Let me start off today’s post by pointing out that the Hebrews did NOT name the five books of the Torah.
They just referred to each book by the first several words that start off the first chapter (of each book).
The opening words of Chapter One of Deuteronomy are “These are the words…“.
In Hebrew, this is ELLEH HA-DEVARIM.
Hence, the Hebrew people just referred to the 5th Book of the Torah as “ELLEH HA-DEVARIM“.
As time went by, this was shortened to SEFER DEVARIM (the Book of the Words).
And then, as even more time went by, this was shortened to just DEVARIM.
So how in the heck did we come up with the title “Deuteronomy“?
Okay, and this might just blow your mind a little bit.
Let’s take a look at verse Deuteronomy 17:18.
“And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:”
The complete Jewish Bible renders it as follows:
“When he has come to occupy the throne of his kingdom, he is to write a copy of this Torah for himself in a scroll, from the one the cohanim and L’vi’im use.”
Okay, here’s the ridiculous truth.
The title Deuteronomy originates from a misunderstanding of the above verse.
Let me explain.
The term Deuteronomy comes from the Greek phrase DEUTERONOMION TOUTO which literally means “the second law“.
Verse 17:18 in the original Hebrew really meant to say “copy of the Law” but the Greek rendering implies a “second set of laws“.
So which is which?
Of course we’re gonna go with the original Hebrew language.
Deuteronomy is really a “copy” of what Moses taught earlier.
However, it has been slightly modified due to what was soon to become a change in environment…
…because the Hebrews would soon be living a settled life in Canaan as opposed to their current wanderings in the wilderness as Bedouin gypsies.
This 5th book of the Torah is NOT a second set of brand new laws.
Once we get into it, we’re going to see that this book builds and expounds upon what came before.
In a nutshell, the word Deuteronomy is a victim of major language and cultural variations.
We shouldn’t be too surprised about this however.
This is what happens when we translate a book from Hebrew into Greek…
…and then from Greek into Latin…
and then from Latin into English.
It is PRECISELY because of all this linguistic confusion that we literally have hundreds of different Bible versions in existence today.
And that is PRECISELY why we have to go the original Hebrew language and the original middle eastern culture of the Biblical era in order to acquire proper clarity on what exactly some words meant.
Because what one word meant in one language, culture and time period obviously will NOT have a direct counterpart in our language, culture, and time period.
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