Progression of time in the Book of Deuteronomy

 

Below are the verses that reflect the passage of time in the Book of Deuteronomy. These verses show that the first 32 chapters of the Book covered events on a single day—the 1st day of the 11th month of the Hebrew calendar in the 40th year after departing from Egypt (Jan-Feb 1407 BC—See Biblical Calendar page 15). A full reading of these first thirty two chapters will show that Israel was gathered to hear Moses in his farewell speech to them in which he recounted their forty years sojourn in the wilderness in great detail showing how God had been faithful in multiply them as the stars and fulfilling various promises made to their fathers and gave them various charges from God and the resulting blessings flowing from their obedience thereto and the consequential curses that would follow from their disobedience to these commands. This was all one day (as shown by the language of “this day”, “today”, “the same day”, etc.) and this was the very day that Moses was exactly 120 years old, that day was the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year after departing Egypt:

 

 

De 1:3  And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them;

De 1:10  The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.

De 2:25  This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.

De 4:4  But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.

De 4:8  And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

De 4:20  But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

De 4:26  I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.

De 4:38  To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.

De 4:39  Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

De 4:40  Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.

De 5:1  And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. {keep…: Heb. keep to do them}

De 5:3  The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.

De 5:24  And ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.

De 6:6  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

De 6:24  And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.

De 7:11  Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.

De 8:1  All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.

De 8:11  Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:

De 8:18  But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

De 8:19  And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

De 9:1  Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,

De 9:3  Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.

De 10:8  At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.

De 10:13  To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

De 10:15  Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.

De 11:2  And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm,

De 11:4  And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day;

De 11:8  Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it;

De 11:13  And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

De 11:26  Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;

De 11:27  A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:

De 11:28  And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

De 11:32  And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.

De 12:8  Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.

De 13:18  When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.

De 15:5  Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.

De 15:15  And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.

De 19:9  If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three:

De 20:3  And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; {faint: Heb. be tender} {tremble: Heb. make haste}

De 26:16  This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

De 26:17  Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice:

De 26:18  And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments;

De 27:1  And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day.

De 27:4  Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister.

De 27:9  And Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto all Israel, saying, Take heed, and hearken, O Israel; this day thou art become the people of the LORD thy God.

De 27:10  Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day.

De 27:11  And Moses charged the people the same day, saying,

De 28:1  And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

De 28:13  And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:

De 28:14  And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

De 28:15  But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:

De 29:4  Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.

De 29:10  Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel,

De 29:12  That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day: {enter: Heb. pass}

De 29:13  That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

De 29:15  But with him that standeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day:

De 29:18  Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; {gall: or, a poisonous herb: Heb. rosh}

De 29:28  And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.

De 30:2  And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;

De 30:8  And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.

De 30:11  For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.

De 30:15  See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

De 30:16  In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

De 30:18  I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

De 30:19  I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

De 31:2  And he said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also the LORD hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.

De 31:22  Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.

De 31:27  For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?

De 32:46  And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.

De 32:48  And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,

 

Moses died some days later (probably Feb-March 1407 BC) after the 1st day of the 11th month in the 40th year:

 

De 31:14  And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation.

 

Moses was therefore some days past his 120th birth date when he died:

 

De 34:1 ¶  And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, 2  And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, 3  And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. 4  And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. 5 ¶  So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. 6  And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. 7  And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.

 

Israel mourned for 30 days (period of mourning being around March to early April 1407 BC) because of Moses’ death and before they crossed the River Jordan to enter Canaan:

 

De 34:8  And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.

 

It appears that Deuteronomy 33 and 34 were penned by someone else other than Moses because of the different vantage point from which these chapters are written compared to the earlier 32 chapters.

 

Thanks to Michael Idarecis who the Lord used to stimulate this research.

 

THE END

 

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