Lessons from the Dying: The Role of Deuteronomy 32 in its Narrative Setting

Abstract

If one can trust the testimony of modern biblical scholarship, the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 is leading a double life. According to some, Deuteronomy 32 represents a lawsuit in which God summons witnesses to the stand (Deut 32:1), issues a formal indictment (Deut 32:15–18), takes an oath (Deut 32:40), and, finally, pronounces punishment (Deut 32:19–29). For others, Deuteronomy 32 represents a wisdom text that identifies itself as a teaching (Deut 32:2), chastises Israel for its intellectual shortcomings (Deut 32:6, 28), and repeatedly exhorts Israel to remember and understand (Deut 32:7, 29). Thus Deuteronomy 32 seems to have two literary identities: one as an act of indictment drawing on legal language; the other as an act of instruction belonging to the sphere of wisdom.

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