Deuteronomy, Deuteronomistic History, and Mosaic Authorship The book of Deuteronomy is contended to be the most important book in the Old Testament, as it functions as a “theological manifesto, calling on Israel to respond to God’s grace with unreserved loyalty and love.” (Block, 25). Though the “theological significance of Deuteronomy can scarcely be overestimated,” the question as to who wrote the book of Deuteronomy has been debated throughout the last several decades. In the following section, I will discuss the history and development on the two main views of the authorship of Deuteronomy, and will argue that, after taking the strengths and weaknesses of each argument, the traditionally held fact that Moses was the author of Deuteronomy
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The main contributors to the theory of a Deuteronomistic historian as the author are W.M.L de Wette, Julius Wellhausen, Martin Noth, S.R. Driver, Gerhard von Rad, and Moshe Weinfeld. A few of their points are as follows: Wette argued that “Deuteronomy had been written shortly before it was found” (L 6) and also compared Deuteronomy to the books of Joshua to 2 Kings and found “a peculiar style and content.” (), Wellhausen continued the anti- believed that the newly found scroll contained only the core legislation in chapters 12-26” (8), Noth, believed that “Deuteronomy was intended as an introduction to the entire Deuteronomistic history” and this the work of a single author, which could not have began with creation, and Weinfeld believes that due to the stylistic variations of the text, there has to be one single …show more content…
Various parallels can be drawn between the two books as “the Josianic reform appears to owe much to Deuteronomy” (7). The stories in 2 Kings “all seem to correlate with the prohibitions in Deuteronomy, not only in content, but in vocabulary and phraseology.” (7). From the evidence given in the writings by Daniel Block and Jack R. Lundbom, Moses as the author of Deuteronomy is the most logical answer. I believe in the Mosaic authorship due to the fact tat there are numerous references throughout scripture to Moses as the author of Deuteronomy, and I believe the Bible to be inerrant. The view of anti-Mosaic authorship is scattered. The contributions of each person during the Enlightenment period did not seem to fit together with what the Bible states, and it is nothing more than mere
The main contributors to the theory of a Deuteronomistic historian as the author are W.M.L de Wette, Julius Wellhausen, Martin Noth, S.R. Driver, Gerhard von Rad, and Moshe Weinfeld. A few of their points are as follows: Wette argued that “Deuteronomy had been written shortly before it was found” (L 6) and also compared Deuteronomy to the books of Joshua to 2 Kings and found “a peculiar style and content.” (), Wellhausen continued the anti- believed that the newly found scroll contained only the core legislation in chapters 12-26” (8), Noth, believed that “Deuteronomy was intended as an introduction to the entire Deuteronomistic history” and this the work of a single author, which could not have began with creation, and Weinfeld believes that due to the stylistic variations of the text, there has to be one single …show more content…
Various parallels can be drawn between the two books as “the Josianic reform appears to owe much to Deuteronomy” (7). The stories in 2 Kings “all seem to correlate with the prohibitions in Deuteronomy, not only in content, but in vocabulary and phraseology.” (7). From the evidence given in the writings by Daniel Block and Jack R. Lundbom, Moses as the author of Deuteronomy is the most logical answer. I believe in the Mosaic authorship due to the fact tat there are numerous references throughout scripture to Moses as the author of Deuteronomy, and I believe the Bible to be inerrant. The view of anti-Mosaic authorship is scattered. The contributions of each person during the Enlightenment period did not seem to fit together with what the Bible states, and it is nothing more than mere