tes and embracing
poetry as well as prose, were added so as to give a fuller account of
the last days of Moses and thus lead up to the narrative of his death
with which the book closes. (1) Chap. xxvii., where the elders of Israel
are introduced for the first time as acting along with Moses (xxvii. 1)
and then the priests, the Levites (xxvii. 9). Some of the curses refer
to laws given not in D but in Lev. xxx., so that the date of this
chapter must be later than Leviticus or at any rate than the laws
codified in the Law of Holiness (Lev. xvii.-xxvi.). (2) The second
appendix, chaps, xxix.-xxxi. 29, xxxii. 45-47, gives us the farewell
address of Moses and is certainly later than D. Moses is represented as
speaking not with any hope of preventing Israel's apostasy but because
he knows that the people will eventually prove apostate (xxxi. 29), a
point of view very different from D's. (3) The Song of Moses, chap.
xxxii. That this didactic poem must have been written late in the
nation's history, and not at its very beginning, is evident from v. 7:
"Remember the days of old, Consider the years of many generations." Such
words cannot be interpreted so as to fit the lips of Moses. It must have
been composed in a time of natural gloom and depression, after Yahweh's
anger had been provoked by "a very froward generation," certainly not
before the Assyrian Empire had loomed up against the political horizon,
aggressive and menacing. Some critics bring the date down even to the
time of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. (4) The Blessing of Moses, chap, xxxiii.
The first line proves that this poem is not by D, who speaks invariably
of Horeb, never of Sinai. The situation depicted is in striking contrast
with that of the Song. Everything is bright because of promises
fulfilled, and the future bids fair to be brighter still. Bruston
maintains with reason that the Blessing, strictly so called, consists
only of vv. 6-25, and has been inserted in a Psalm celebrating the
goodness of Jehovah to his people on their entrance into Canaan (vv.
1-5, 26-29). The special prominence given to Joseph (Ephraim and
Manasseh) in vv. 13-17 has led many critics to assign this poem to the
time of the greatest warrior-king of Northern Israel, Jeroboam II. (5)
The account of Moses' death, chap. xxxiv. This appendix, containing, as
it does, manifest traces of P, proves that even Deuteronomy was not put
into its present form until after the exile.

From the many coincidenc