According to its own testimony, Deuteronomy originated as farewell messages from Moses to a new generation of Israelites. He pleaded passionately for them to keep God at the center of their national life once they settled in the land. The book is essentially a covenant-renewal document. The large central section largely repeats laws found earlier in the Pentateuch. So important was Deuteronomy to early Christians that the New Testament writers cited it more than
Page 36