8:15 compared with Lev. 23:40.

10. The relation of the book of Deuteronomy to the earlier portions of
the law deserves a careful consideration. And, first, in regard to
_time_. All that portion of the law which precedes the sixteenth chapter
of the book of Numbers was given in the first and second years after the
exodus; consequently thirty-eight years before the composition of the
book of Deuteronomy. The four chapters of Numbers that follow, chaps.
16-19, are generally dated about twenty years later--that is, about
eighteen years before the composition of Deuteronomy. Only the last
seventeen chapters of Numbers, which are mostly occupied with historical
notices, were written in the preceding year.

Then, as it respects general _design_. At Horeb the entire constitution
of the theocracy was to be established. This part of the law is,
therefore, more formal and circumstantial. It gives minute directions
for the celebration of the passover; for the construction of the
tabernacle and its furniture; for the dress, consecration, duties, and
perquisites of the priesthood and Levitical order; for the entire system
of sacrifices; for the distinction between clean and unclean animals;
for all those duties that were especially of a priestly character, as
judgment in the case of leprosy, and purification from ceremonial
uncleanness; for the order of journeying and encamping in the
wilderness, etc. In a word, it gives more prominence to the forms of the
law, and the duties of those to whom its administration was committed.
Not so on the plains of Moab. The theocracy had then been long in
operation. The details of its service were well understood, and there
was no need of formal and circumstantial repetition. The work of Moses
now was not to give a new law, but to enforce the law of Horeb, with
such subordinate modifications and additions as were required by the new
circumstances of the people, now about to take possession of the
promised land and change their wandering life for fixed abodes. He had
to do, therefore, more prominently not with the administrators of law,
but with the people; and accordingly his precepts assume a hortatory
character, and his style becomes more diffuse and flowing.

The _personal relation_ of Moses to the people was also greatly changed.
At Horeb he had the great work of his life before him, but now it is
behind him. He is about to leave his beloved Israel, whom he has borne
on his heart and guided