than what we’ve seen thus far (which is saying a lot). If you can get through that, your reward is a lovely bit of poetry at the end, and then Moses dies.