Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy is the last of the books of Moses, and subsequently, the last narrative with him we will see in the Bible.  Its name in Greek means something like "second law", which seems fairly appropriate.  The majority of the book is Moses' final words to the Israelite people before they enter the promised land.  (The name in Hebrew is something like "words").

Like the three books before it, Deuteronomy is a mix of narrative and law.  Like the others, the law is declared from within the narrative, and not directly. I find this characteristic of the Torah very interesting.  I'm not sure what the theological significance of this is (if any), but it does seem like something unique to the Bible, although perhaps this was common in other Middle Eastern literature of its era.

The basic outline of Deuteronomy is something like this:
#1. A brief retelling of the events that happened in Numbers.
#2. An expounding of the law of God, with a more ethical emphasis than in Leviticus.
#3. Legal rules for living in the promised land.
#4. Curses and blessings for following or not following the law.
#5. Joshua to succeed Moses.
#6. The Song of Moses and a poem of blessings from Moses.
#7. The death of Moses.

It's often said that Leviticus contains the ritual/priestly laws and Deuteronomy contains the civil and moral laws.  There's definitely some truth to this, however just as there was moral law in Leviticus, there is definitely ceremonial/religious laws in Deuteronomy as well.  Nothing is ever all that compartmentalized in scripture, it seems.  In general, the emphasis of the laws in both books are different, though.  Deuteronomy talks much more about the importance of loving God than the previous books had.  There is also much more talk about the practical legal aspects involved, including rules about courts and what to do once Israel decided they needed a king at some point.

I found the Song of Moses to be an interesting piece of poetry.  It reminds me a lot of the songs found in the Psalms.  It describes God as Israel's "Rock", and talks about the great things he had done.  It ends by declaring the "nations" to rejoice with his people, something you see again in later passages of scripture.  I find this interesting because despite the fact that much of the Torah is about God's particular people of Israel, it is also recognized that he is the God of all the nations as well here too.