The So-called 'Ur-Deuteronomium' – Some Reflections on Its Content, Size and Age

Abstract

Modern Deuteronomy research has a tendency to reduce the extent of Ur-Deuteronomium, and a still greater part of the present Deuteronomy is ascribed to several Deuteronomistic redactions. In this article it will be argued that Deut 1-3 do function as an introduction to the admonitions in chapters 4-30, but not as a prelude to the so-called Deuteronomistic History. It has proved impossible to define reliable and transparent criteria for distinguishing between possible Deuteronomistic redactions; Deut 1-28 present itself as a stylistic and rhetorical unity; certain factors in Deuteronomy speak against an exilic provenance and the underlying structure underneath the catechesis in Deut 1-28 corresponds closely to the 2nd millennium vassal treaties, suggesting that Ur-Deuteronomium must reflect an earlier period than the time of late Judahite Kingdom.