Q&A: The Book of Deuteronomy from Moses’ Own Mind?
The Book of Deuteronomy from Moses’ Own Mind?
Question
Hello to my teacher, may he live long.
It is commonly accepted by us that the Book of Deuteronomy, like the rest of the Torah, was written word for word from the mouth of the Almighty. But with Deuteronomy, aside from the style, which makes it look like Moses is speaking in the first person, and the name of God is almost always in the third person, there is also explicit proof for this: Rashi says regarding the curses in Leviticus that there it says “your sky shall be iron,” whereas in Deuteronomy it says “your sky shall be bronze,” because Moses had compassion on Israel. That implies that he repeated the curses and then changed them.
Maybe he delivered the speech of most of the Book of Deuteronomy through divine inspiration, and afterward the Holy One, blessed be He, instructed him to write down his own speech?
Answer
That is בהחלט possible. Admittedly, one could explain that the Holy One, blessed be He, dictated the book to him, including things that emerged from Moses’ own understanding (for example, that he had compassion on Israel), but that is less likely. There have already been commentators who argued that Deuteronomy was written by Moses. See even on a conservative site here: https://www.yeshiva.org.il/ask/44263 and many others.